Summer holidays last week with some time on the edge of the Brecon Beacons followed by a fabulous day walking in the Yorkshire Dales. Two rather different events were linked by close views of one or our most iconic species. The first a relaxing late afternoon with Gin & Tonic in hand, sat outside our delightfully cute shepherd’s hut nestled on the edge of the Brecon Beacons and then a rather less relaxing roadside stop to change a badly ripped tyre courtesy of a stray bit of Yorkshire stone wall. Both areas are strongholds for the Red Kite a bird that for some in the southern half of Britain is increasingly appearing in gardens.
Red Kites are the only resident kite species in Britain and are a conservation success story having recovered from years of persecution with the help of several reintroduction schemes and can now be encountered with some frequency in many areas in England, Scotland and Wales.
Both my sightings were of individuals typically flying quite low, slowly hunting for dead prey. Red Kites are almost exclusively scavengers and only occasionally catch live prey. Relatively easy to identify, with long wings, deeply forked tail and rufous/ginger cast over the body, wings and upperparts they are an elegant raptor with a lazy flight style, tails often twisting in the air as they search for food.
Red Kite on the wing
In areas where Red Kite numbers have recovered and increased this canny scavenger is beginning to reappear in urban areas and occasionally gardens that can offer rich pickings. In fact some urban garden feeders have even taken to feeding Red Kites scraps. If you do have Red Kites visiting your garden we’d advise not feeding until late afternoon to allow them to use their natural foraging habits earlier in the day and the best foods are those based on whole small mammals (e.g. mouse or rat). Don’t use any carcasses that may have been poisoned. Do remove uneaten food at the end of the day to avoid attracting rats.
Other small garden birds may disperse if a Red Kite suddenly arrives into your garden but this will be a short absence as most small birds will re-appear within a short time to garden feeders. If you’ve had a Red Kite in your garden why not share the experience in the comments.
Our Garden Birder’s Diary is written by Northumberland-based birder Alan Tilmouth who has been birdwatching for over 30 years and writing about birds in various guises for the last decade. A keen garden birdwatcher, he also manages to unearth the odd rare bird on his travels. You can find Alan on Twitter and his Facebook blog.
Love these birds. Moved from Hampshire (where they reappeared in abundance in the early 2000s, to Yorkshire near the moors. To my delight there are some near where I live. Love watching their elegance in the sky.
We had a lone red kite circling the gardens where we live. Appeared more than once a day for about 2 weeks then disappeared.
We go to Wales on a regular basis and watch the feeding of the Red Kites at Gigrin Farm and Nant yr Arian. What a spectacle! Life changing for us, and it takes our breath away every time. We never get bored of watching them glide so gracefully in the sky and swooping down for the food. We have them around Rutland but not in the same numbers and of course they arnt fed around here
I live in North Bucks and kites are almost as common as starlings here. We see them flying low over our house and they never fail to amaze us with their grace and beauty.
I recently moved from the Chilterns where kites are abundant, to the Cotswolds where Kites are less so. We used to have a good Buzzard population but now the Kites appear to have moved in and driven them off.
I did witness a Kite conference this year with one bird soaring to great height until it was joined by numerous others which then spent some time chasing and calling to each other.
I live in a village about 4 miles from Northampton. Just recently Red Kites have appeared, circling quite low, above the gardens. There was just one to begin with, (I thought it was a buzzard initially, until I got a clearer look at it), but now there are two. I now look out for them appearing around 14:30-15:00. Absolutely beautiful in flight!
My father, who lives near Lampeter, regularly has red kites in his open garden, set in a valley. He puts out scraps daily and then waits for them to swoop down to collect the offerings. I managed to capture this with my iphone when I last visited my father in August.
We have at least 2 Red Kites fly over our garden and hear them often. 1 did come in garden but took a Starling! Not nice but then that is nature.
I’ve always loved kites and will never forget the time I first saw a kite in England – I had just moved from my native west Wales where I used to often see them when riding in the Welsh mountains, I hadn’t ralised they had been re-introduced to England. Now see them all the time and there are a couple of nesting pairs where we keep the horses, they often come down to drink at the water troughs and don’t seem at all worried by the horses. Such beautiful birds!
I live in the Chilterns – there are Red Kites everywhere. I love these birds but do wonder if they are overfeed by humans. I thought we were not allowed to feed them meat scraps?
We live on the borders of Northamptonshire,Warwickshire and Leicestershire and see the occasional red kite. Often see buzzards so are very excited when we realise it is a kite and not the expected buzzard!
Just had a kite fly by our kitchen window in Northamptonshire, near borders with Warwickshire and Leicestershire. This about the fourth one we have seen this year.
There are loads in Rutland now we see them every day. I put food out for the birds and they circle my garden, today one came closest to landing in the garden. I hope that this will happen this year as it has been a goal to take a good picture of one close up.
We live in Yateley, Hampshire……after preparing dinner we put the fat off our pork chop on our patio table
as we enjoy watching the magpies and crows feeding……we have a very, very small garden but was stunned just
now to see a red kite swoop down to grab some of our fat three times!!!! It was enormous!!!!!!
Where I live in the Chilterns they are very common, and are a menace. We can no longer eat in the garden as they will quite brazenly steal food right from the table. They are like seagulls in Brighton. They do not need to be fed by humans. Exciting I’m sure if you’ve never seen one. Around here, a menace. And yes, they are big birds. Would you leave your child in the garden with an ice cream? I wouldn’t.
Recently seen a red kite flying over my house in Swansea. I’ve seen him on two seperate occasions over the past week.
I live near Oxford. Red kites are everywhere. I see atleast 6-8 flying daily. I’ve started to notice they fly in groups of four occasionally. Maybe the parents teaching young. However, I’ve always fed smaller garden birds everyday and enjoy doing so, but since a kite attack and my garden full of starling feathers suddenly, all the smaller birds have disappeared! It’s been weeks now, my feeder is not being used, neither food I throw on the ground for them. The red kites have literally scared all other birds away