Red Kites breed in Ireland for the first time in 200 years

Red kites have bred in Ireland for the first time in 200 years.

October 2010. During the Middle Ages, Red Kites were a common bird of prey in Ireland. But poisoning and persecution drove them to extinction and they ceased nesting here over 200 years ago. In 2007, an attempt was launched to try to bring them back to Ireland, using nestlings from Wales.

2007 - The adventure begins in Wicklow
The first chicks are brought from Wales to Wicklow. They are just 5 to 7 weeks old. The birds are held in specially designed aviaries until mature enough for release. Released birds will carry wing tags and small radio transmitters so that their welfare can be monitored from a distance.

2008 - Start-up in Down
As the Wicklow project enters its second year, a sister project gets underway in County Down, organised by RSPB Northern Ireland. It starts releasing young kites in August.

2009 - First breeding efforts
With 81 kites released over three years in Wicklow, and a further 53 in Down, the first breeding attempts are recorded in Wicklow. Two pairs nest and lay eggs, but they are unsuccessful. No young birds are raised by these first-time nesters.

2010 - Success! Kites raise young in Ireland for first time in over 200 years
Most of the kites have survived the winter and they are keen to nest. Twelve chicks are raised in seven nests in Wicklow and a further four pairs raise five chicks in Down.

Scavengers and hunters
Kites are largely scavengers: they search for animals and birds that are already dead, such as roadkill or carrion. They can handle large prey such as rabbits and pheasants that they find dead. But their live prey is much smaller and includes everything from mice and rats to small birds and earthworms. Kites will even follow tractors during the harvest to catch worms and small mammals exposed by the cutting operations.

Red Kites cough up pellets of indigestible food (just as cats cough up fur-balls). Some of their pellets were examined in 2007 and 2008 and this revealed differences between their winter and summer diets (see table, below). For example, they eat comparatively more mice and rats in winter, but more rabbits and pigeons in summer.

Kite watching in Ireland
Though kites have wandered to all parts of the country, the counties that hosted the reintroductions are still naturally best for sightings. In Northern Ireland, the RSPB organises kite viewing events in Tollymore Forest Park near Castlewellan, Co Down, and in Wicklow you can base yourself in some of the key villages that form ‘the Kite
Triangle': Rathdrum, Redcross and Avoca. The car park opposite the church in Avoca village is as good a spot as any to view the kites, though you can come face to face with kites nearly anywhere along the roads linking the villages.

• The Red Kite Reintroduction Project in County Wicklow is a partnership project of the Golden Eagle Trust, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, The Heritage Council and the Welsh Kite Trust.

This article by Oran O'Sullivan is based on information from the Red Kite information booklet for fifth and sixth classes, published by the Golden Eagle Trust. More information on www.goldeneagle.ie.

Courtesy of Birdwatch Ireland. Click here to see the full report