British Red Kite chicks sent to Spain

In 1989, when there were just 42 breeding pairs of Red Kites Milvus milvus in Britain, a reintroduction programme brought birds over from Spain to help populations recover. Now, over 30 years later, there are estimated to be 6,000 breeding pairs of Red Kites in Britain, the second-highest national population in Europe after Germany; but, in Spain, it’s a different story, and the population that was once used to aid recovery in Britain now needs help itself.

A total of 15 chicks from Northamptonshire – themselves ancestors of the original Spanish birds that were brought to Britain in the 1990s – were transported to southern Spain, to an area where there are now fewer than ten breeding pairs. The first birds arrived in Spain in late June and are part of a three-year reintroduction programme that will eventually see 30 young kites relocated to the area each summer.