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The Red Kite has been more commonly seen in West Wales over the last few years.
Today, we see Kites every day and on a drive from our farm near New
Quay into Aberystwyth we may see as many as seven or eight. Ten years ago, they were
only established further inland around the hills of Tregaron and Llandewi Brefi, but they seldom ventured to the Ceredigion coast. Today, there are more Red Kites in Ceredigion than in any other county of Wales.
Most of us who have seen a Red Kite will have observed from afar. We probably watched it soaring and gliding over a hillside as a dark silhouette, sometimes little more than a speck in the sky. We can't see much, little colour and hardly any movement of the wings. That aside, we are usually delighted to have seen this rare bird. Close up, the Red Kite's distinctive colours can be clearly seen. The bird is a chestnut red with distinctive white patches under the wings and a lighter coloured head. The legs and feet are yellow.
The Red Kite spends long hours soaring on the rising air currents above a hillside, often without flapping its slender wings for many minutes. The bird is superbly adapted as a glider, with a wing span of almost two metres, but with a body mass of only one kilo. Its long forked tail provides the perfect balance and control required to take advantage of the slightest up draught. Only when it sees prey or encounters a challenger is there a change in its routine.
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Historical
The Red Kite
has been in Britain for a very long time. Red
Kite bones dating back 120,000 years have been found in the caves of
the Gower
peninsula in South Wales along with the remains of straight-tusked
elephant, hippopotamus, mammoth, soft-nosed rhinoceros, cave bear, wolf
and lion.
At that time, the English channel did not exist and
Britain was part of the European mainland. South Wales was joined to
Somerset
and Devon by a deep wooded valley and the birds and animals were
untroubled by
Mankind - he had not arrived in Britain then.
Mesolithic
hunter-gatherers arrived some ten thousand
years ago and set about changing the natural landscape. Farming began
about six
thousand years ago and for the first time Mankind found himself in
competition
with various wildlife species.
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There is no doubt that in medieval times,
the Red Kite was
a common and familiar bird throughout Britain. The Red Kite is
mentioned by
Chaucer in the Knight's Tale (c 1390) and London was described by
Shakespeare as
a 'city of Kites and Crows'.
A rare leucistic Red Kite
This kite is a rare colour variation, and
has survived probably because of
the various Red Kite feeding stations that have been established.
Although
mainly white, this kite has blue eyes and some darker colouration in
its
plumage. It is not an albino, which would be completely white with pink
eyes.
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William
Turner - born 1508 - wrote about the Red
Kite in Avium praecipuarum historia, 1544. He
noted that they would dare
to 'snatch bread from children, fish from women and
handkerchiefs from hedges'.
In 1457, James
the second of Scotland decreed that the
Kite should be killed wherever possible, but it remained protected in
England
and Wales along with the Raven for another hundred years, as it served
the
purpose of cleaning the streets of carrion.
A law was
passed in 1566 in which a number of birds and
mammals thought to be in competition with the rural community were
encouraged to
be killed. A bounty was established that offered 'one penney
for the head of
every Woodwall (Woodpecker), Pye, Jaye, Raven or Kyte.' Over
the next two
hundred years, a virtual war was waged by the rural community on a
number of
birds and mammals, including the Red Kite, which were trapped and
killed to near
if not total extinction. The hobby of egg collecting did much to reduce
numbers
as they became even less common.
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At the end of the
nineteenth century, there were only a
dozen or less Red Kites in Britain, their last refuge in these islands
being
central Wales. In recent years, the Red Kite has increased in numbers -
particularly in Wales and around the Chiltern Hills in England and is
not now
the rarity that it was just a few years ago.
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The
Life cycle of the Red Kite
The
Red Kite mates for life and forms a relationship with
its mate at between two to four years of age. They nest early,
beginning nest
building as early as February with the two to four eggs being laid in
March or
April. The nests are untidy structures in trees - usually Oak trees and
are up
to one metre in diameter. They are often decorated with
sheep's wool,
plastic bags and other collected items, while the nest lining is made
from
sheep's wool. In medieval London, the Kite would take handkerchiefs and
small
items of clothing from washing lines - so much so that Shakespeare
wrote: 'When
the Kite builds, look to lesser linen'. In 1871, J. E.
Harting wrote that a
nest was decorated with 'small pieces of linen, part of a
saddle girth, a bit
of harvest glove, part of a straw bonnet, pieces of paper and a worsted
garter.'
The
eggs are incubated mainly by the female Kite for
thirty one or thirty two days. After hatching, the male
brings food back
to the nest for the female, who tears it into smaller pieces to feed
the young
birds. The young Kites remain in the nest for about eight
weeks until they
are fully fledged and ready for their first flight.
The
Red Kite has very keen eyesight and can detect the
minute movements of small animals from high in the air. Its diet is
varied,
ranging from invertebrates to small mammals and birds and carrion.
However, it
will not kill a lamb or sheep although it will feed from the carcass of
a dead
sheep after stronger scavengers have exposed the entrails.
A
Red Kite Encounter
Crows are commonly seen mobbing
buzzards, less commonly Red kites. However, one such encounter this
Easter gave me an insight into the grace, beauty and skill of the Kite.
The combatants on this occasion first appeared from out of the distance
as no more than dots against the bluest of April skies. Only as they
came closer, jousting low over a deep valley could they be identified.
The crow flapping away continuously and lunging at the Kite with its
beak whenever the opportunity arose. In contrast the kite scarcely
moved its wings, folding and turning them only to change direction as
it tried to grab the crow with momentarily outstretched
talons.
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The
Kite circled the Oak tree once, then, folding its wings close to its
body plunged down towards the Crow and its nest just as a Peregrine
would stoop to its prey. As the Kite turned, the sunlight reflected
from the feathers, clearly showing the russet and white pattern atop
the wings. The dark silhouette had become transformed at once into an
object of beauty.
Somehow
the Kite passed through the bare branches of the Oak without catching
the Crow or hitting any branches. The Kite was persistent, repeatedly
diving on the hapless Crow but without success.
Each swooping dive brought
raucous cries of
protestation from the smaller bird. The Crow took to the air again and
the fight
was rejoined, the birds circling the Oak tree and the Crow taking
occasional
refuge in its branches. We watched the birds for a good ten minutes as
the Kite
became more aggressive and the Crow became at the same time more
defensive. They
flew lower and lower as the duel continued, the birds descending into
the valley
below the meadow. We waited for some time, expecting to see the birds
appear
again
Some hours later the Crow and
its mate were
back at the nest in the Oak tree and the Kite was circling high above
the
valley, once more a dot in the sky. Only later did we discover that the
Kite was
also nesting close by. This explained its aggressive behaviour toward
the Crow
as it too came close to its nest! Later we saw this aerial jousting
repeated a
number of times, but only when the Kite flew low over the fields near
the crow's
nest. Much of the time the Kite would soar high above the valley where
it seemed
the crow did not wish to venture. Despite their close proximity, both
the Kite
and Crow families successfully raised their young.
I will always regard my
observations that day
as special. They certainly gave me new insights into the grace, beauty
and
aerial skill of the Red Kite. I watched it executing complex aerial
manoeuvres
from both below and from above as it swooped down into the valley and
feel
privileged to have shared these moments with one of Britain's rarest
species.
all
photos by Rod Attrill
©2006 Rod Attrill
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