The Red Kite: A Success ?

A one footed pigeon eating chips off the pavement, a seagull sifting through the a general waste bin, or maybe a duck choking on piece of white bread. When you think of the birds in the UK’s urban capital, it doesn’t often seem that we’re spoilt for choice. Certainly, you wouldn’t expect to see a five and a half foot wingspan bird of prey. This however, was not always the case.

Over 400 years ago the Red Kite was a common sight in London, they acquired the nickname “hat birds” due to the fact they would snatch people’s hats and there are even references to them in several of Shakespeare’s plays. However, as is the story for many other birds, they were hunted and eventually, in the late 1800’s, became extinct from England and Scotland. A few pairs of the breeding Kite’s remained in Wales.

In the 1980s conservation efforts to reintroduce the birds into England began and have since prevailed. Red Kites were brought over from other European countries such as Spain and Sweden and now the UK boasts 6,000 breeding pairs. The RSPB estimates the population to continue to grow at around 14% per year. 

On the surface this seems like a huge success, however there are rising concerns, not for the kites though, but for their prey. It is feared by some that this rapid increase will have adverse effects on other endangered bird populations while they adapt to a new apex predator. The kite’s prey include the chicks of lapwings, skylarks, grey partridges and curlews all of which feature on the UK’s Red List for endangered birds. For now however, the Red Kite is championed as a symbol of successful bird conservation efforts, but only the future can know if it will stand the test of time.