Red Kite

Not too many years ago people would have assumed that you were mistaken if you said that you had seen a red kite over the Botanic Gardens. Not so any more, as a re-introduction programme carried out between 2004 and 2006 in the Derwent Valley just to the north of Durham, released a total of 94 birds in the project known as Northern Kites. Breeding success (the first for 170 years in the NE region) has led to birds expanding out from the Derwent Valley base and therefore we can probably assume that sightings in the skies above the University estate will continue to increase. (A release scheme at the Harewood Estate in North Yorkshire has also produced birds seen in the North East)

Last weekend Steve Ansdell was the lucky chap who watched a red kite circling high in the skies above the Botanic Gardens on two successive evenings. They are truly majestic in flight and even at a distance the profile is unlike anything else that you are likely to see. The long wings and forked tail are distinctive.

If you do see a red kite it is worth trying to get onto them with binoculars as every released bird and most of the young birds have been given a unique combination of coloured and numbered wing tags to monitor progress. The details can be found here.

Finally, if this post has whetted your appetite, there are a number of places in the Derwent valley where you will have a really good chance of seeing a red kite. There is a guide to the best viewing points here.

(Thanks to Phil Gates for the use of his library photos)