HARROGATE RED KITE PROTECTION
Here today to protect tomorrow.
Help us to protect Red Kites in North Yorkshire.
About
The group as a whole is here to educate the public and get people like you to help as a community to protect these birds by means of basically, keeping your eyes open for any unusual behavour around where the kites are and report it to us and also by ringing the Police on 101.
We welcome anyone whom wants to join in, we will be organising days out for all that will include Photograpic Days where you can get some great pictures of the Red Kite in flight. If you wish you can join in on Facebook here. https://www.facebook.com/harrogateredkiteprotection/ We all hope to welcome you and anybody interested anytime.
Please visit our friends page ( J&C FALCONRY ) here https://carlyatkinson1991.wixsite.com/jcfalconry for a fantastic bird of prey experience for people of all ages. Take a look, pick an experience and enjoy a great time that will stay with you forever.
Information
NEWS
Skies not yet clear for Red Kites There are calls for tougher penalties for wildlife criminals after figures showed 30 red kites have been shot or poisoned in Yorkshire since the birds were re-introduced in the region 15 years ago. Red Kite found shot dead in the Yorkshire Dales, POLICE appeal for information.
EVENTS
No upcoming events at the moment.
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Welcome, Come join us!
Lets save our outstanding Red Kites in North Yorkshire
Contact
- Knaresborough, England, United Kingdom
History Of The Kite
The Beginning
The red kite Milvus milvus disappeared from our skies in England and Scotland at the end of the nineteenth century. It was in the mid-sixteenth century that their fortunes changed - an Act of Parliament for the Preservation of Grain was passed. Red kites were included in a list of vermin species seen as a threat to food production. Their elimination was encouraged, with parish church wardens offering one penny for every kite killed. This, combined with the activities of egg collectors, caused their numbers to drop. By the end of the 19th century red kites were extinct in England and Scotland, with only a few pairs surviving in the valleys of mid-Wales. However, the numbers were not sufficient to repopulate England and Scotland.
Description
Red kites are 60 to 70 cm (24 to 28 in) long[10] with a 175–179 cm (69–70 in) wingspan; males weigh 800–1,200 g (28–42 oz), and females 1,000–1,300 g (35–46 oz).[2] It is an elegant bird, soaring on long wings held at a dihedral, and long forked tail, twisting as it changes direction. The body, upper tail and wing coverts are rufous. The white primary flight feathers contrast with the black wing tips and dark secondaries. Apart from the weight difference, the sexes are similar, but juveniles have a buff breast and belly. Its call is a thin piping sound, similar to but less mewling than the common buzzard. There is a rare white leucistic form accounting for approximately 1% of hatchlings in the Welsh population but is at a disadvantage in the survival stakes
Differences between adults and juveniles
Adults differ from juveniles in a number of characteristics: Adults are overall more deeply rufous, compared with the more washed out colour of juveniles; Adults have black breast-streaks whereas on juveniles these are pale; Juveniles have a less deeply forked tail, with a dark subterminal band; Juveniles have pale tips to all of the greater-coverts (secondary and primary) on both the upper- and under-wings, forming a long narrow pale line; adults have pale fringes to upperwing secondary-coverts only. These differences hold throughout most of the first year of a bird's life.
