3. 4 5
Published in 2012 by Christopher Helm, an
imprint of A & C Black Publishers ltd., 38 Soho
Square, London W1D 3HB
Copyright 2012, text by Jade Aldworth
Copyright 2012, illustrations by Aldworth & Co.
Photographic Studios
ISBN-13: 968-8-6743-7648-7
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or used in any form or by any
means - photographic, electronic or mechani-
cal, including photocopying, recording, taping or
informational storage and retrieval systems
- without permission of the publishers.
Typeset and designed by J. Aldworth,
University Campus Suffolk, Lowestoft, Suffolk,
UK
Printed and bound in Lowestoft by Graphics
Matter Ltd
Contents
Foreword
About the Event
History & Conservation
Identification
Assembly Instructions
Acknowledgements
Further Reading
HELM
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8
10
14
16
18
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4. 6 7
Foreword
Thank you for purchasing this kite and helping to raise money to aid
the conservation efforts to return the Red Kite to the skies. The Red
Kite is a bird of prey that was rescued from extinction in England
due to persecution from land owners as it was once classed by many
as vermin. I have chosen Red Kites as my subject for my book from
my research into birds of prey; I began by looking at birds of prey in
general such as their size, colour and habits, also looking at how they
were used in traditional falconry, not as display pieces but as a way of
surviving by hunting, for example: rabbits, hares and game
birds (pheasants, quail etc.).
There are many other birds that I have not looked at but what
interested me about birds of prey are their use in history, the Red
kite is not commonly used in falconry but it was through looking
at the raptors, that I came across the history of this bird. I had
intended originally on going down the route of falconry for this book,
illustrating all the things necessary for the sport, including: equipment,
care and training of the birds; on my way to completing this I found
logos for various bird organisations and articles in the RSPB magazine
about birds of prey in the wild, these birds were facing difficulties as
they were getting poisoned by the chemicals used on farms and waste
from industry, both accidental and intentional, along with illegal
trapping, shooting and electrocution by land owners that feared them.
The fear of these birds came from the reasoning that they were scaring
and attacking livestock and even taking small dogs as prey. There was
also a legend that a white tailed sea eagle had attacked a baby and
taken it to its nest but the baby was retrieved and reasonably unscathed
from its encounter; it was stories like this that reinforced fears of the
birds of prey.
We hope to see you and your kite at one of our
fund raising events across the UK.
5. 8 9
About the Event
The event will be held at the various RSPB reserves across the UK throughout 2012. Included will be talks
about the Red Kites and other events such as guided tours to see wild Red Kites and at some of our locations
you could even witness the Red Kites feeding at our specialist feeding stations.
The event will be held at the following locations:
1 Tollie Red Kites 12 February See Red Kites here
(Dingwall, Highland)
2 Leighton Moss 19 February
(Carnforth, Lancashire)
3 Lake Vrynwy 26 February See Red Kites here
(Welshpool, Powys)
4 Minsmere 4 March
(Saxmundham, Suffolk)
5 The Nature Discovery Centre 11 March
(Thatcham, Berkshire)
6 Radipole Lake 18 March
(Weymouth, Dorset)
7 Dungeness 25 March
(Lydd, Kent)
8 Newport Wetlands 31 March See Red Kites here
(Newport, Wales)
9 Bempton Cliffs 7 April
(Bridlington, East Yorkshire)
10 Belfast Lough 14 April
(Belfast, Northern Ireland)
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6. 10 11
History & Conservation
The Red Kite is a bird of prey that was rescued from extinction in England due to persecution from land
owners as it was once classed by many as vermin. I have chosen Red Kites as my subject for my book from
my research into birds of prey; I began by looking at birds of prey in general such as their size, colour and
habits, also looking at how they were used in traditional falconry, not as display pieces but as a way of
surviving by hunting, for example: rabbits, hares and game birds (pheasants, quail etc.).
There are many other birds that I have not looked at but what interested me about birds of prey are their use
in history, the Red kite is not commonly used in falconry but it was through looking at the raptors, that I
came across the history of this bird.
I had intended originally on going down the route of falconry for this book, illustrating all the things
necessary for the sport, including: equipment, care and training of the birds; on my way to completing this
I found logos for various bird organisations and articles in the RSPB magazine about birds of prey in the
wild, these birds were facing difficulties as they were getting poisoned by the chemicals used on farms and
waste from industry, both accidental and intentional, along with illegal trapping, shooting and electrocution
by land owners that feared them.
