A Red Kite, Milvus milvus, soaring against a cloudy sky. Photographed at Argaty Red Kites, near Dunblane, Scotland.
Red Kites are beautiful, delicate birds of prey which are elegant and skilled fliers, using their long tails to help them to twist and turn in flight. This bird is moulting its feathers in late August, after the breeding season.
Because of taxidermy, egg-collecting and unjustified persecution by game estates, Red Kites were extinct as a breeding species by Victorian times. A relict population cluing on in Wales, but genetic research showed that they had all descended from one female bird.
Therefore, when RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage decided to reintroduce Red Kites to all their former strongholds in Scotland, it was decided to bring in birds from a more diverse gene pool, originating in Sweden. 93 birds from Swedish stock were released on the Black Isle between 1989 and 1994.
The next reintroduction was of 103 East German birds to Doune, near Stirling from 1996 to 2001 and this is the population from where the birds which are fed and can be seen at Argaty Red Kites came from.
Subsequently, there was a third reintroduction in Dumfries and Galloway using donor stock from the reintroduced north Scotland and from the Chilterns reintroduction project in England. The fourth reintroduction, 2007 – 2009 consistged 101 red kites from the Chilterns and cerntral Stocland were released on the outskirts of Aberdeen.
The reintroduced birds have been closely monitored by RSPB Scotland staff using radio and wing tagging techniques. Full details of the Scottish Reintroduction of Red Kites is available on the Scottish Raptor Group website.
This photo is copyright © Liz Leyden, all rights strictly as agreed in writing with the author or her agent.
My photo of a Red Kite soaring is available to license as a stock photo from iStockphoto.