Feeding
Diet Side view of adult, Wales The red kite's diet consists mainly of small mammals such as mice, voles, shrews, young hares and rabbits. It feeds on a wide variety of carrion including sheep carcasses and dead game birds. Live birds are also taken and occasionally reptiles and amphibians. Earthworms form an important part of the diet, especially in spring. In some parts of the UK, red kites are also deliberately fed in domestic gardens, explaining the presence of red kites in urban areas. Here, up to 5% of householders have provided supplementary food for red kites, with chicken the predominant meat provided. As scavengers, red kites are particularly susceptible to poisoning. Illegal poison baits set for foxes or crows are indiscriminate and kill protected birds and other animals. There have also been a number of incidents of red kites and other raptors being targeted by wildlife criminal
Learn More
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, red kites were ubiquitous scavengers that lived on carrion and rubbish. Shakespeare's King Lear describes his daughter Goneril as a detested kite, and he wrote "when the kite builds, look to your lesser linen" in reference to them stealing washing hung out to dry in the nesting season. In the mid-15th century, King James II of Scotland decreed that they should be "killed wherever possible", but they remained protected in England and Wales for the next 100 years as they kept the streets free of carrion and rotting food.Under Tudor "vermin laws" many creatures were seen as competitors for the produce of the countryside and bounties were paid by the parish for their carcasses. By the 20th century, the breeding population was restricted to a handful of pairs in South Wales, but recently the Welsh population has been supplemented by re-introductions in England and Scotland. In 2004, from 375 occupied territories identified, at least 216 pairs were thought to have hatched eggs and 200 pairs reared at least 286 young. In 1989, six Swedish birds were released at a site in north Scotland and four Swedish and a Welsh bird in Buckinghamshire. Altogether, 93 birds of Swedish and Spanish origin were released at each of the sites. In the second stage of reintroduction in 1995 and 1996, further birds were brought from Germany to populate areas of Dumfries and Galloway. Ninety-four birds were brought from the Chilterns and introduced into the Derwent Valley in North East England between 2004 and 2006. In Northern Ireland, 80 birds from wild stock in Wales were released over three years between 2008 and 2010, and in 2010 the first successful breeding was recorded. The reintroductions in the Chilterns have been a success. Between 1989 and 1993, 90 birds were released in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and by 2002, 139 pairs were breeding there.They can commonly be seen taking advantage of thermals from the M40 motorway. Another successful reintroduction has been in Northamptonshire, which has become a stronghold for the red kite. Thirty Spanish birds were introduced into Rockingham Forest near Corby in 2000, and by 2010, the RSPB estimated that over 200 chicks had been reared from the initial release. So successful has the reintroduction been that 30 chicks have been transported from Rockingham Forest, for release in Cumbria A sighting of the first red kite in London for 150 years was reported in The Independent newspaper in January 2006 and in June of that year, the UK-based Northern Kites Project reported that kites had bred in the Derwent Valley in and around Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear for the first time since the re-introduction. In 1999, the red kite was named 'Bird of the Century' by the British Trust for Ornithology. According to the Welsh Kite Trust, it has been voted "Wales's favourite bird". In June 2010, the Forestry Commission North West England announced a three-year project to release 90 red kites in Grizedale Forest, Cumbria under a special licence issued by Natural England. The Grizedale programme will be the ninth reintroduction of red kites into different regions of the UK, and the final re-introduction phase in England. The stated aims of the Grizedale project are: To establish a viable population of red kites in Grizedale, South Cumbria by 2015. To increase the rate of red kite expansion into North West England and link up with existing populations in Wales, Yorkshire, North East England and South West Scotland and so increase the chances of a continuous geographical range. To develop community involvement and create educational opportunities arising from the project. As of July 2011, non-breeding birds are regularly seen in all parts of Britain, and the number of breeding pairs is too large for the RSPB to continue to survey them on an annual basis.
Red Kites And The Law
DISTURBANCE
The red kite is listed Schedule I of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and has full legal protection. It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb nesting kites. Red kites are extremely sensitive to human activity close to the nesting area during the nesting season, and can abandon their nest and chicks at the slightest disturbance.
To attempt any of the above actions is an offence in itself.
Special penalties (fines of up to £5000 for each bird or egg involved and/or imprisonment for up to six months) could be imposed on a person convicted of any of these offences.
PHOTOGRAPHY
The taking of photographs at or near the nests of Red Kites requires a licence from Natural England. Anyone taking photographs in such a situation without a licence, and disturbing the birds in the process, is liable to prosecution and a penalty as described above
Surveying, wing-tagging, ringing, and monitoring of nests is done by experienced fieldworkers under licence from the relevant organisations.
