One of the success stories of modern nature conservation in Great Britain is the reintroduction programme for the red kite.

This beautiful and iconic bird was much valued in the medieval countryside and in the towns of the day because as a scavenger it cleared debris and detritus from human settlements including offal and carcasses. Essentially, they provided a free waste disposal service to a somewhat filthy human species.

However, as living-conditions and fashions changed, and with enclosures of great, expansive commons and the invention of workable firearms, there was a shift to the ‘hunting and shooting’ landowners, and a countryside governed by gamekeepers. The red kite was now seen not as a friend and useful cohabitee, but an enemy of game-birds and their chicks to be eradicated at all costs. The decline was progressive over around three centuries and the bird went from being a familiar and everyday sighting for everyone, to a great rarity. The situation was nailed-down by the advent of persistent pesticides such as DDT during the 1950s to the 1970s.

At the top of the food-chain many birds of prey simply failed to breed and raise young. The kite went from commonplace to around 10 or fewer breeding pairs in a remote part of mid-Wales and a long way from intensive farming or game-birds.

placeholder image — Red kite by Ian Rotherham

Furthermore, the isolated population suffered from in-breeding and breeding success plummeted. However, a then innovative project introduced a single German female to the Welsh population and within under 10 years her genes were in every Welsh bird, and the population turned a corner. This was the trigger for a national programme of targeted reintroductions across England and Scotland, and so today, you will see this bird almost everywhere you go.

The picture taken at distance is a typical sighting with characteristic long, forked tail, the w-shaped long wings often with ‘fingers’ showing. I have used this picture rather than a close-up because this is what you are likely to see, and I am interested to know when and where. Please also send me pictures if you have them.

Professor Ian D. Rotherham, researcher, writer & broadcaster on wildlife & environmental issues, is contactable on [email protected]; follow Ian’s blog (https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/) and Twitter @IanThewildside