Juvenile Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Denston, West Suffolk 2/10/2022
i'm lucky to have Red Kites literally on my doorstep, which gives me plenty of photographic opportunities. and they have slowly moved into the area over the last 15 years. its been around 32 years since the reintroduction of the Red Kite in Britain, but by the middle of the 19th century the red kite was locally extinct in England, Scotland and Ireland. Only a small population remained, hidden away in the hills of mid Wales. And i was lucky to see these back in 1988.
It was thought that the land in Wales was too marginal for the red kites’ population to grow and expand. So, the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England) and the RSPB made the, decision to reintroduce European red kites into England and Scotland. Between 1989 and 1994, 93 birds from Sweden and Spain were released in the Chilterns in England and the Black Isle in Northern Scotland with further releases in Northern England, Scotland and Ireland taking place over the next two decades. In the 1990s, red kites in Spain were doing well in comparison to the UK, where years of human persecution, including egg collecting, poisoning and shooting, had pushed the bird to near extinction.
While red kites in the UK have since boomed, populations in some parts of southern Spain have gone the other way due to a number of factors. Red kites have now been flown to Madrid to be released in Extremadura and Andalusia, and these birds being sent to Spain hail from forests in Northamptonshire.The birds will perfect their flight in aviaries before being released fitted with the latest technology for monitoring how they adapt to their new habitat.
Juvenile Red Kite (Milvus milvus)
Denston, West Suffolk 2/10/2022
i'm lucky to have Red Kites literally on my doorstep, which gives me plenty of photographic opportunities. and they have slowly moved into the area over the last 15 years. its been around 32 years since the reintroduction of the Red Kite in Britain, but by the middle of the 19th century the red kite was locally extinct in England, Scotland and Ireland. Only a small population remained, hidden away in the hills of mid Wales. And i was lucky to see these back in 1988.
It was thought that the land in Wales was too marginal for the red kites’ population to grow and expand. So, the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England) and the RSPB made the, decision to reintroduce European red kites into England and Scotland. Between 1989 and 1994, 93 birds from Sweden and Spain were released in the Chilterns in England and the Black Isle in Northern Scotland with further releases in Northern England, Scotland and Ireland taking place over the next two decades. In the 1990s, red kites in Spain were doing well in comparison to the UK, where years of human persecution, including egg collecting, poisoning and shooting, had pushed the bird to near extinction.
While red kites in the UK have since boomed, populations in some parts of southern Spain have gone the other way due to a number of factors. Red kites have now been flown to Madrid to be released in Extremadura and Andalusia, and these birds being sent to Spain hail from forests in Northamptonshire.The birds will perfect their flight in aviaries before being released fitted with the latest technology for monitoring how they adapt to their new habitat.