A Red Kite Tale October 2025
By Kerry Williams: Communications Officer – Conservation, Sussex Wildlife Trust
On holiday in the late 90s, my family and I made a visit to a working Mid-Wales farm. As we watched from purpose-built hides, a group of magnificent wild birds of prey started to gather in the surrounding trees, eventually descending to pick up scraps of meat from the ground; a flurry of auburn feathers and forked tails. I remember being stunned by the sheer number; I was used to spotting a lone Kestrel or Buzzard but had never seen so many birds of prey at once.
The farm is famed for their supplementary Red Kite feeding, held there daily since advised by the RSPB in 1992 to support efforts to encourage the preservation of the species. The UK Red Kite population had been decimated due to long-term persecution, driven by an incorrect belief that they threatened game birds. Red Kites will hunt small mammals, such as Rabbits, but are mostly scavengers, preferring to take carrion rather than live prey. By the late 1980s numbers were drastically low, and with only a handful of breeding pairs in Wales, the species was nearly extinct in the UK.
But change was in the air. Following a release of several birds in the Chilterns in 1990, efforts by many conservation organisations and committed individuals to support and resettle the species have made the Red Kite reintroduction one of the most successful and renowned conservation stories in the UK. The species now soars in many areas of the British Isles, which is home to an estimated 4,500 breeding pairs. Whereas during my Welsh farm visit we perhaps saw 80 birds, they now welcome up to 500.
We know that memorable interactions for children and young people with our natural world can create lasting connections; vital to the continued conservation of our precious wildlife and habitats. Even though they are now abundant in places, I am still overjoyed to see a Red Kite, perched in a bare branch or hovering over a motorway. When I do, I am often put in mind of that experience at the farm 25 years ago. I had no idea I was witnessing part of such an incredible story.