The beautiful Red Kite is among the most elegant of all Scotland’s birds of prey. To watch the great fork-tailed raptors soaring aloft on wings that span up to two metres is surely one of the most breathtaking spectacles in the Highlands. Unfortunately the joy in seeing these beautiful birds is not shared by everyone. Although Red Kites are mostly carrion-eaters that pose no threat to game-rearing or farming interests, they continue to be mercilessly shot and poisoned by those who apparently regard them as little better than vermin. The killing is so widespread and unrelenting in Scotland that a question mark now hangs over the entire programme of Red Kite reintroduction. ?? (how many ??) Red Kites have been found poisoned in Scotland so far this year. Last year the tally of 16 dead including 10 illegal poisonings, was the worst on record. However, the number of counted corpses is believed to represent just  the tip of the iceberg.

Kevin Duffy concedes that the figures are depressing. However, he says it’s important not to get too gloomy in his job. He is the Red Kite Project Officer with RSPB Scotland and, despite all the evidence to the contrary, he insists that there is an enormous amount of goodwill towards the Red Kites in Scotland. The birds are being decimated, he says, by a combination of factors including persecutors and poisoners, egg collectors who rob nests and others who disturb breeding pairs.

Kevin says RSPB forensic testing reveals that many of the Red Kites died after eating baits laced with high levels of Carbofuran, an agricultural pesticide which, over the past decade, has become the most commonly used chemical in the illegal killing of Scottish wildlife. The use of poisoned baits in the open in Scotland has been illegal since 1912 and yet despite the risk of substantial fines, the practice continues. Many of the birds found poisoned in Scotland over the past two years were discovered near sporting estates and it is the management of these estates which tend to be blamed for the deaths.

Andrew Myles, head of advocacy at RSPB Scotland points to what he calls “a small number of irresponsible sporting estates”. He stresses that RSPB works closely and productively with many landowners and sporting estates across Scotland who do superb work for biodiversity. But, he says, there are others who “keep up a tradition of persecution of birds of prey which stretches back to the 19^th century when these birds were wiped out in their thousands and the Red Kite was persecuted to extinction along with the Osprey, Goshawk and the Sea Eagle. Birds of prey as a whole” he says, “are still being demonised in Scotland”. 

I asked Kevin Duffy how he deals with suspected poisoners. “All I can do is operate at the grass-roots level, to educate people,” he says. “I try to meet people face-to-face, to point out to the gamekeepers and those who run the sporting estates that Red Kites are in no way a threat to their commercial interests. Red Kites don’t kill game birds. They are scavengers who feed on carrion. I think most of the game keepers understand that by now”. And if they don’t. “Well,” Kevin said, ”it’s not our job to lay down the law. All keepers in Scotland are now aware that all birds of prey including Kites are protected. But there are some people who just don’t like birds of prey and perhaps don’t much care if they kill a Kite by accident. Others may be targeting other species such as foxes or crows with baits that the Red Kites pick up”.

A number of conservation organizations including RSPB Scotland have been lobbying for custodial sentences for the worst wildlife crimes such as poising. The Scottish Parliament is currently examining the possibility of introducing legislation next year which would bring Scottish laws into line with England and Wales where convicted wildlife criminals can face prison terms”.

Red Kites were first reintroduced to Scotland from Sweden in 1989. ?? (how many ??) birds were released on the fertile farmlands of the Black Isle not far from Inverness. Ninety three birds were released over the following five years. Simultaneous releases in the Chiltern Hill of southern England were designed to establish a chain of populations which would eventually link-up, re-establishing the Red Kites over what was once their entire former range. In central Scotland a further 103 birds from eastern Germany were released in another six-year programme which started in1996. “This year we have 17 breeding pairs and there must be at least 20 young in the nests so they’re doing very well,” Kevin Duffy says. “In 2001 we introduced 33 birds to Dumfries and Galloway – 12 from northern Scotland, 14 from southern England and seven from Germany. This year we’ve got 20 birds from northern Scotland and five from southern England so we are on track to meet our current target which is to release 90 birds by the year 2003”.

Red Kites are about the size of large gulls. They have long, narrow wings and distinctive forked tails, features which mean their flight is both buoyant and graceful, even acrobatic at times. In good light the chestnut colouring of the body and upper tail feathers contrasts with the pale grey head, black wing-tips and white underwing patches. In common with many birds of prey, female Kites are slightly larger than males. This is thought to be an adaptation to reduce competition between the sexes for food, although it may also be connected with the female’s greater commitment to defend the nest.

RSPB studies show that the most common source of food for Red Kites is dead rabbits and other carrion like dead sheep and shot pheasants. Kites will hunt wild prey such as voles and mice and sometimes young crows and pigeons are taken from their nests. However, Red Kites have never been known to kill lambs either in Britain or on the Continent. A substantial part of their diet consists of invertebrates like earthworms, beetles, moth larvae and crane flies.

Red Kites usually nest in mature coniferous or broadleaved trees where they build loose, untidy nests about 30 to 40 feet above the ground. Nests are generally re-used from year to year and they can reach a metre in diameter when used for several years in succession. The birds generally breed for the first time when they are two to three years old with the same pair bond being renewed each spring. Nesting generally starts in late March or early April with one to three eggs being laid. The female does most of the incubating, which lasts around 31 days, while the male provides the female and young with food at the nest. The young leave the nest after about 50 days and then spend a further 15 to 20 days being fed by their parents before becoming self-sufficient.

Nearly all the young kites fledged in Scotland are presently marked with coloured wing tags to aid individual identification and to allow detailed research into bird movements and behaviour.

A public viewing site has been set up in the Tourist Information Centre at North Kessock, just north of Inverness. Here visitors can watch close-up TV pictures from a nearby nest during the breeding season from April to June. The centre also has information on where the birds can be seen flying locally. 

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