A to Z challenge 2023 – R is for . . .

 

A to Z challenge 2023 – R is for . . .

My theme for this challenge is Nature in all much of her wonderful diversity. My posts will reflect the fact that I am resident in the south of England.

All photographs in this post are the property of the writer.

R is for Red kite (Milvus milvus)

The red kite is a bird of prey that mostly lives on carrion and worms, but will occasionally take small mammals, frogs, birds and fish. With an impressive 5’ to 6’ wingspan, it soars gracefully, circling as it surveys the ground below and uttering its whistling cry.

Every day we see and hear them in the skies above our house, a very pleasing sight. 

In the Middle Ages the red kite was a welcome scavenger, helping to keep the streets clean. It was protected by royal decree, and the sentence for killing one was capital punishment.

Attitudes changed and by the 16^th century, the birds were regarded as vermin, along with other birds of prey. Wrongly accused by gamekeepers of taking game chicks, they were hunted to extinction in England in 1871, Scotland in 1879 and Ireland. The road to annihilation was helped by the bird’s growing scarcity, which encouraged taxidermists and egg collectors, strange methods to pay tribute to a species.

Efforts to protect the birds began in 1903 but by then only a small handful had managed to survive in the remote hilly reaches of mid-Wales.

Recovery was slow. The Welsh birds lived in an area of meagre food supply, so breeding success was limited and they could not expand their range.

 A scheme to re-establish red kites was launched in 1989 in the Chilterns in southern England, and the Black Isle in northern Scotland, the major players being the RSPB, Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage.

Red kite being chased off by a crow

Red kites in the south of England numbered around 4,000 pairs in 2017, but the Black Isle had less than 100 pairs. The low rate in the Black Isle was almost certainly due to illegal killing, particularly near shooting estates. Gamekeepers dislike birds of prey killing the game chicks they have raised to be shot in their thousands by others.

The red kite is protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.