Tuesday 13 July 2010

Lake District Red Kites

There was some great news reported on the BBC's North West Tonight show last night about the re-introduction of Red Kites to the Lake District...

90 juvenile birds are to be released over a three year period, starting with 30 youngsters in a couple of weeks time.
The young Kites have been bred at a site in Rockingham Forest in Northamptonshire and have been transported to a holding pen at their new home in Grizedale Forest in the Lake District ready for the big release day.
After the release, the Red Kites will continue to be fed until they have learnt to fend for themselves and special care has been taken so that the birds will not become accustomed with human contact.
All the birds will be tagged just like the one below so progress can be monitored.

It really is another great effort by conservationists who have worked tirelessly over the last 20 years or so to re-establish the Red Kite as a common sight in Britain...Up to a few hundred years ago the species was widespread.

Lessons have been learnt from the great success of the species in Wales, thanks in no small part to the team at Gigrin Farm in Powys.

4 comments:

  1. Wow that's a good effort. I hope it will be successful, it is a magnificent bird! Your flight pictures are wonderful!

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  2. Anthony very majestic bird, and you capture beautifully. Anna :)

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  3. Re-introduction was successful in the Chilterns so why not in the Lake District. An elegant bird, well captured. Cheers FAB.

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  4. Thanks very much for you're kind comments everyone.
    I totally agree with you Frank, I'm feeling pretty confident that theses releases will be a success and looking forward to seeing more of these beauties gracing our skys.

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