Aberystwyth: In 1977 one female bird was identified as the source for all UK kites, however today it is a rare success tale in British conservationIn the sunlit garden of a friend, the air suddenly filled with red kites, circling above our heads, peering into the small hour we occupied. We counted seven of them. A century ago this would have been near enough the entire British population. A century and a half before that, Thomas Pennant recorded kites breeding at Gray’s Inn. With the enclosure acts, the growth of “sporting” estates led to the red kite being sacrificed to psychopathic pleasures of the gentry.In 1977 one female bird was identified as the source for all UK kites, so small was the breeding stock. Today the red kite is a rare success tale in British nature conservation. Twenty years ago Spanish birds were introduced into the Chilterns – 500 breeding pairs are there immediately. In Wales, from having “survived as a beleaguered remnant in a remote part” (in the words of ornithologist Leslie Brown), it’s an everyday sight in the hills. I’ve much seen one scavenging between stalls at Machynlleth’s weekly market – a sight that would have delighted the late Bill Condry, a Twitter Nation diarist and champion of the red kite. It was commonplace in Jacobean London, where the bird was the capital’s most vital agent of sanitation.I saw my first red kite on an autumn day 50 years ago from hills above the headwaters of the Tywi, before spruce plantations raked to ashes the flaming bracken-ridges of Elenydd – fire-tints all encircling me, and overhead also, the fire-tint in feathers spread wide against the sun.I remember the visionary thrill of that occasion, and the indolent, faintly tremulous grace as they wheeled and glided in slow circles. Kites are leisurely birds, also simple prey for the gamekeeper’s gun, also susceptible as carrion-feeders to his poisoned bait. Perhaps they’re not our loveliest raptor – a male hen-harrier is surely that, and a peregrine is swifter and more certain in its flight (the one species threatened, the other again in decline). However to see one is still a gift.ConservationWildlifeBirdsRural affairsAnimalsJim Perringuardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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