May 12th – Where are the strings?

I got another slap for this comment when my eagle eyed wife said “look at the Red kites”. Not my best photo, as they were very high, but nice to see anyway.

After being almost wiped out in the UK, a re-introduction programme was launched. In 1989, six Swedish birds were released at a site in north Scotland and four Swedish and one Welsh bird in Buckinghamshire. Altogether, 93 birds of Swedish and Spanish origin were released at each of the sites, with the last birds released in 1993 in Scotland and 1994 in England. 

The first successful breeding was recorded at both sites in 1992, and two years later kites reared in the wild themselves reared young for the first time. Successful breeding populations have become established in both locations.

These early successes justified the next stages of the programme with the aim to produce five self-sustaining breeding populations of red kites in Britain by year 2000. The eventual aim is to ensure that the red kite breeding population expands to colonise all suitable habitat throughout the UK.

Published by taumataman

Slightly mad, with a love of nature and photography.

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