The fear of these birds came from the reasoning that they were scaring and attacking livestock and even
taking small dogs as prey. There was also a legend that a white tailed sea eagle had attacked a baby and
taken it to its nest but the baby was retrieved and reasonably unscathed from its encounter; it was stories like
this that reinforced fears of the birds of prey.
Educating people about the birds helps to protect them as many generations would have been influenced by
the superstition of their family. These birds are beautiful and also useful for farmers to control pests such
as rabbits. It is true that various birds of prey will take chickens and young pheasants (that are likely to be
being raised to be hunted by people for sport) but they have the right to feed and there are schemes that will
reimburse farmers if they can prove that they have lost stock due to the birds. Many of the birds are also
assumed to be guilty of taking larger livestock such as sheep; this is impossible for their size to achieve this
so it was most likely that the livestock were killed by natural causes or by a fox or even dogs, then the birds
came in as scavengers feeding on the already dead animals.
In the 16th Century a vermin act made it law to kill Red Kites in parishes of Wales and England; The
Red Kites were classed as vermin as they were thought to be a threat to expanding agriculture, this
caused the beginning of the end for Red Kites in England as they continued to be killed through the
17th and 18th Century at an increased rate due to the increased number of gamekeepers hired in late
18th century due to the initiation of parliamentary enclosures.
During the 16th Century I found that the Red Kite specifically was actually a prey bird that was
hunted with other species such as Gyr falcons; to hunt the kites (not clear from history whether it was
the Red or Black Kites) two Gyrs would be flown together as one would not be able to take down the
Kite alone as the Kite a very agile bird and could outmanoeuvre a lone Gyr. Two or more birds flying
together in falconry is called a cast, it is recorded that James I had his falconer, Sir Thomas Monson,
spend a thousand pounds to train his cast of Gyr to take Kites, most of this money would have
gone towards trapping Kites so they could be used to train the Gyr.
Red Kites can be used for falconry displays as they are very good at catching food on the
wing and flying through obstacles but they are fairly reluctant to fly to the glove, the Red
Kites are very much like vultures with their habits and are usually suitable to fly in a cast
to demonstrations made to the public. As a bird for hunting animals that can be eaten
by the falconers, they are not very useful as they are mainly scavengers and are weak
hunters, only able to bring down small birds or young rabbits and rodents making them
useless as falconry birds in its traditional sense. This is probably why they were never
used in history other than for targets to be hunted.
I have chosen the Red Kite from the many birds I could have chosen that are
threatened because of their story, the Red Kite was extinct from Britain,
Scotland and Northern Ireland by the late 18th century,
with a very small number left in Wales.
7. 12 13
There were some land owners in Wales that realised that these birds
were disappearing and made an unofficial protection programme to
keep these birds from going extinct in the country, it worked to keep
the numbers from completely disappearing for around a hundred years
by the commitment of the generations after the initial founders. In
1977 it was found that the entire population of known Red Kites and
descended from one female, suggesting that there could have been
only one breeding pair left when the program was set up, due to the
reasoning that Red Kites commonly pair for life. The program has
had problems due to egg thieves as when a bird is getting close to
extinction it becomes a target for collectors who want to get an egg
before time runs out for the bird and they are gone forever from the
country. There are still Red Kites in Europe with the main population
covering Germany, Spain and France; it has recently been estimated
that around twenty to twenty-three thousand breeding pairs.
A breeding programme was set up to transfer young birds from Europe
that could then be released into the UK so they would breed with the
existing Red Kites. This was done so that the gene pool could be varied
to prevent in-breeding deformities and illnesses. Since the breeding
program has been put into place, the numbers of Red Kites in Wales
has risen from a monitored seventy-six in 1991 to five hundred and
sixty-eight in 2008, Southern England held two monitored pairs in
1991, which has grown to one hundred and sixty-two in 2008 and
northern Scotland had one breeding pair introduced in 1992 which
has been expanded to fifty in 2008. These numbers are only for the
ringed birds there may be many more that are not monitored. It is also
important to note that these numbers include the transferred birds
and does not guarantee that they will breed successfully every year
to increase the population at this rate but it is a good sign to see the
numbers are increasing with birds repopulating the areas that they
haven’t been seen in over a century.
CourtesyoftheWelshKiteTrust
8. 14 15
Identification
Red Kites are distinctive birds due to their forked tail and chestnut red body, they have white patches on
their wings and black feather tips on the end primary feathers and a grey head (Figure 1). Red Kites are
usually seen soaring on air currents, rarely needing to beat their wings, this is due to their large wingspan
of between 154-180cm and their small body weight of between 750-1300g, at higher altitudes the Red Kite
may be identified by its silhouette (Figure 2). The Red Kite belongs to the genus Milvus which gives it the
scientific name Milvus milvus this is shared by the Black Kite (Milvus migrans) and the Yellow-Billed Kite
(Milvus parasitus). There was once a Cape Verde Kite but it has become extinct (declared in 2000) as it only
existed in the Cape Verde Islands. It was not verified that the Cape Verde Kite was part of the genus Milvus
but there are reports of some surviving cross breeds with Black Kites suggesting that they had similarities to
be compatible.
