Red Kites

Red kites are an increasingly common sight across southern England, Wales, and Scotland. Driving through the Chilterns the other day, I spotted groups of them soaring over fields in dramatic free-wheeling displays to avoid the crows which mobbed them. But it is only comparatively recently that kites have returned in such numbers to our countryside.

 

History

Red kites have inhabited Britain for centuries. Bones dating back 120,000 years have been found in caves along the Gower Peninsula of South Wales, alongside those of cave bears and mammoths.

But in the mid-fifteenth century, King James II of Scotland ordered that red kites be killed ‘wherever possible’. This decree applied in Scotland alone. Kites – along with ravens – remained protected in England and Wales as they were considered useful in clearing carrion from the streets. The protection only lasted 100 years, until King Henry VIII’s accession heralded the arrival of the Tudors.

The Tudor Effect

In 1532, Henry passed the Preservation of Grain Act, which was later strengthened by his daughter, Elizabeth I. The Act made it compulsory for every man, woman and child to kill as many creatures as possible that appeared on an official list of ‘vermin’.

The act was established to counter food shortages and spread of disease caused by a series of bad harvests and a sharp rise in population. Henry VIII put a bounty on each creature, ranging from a penny for the head of a kite or a raven to 12 pence for a badger or a fox. Bearing in mind that the average agricultural wage was around four pence a day, these were large amounts of money.

The persecution lasted for decades, with communities which killed too few animals facing heavy fines. Researchers believe that the Tudors were responsible for starting the decline of some of our most iconic native species which remain endangered today.

Hedgehogs, for example, were on the list of ‘vermin’ because they were thought to suckle from cows at night. A hedgehog’s head was worth four pennies. During her reign as a Tudor, Elizabeth I set a bounty of one penny for the head of a wild cat. The level of dislike for the cats was so deep that many people paid up to twelve pence per head.

Reintroduction

By the early twentieth century, following decades of persecution, the few breeding kite pairs were in Wales. Kites were extinct in England and Scotland. In 1903 the Kite Committee was established with the aim of protecting the five pairs of kites left in Wales. By this time, the population decline had accelerated courtesy of Victorian egg collectors and taxidermists. A greater effort was needed to both protect, and reestablish the birds.

Fast forward to the late 1980s when the red kite reintroduction programme was set up. The scheme is one of the most successful UK reintroduction projects, and one of the longest running conservation projects worldwide. Red kites were brought to the UK from Sweden, Spain, and Germany, and introduced carefully into England and Scotland. The first chicks arising from the scheme hatched in 1992. The UK red kite population now stands at around 6,000, with some birds being reintroduced to Spain, where numbers have plummeted.

Did You Know?

Kites are designed for carrion eating. Their talons are not suited to hunting live prey, and only occasionally will they go after something living. This will most likely be an opportunist snatch of a young animal such as a chick, or a small rodent. Weighing on average 2-3lbs, kites are simply not designed for hunting, killing, and carrying larger animals.

The origin of the bird’s name is unclear. “Kite” comes from the Old English word cȳta, which itself might be from the Proto-Indo-European root gū-, meaning “screech”. Other sources suggest cȳta may come from the Aryan root skut, which means “to shoot” or “go swiftly”.

Toy kites took their name from the birds during the 1600s. Designed originally for adults to fly, kites later became popular children’s toys.

Kites are listed on the highest level of conservation protection, Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Under Schedule 1, it is illegal for any person to intentionally or recklessly disturb any wild bird included in the schedule while it is building a nest or is in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young; or disturb dependent young of such a bird. Red kites are also in Schedule 1A, which states that it is illegal for any person to intentionally or recklessly harass any of the wild birds listed.