Red Kites and the Chilterns
I don't know the Chilterns very well but I do see a lot of Red Kites there when travelling on the M40. So yesterday it was good to watch them from a footpath.
A few of my rugby chums were gathering ahead of the England v France match and one of them, Stuart Fletcher, invited us on one of his guided walks - an 11-mile hike from Great Missenden to High Wycombe.
You can't walk anywhere in the Chilterns these days without seeing lots of Red Kites. They dominate all the other bird life. But there weren't any here at all until about 1992 when a breeding pair were brought over from West Wales.
The breeding programme has been phenomenally successful and although there are still tagged birds in the area, far more of them are untagged. The Chilterns is thought to have between 400 and 500 breeding pairs today. It's one of those programmes where there is no longer any need to collect sightings, other than tracking how the birds are extending their range. I hope it won't be long before they reach Surrey.
Labels: Chilterns, Great Missenden, High Wycombe, Red Kites, Stuart Fletcher
posted by Richard Donkin at
9:46 AM
2 Comments:
Hi
Whilst 'surfing the net' I came across your comment about the kites in the Chilterns. Just to clarify a quick point, the kites were reintroduced to the Chilterns (and the Black Isle in Scotland) beginning in 1989, the birds were brought in from Spain. The first successful breeding in the Chilterns occured in 1992. Hope this is of help!
I forgot to mention, the kites in the Chilterns are still monitored, and the we continue to welcome reports of sightings of wingtagged kites, regardless of where they are.
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