Red Kites have been known to live on average about twenty years but they have been recorded to live to
almost thirty with the oldest captive bird surviving to thirty-eight years old. The Red Kite begins breeding
at the age of two or three and will lay between one and four eggs in a flat nest which spans about two feet
in width; in Wales the nests are is usually exclusively lined with sheep’s wool. These nests are usually built in
hardwood trees such as Oak from four to thirty meters from the ground. This may show why the Red Kites
have had troubles as logging has cleared many natural forests with tall trees and replaced them with fast
growing Pine which is a softwood. The Red Kite lays its eggs in three day intervals, this creates a dominant
chick that is the most likely to survive if the food is scarce but due to many specialist feeding sites, the birds
have a greater chance to feed their young.
The incubation period lasts about thirty-one days from the egg being laid; this incubation is mostly carried
out by the female who will switch with the male only long enough to feed herself. Once the chicks hatch,
the female will feed the young meat that the male brings to the nest, this usually lasts seven to nine weeks
depending on how much food the male can bring, the young will fledge but remain around the nesting site
for a few more weeks to be fed before they completely leave the nesting site.
Not far from Gigrin Farm, Rhayader, (a feeding station in Wales) a White kite was born in 2003, this bird
was not albino but Leucistic, this a colouring deformity causes the bird to have no pigment in the feathers
and blue eyes (whereas albino have pink eyes), the white Red Kite is most likely alive due to the food given
by the feeding stations as normally the pale colour would be a problem when hunting and would attract
attention by other birds which may not have seen a brown/red bird. According to the Gigrin Farms’ website
1% of welsh kites are born with this abnormality and that this bird has gone on to be the first white red kite
to have been recorded breeding although it is not known whether there were any successful chicks. Also at
Gigrin Farm a Black Kite, not thought to appear in the UK anymore, was spotted at the feeding station, it
was not explained but it was most likely a migrant from Europe.
In Europe Red Kites from the North and Central tend to migrate to the Mediterranean basin, where they
will spend the winter although in mild winters the Red Kites will stay in their summer territories.
This differs from the British Red Kites that do not migrate, the breeding pairs may split over the winter
to find food for themselves and return to the breeding site in the spring to begin courtship displays that
include stunts of flying at each other and dodging at the last minute or locking talons and tumbling down
from height letting go at around tree level (locking talons can also be seen in fighting males which can lead
to hitting the ground and death).
Figure 1 Figure 2
9. 16 17
Assembly Instructions
Included in the box you will find 30m of kite line and the
following pieces:
A x1
B x 2
C x 2
x1
x 11
D x 2
E x 2
F x 2
Starting with A velcro side up, fit
five rods into the holes (Figure 1).
Next, insert B over the centre top
rod and C over the top left and
right with the velcro facing up
(Figure 2).
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6Again with the velcro facing up,
put D over the end of each left
and right rod and add a new rod
connecting D to B (Figure 3).
Insert E as shown on Figure 4.
Insert another rod in place;
do this for both wings (remember
to keep the velcro side up).
To complete the frame, slide F
over the newly fitted rod from
E on both sides and put rods to
connect F to C (Figure 5), this
completes the frame (Figure 6).
With the frame complete, lay out
the kite material with the velcro
facing up and flip the frame over
and align to velcro so that it
holds. Next insert the rods into
the pockets on the material, this
will keep the frame together.
10. 18 19
Acknowledgments
Special thanks for photographs supplied by: Carl Baldry (cover image),
Adam Mclure (page 11), Terry Pickford (page 12).
A further mention to the Welsh Kite Trust for providing values for the
Red Kite population and history along with Phillip Glasier for further
information on the history of falconry.
Further Reading
To find out more about the Red Kites please visit:
Gigrin Farm website, www.gigrin.co.uk - for Red Kite feeding times and location
Welsh Kite Trust website, www.gigrin.co.uk/w/ - for Red Kite statistics and sightings
RSPB Red Kite information website, www.rspb.org.uk/redkite - for Red Kite information
The Red Kite in Wales by John Evans (1991) - Christopher Davies Publishers
RSPB Birds of Britain and Europe by Rob Hume (2011) - Dorling Kindersley Publishers
