The Vultures have Landed

"Where No Vultures Fly" was a British film starring Anthony Steel that was originally released in November 1951. In the USA it was renamed as "The Ivory Hunter". I went to see it with my mates in about 1957 at a small and very seedy cinema then called "The Imperial Playhouse", in Portobello Road, West London near our council flat home. Much of the original fold-down seating had disappeared and had been replaced with a diverse selection of temporary alternatives, including kitchen chairs and very secondhand armchairs. It was the first cinema I ever went to other than on a Saturday morning and it was known locally as "The Bug Hole" - for obvious reasons. An usherette walloped me around the head for talking during the film. I only went there once.

The cinema still exists today but has been extensively refurbished, moved very up-market and has changed its name to "Electric Cinema" - which is very close to what it was called when it first opened in February 1910 as "The Electric Cinema Theatre". Seating nowadays is still unconventional and features up-market beds, sofas and armchairs, however, it can only accommodate 83 customers.

Vultures are birds of prey that scavenge rather than procure anything directly themselves. They feed on the remains of dead creatures and are never too fussy about what it is nor where they get it from. Although they are fairly solitary creatures, small groups of vultures are often seen circling potential prey. This movement of the vultures is called a "kettle" or more usually a "family". A group of feeding vultures is called a "wake" - which somehow seems appropriate and that is where most of them are seen.

Vultures have very keen eyesight and it is believed that they are able to spot a scavenging opportunity from at least four miles away. Many say from much, much further than that, sometimes even a hundred miles. Avoid vultures - if at all possible !

This is a Turkey Vulture:

This is a Black Vulture:

This is an Australian Vulture doing what it likes best, scavenging:

Vultures exist all over the world and there are many varieties. Some migrate tremendous distances, even across continents, but they often end up more or less back where they started - although they do tend to prefer southern and westerly parts.

Their main predators are hawks which have even better eyesight and monitor them very, very carefully. The vulture species is critically endangered but very few will miss them when they are gone. Probably only other vultures.

This is what the Imperial Playhouse cinema used to look like in the 1950s. It is immediately to the left of the Kadish Ltd builders merchant.