RED KITE: a hard won triumph for conservationists

WHEN the red kite soars majestically into the sky, it is easy to see why research on the threshold of the new Millennium dubbed it "the success story of the century" among British birds.

With a wingspan almost as large as the golden eagle's, the red kite offers a thrilling spectacle to anyone watching it riding cold country breezes.

Human intervention was needed to bring this fork-tailed predator back from the brink of extinction with the Chilterns region of southern England playing a leading role in the conservation project.

Although still not a common sight everywhere in the UK, the vision of that great rust-coloured body scything through the sky is something more and more people can now enjoy while out walking.

It seems a little ironic that one of the chief causes of the bird's decline in the first place was Man's stupidity.

Countless numbers of red kite were killed by farmers, landowners, and gamekeepers, afraid that they would prey on newborn lambs or decimate game bird stocks.

Even today, with more people recognising that kites are mainly scavengers of carrion and killers of rabbits, they can fall victim to the mindlessly wielded shotgun.

Some are also poisoned or die from eating other creatures that have themselves been poisoned.

In addition, red kite eggs are highly prized by illegal egg collectors and a constant vigil is needed at the birds' secret nest sites by teams of wildlife minders.

Taking all this into account, the resurgence of the red kite marks a remarkable achievement for the joint efforts of the RSPB and English Nature who originally brought in new red kites from Spain over a decade ago.

From the start, the Chilterns was at the forefront of the project with those first 'foreigners' released locally to recolonise the area.

Since then, during one particularly successful year, breeding pairs of red kite reared 153 young at various sites all over the country.

The Chilterns' own population is now so well established that its young are regularly transported elsewhere to recolonise suitable new areas.

Birds from the Chilterns were released into the east Midlands back in 1997 and 1998 with other Chilterns' young starting new lives in Yorkshire after that.

But it hasn't all been good news.

Serious fears have been raised about red kites scavenging dead rats on farmland.

In England alone, eight kites perished and, when examined, their bodies all revealed the same cause: rat poison.

Even so, the RSPB remains confident that red kites will continue to go from strength to strength.

"Red kites have now become a familiar sight in several different parts of the country," said a spokesman."They are very much at home in areas where they have been missing for over a century. This is a real conservation success story."

And a pat on the back for the Chilterns, too.