UK red kites bring Spanish cousins back from the brink

A British red kite emerges from its enclosure in the remote hills of western Spain and takes flight. At six months, this is his first taste of freedom.

Silently, it soars high in the sky above the bush and within seconds disappears from sight into the wooded valley in the distance.

This is the latest release in a conservation story that has come full circle.

Almost four decades ago, the birds became extinct in England and Scotland, with only a few pairs remaining in Wales.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, red kite chicks from Spain and Sweden were released into the Chilterns on the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire border.

This has proven so successful that the species now thrives across the UK, with an estimated 6,000 mating pairs, or around 15% of the global population.

Dr Ian Evans of Natural England was an early pioneer.

He said: “There were a lot of unknowns. The first batch we released, we thought they might just die or just go away.

“In 1991 we had our first breeding pairs and that really opened my eyes because we thought, 'Well, this could be successful.'

“This became a springboard for other release sites in England and Scotland.”

British-born red kite chicks have now been brought to south-west Spain as part of a four-year project to bring the local population back from the brink of extinction.

There are fewer than 50 mating pairs in the region due to predators such as the eagle owl and human factors such as illegal poisoning and electrocution.

In 2022, conservationists were received special licenses from Natural England to collect red kite chicks, mainly from Northamptonshire, and send them to the Extremadura region of Spain.

More than 120 chickens were collected, of which about 30 are exported annually.

About the red kite

• It is one of Britain's largest birds of prey, known for its reddish-brown body, long wings, forked tail and distinctive “meow”.
• The red kite was once considered a threat to game birds and domestic animals such as cats and dogs, but red kite hunting was close to extinction in Britain, and at one point there were only a few breeding pairs in central Wales.
• Red kites are primarily scavengers, feeding on carrion and small prey such as rabbits.
• The birds breed exclusively in Europe and are endangered due to illegal persecution through shooting, poisoning and trapping.

The chicks are flown to Madrid and then transported 240 miles (385 km) south to a wildlife hospital in Villafranca de los Barros run by Accion por el Mundo Salvaje (I WOULD LOVE).

When I arrive, a small team led by ornithologist and project manager Alfonso Godino is hard at work.

Each chick must be weighed, measured and tagged before being fitted with a GPS backpack that allows experts to track it.

The birds appear lifeless when they are moved into position. Mr. Godino told me that they play dead when they feel threatened.

When asked if the marking was painful, he replied that it was a slight discomfort, like getting your ears pierced.

Alfonso says the juveniles soon become accustomed to the large marks needed to be observed from the ground.

The birds are then moved to enclosures near the Portuguese border for two weeks to acclimate to their new habitat.

The release site is quiet and remote. A sheep carcass left here to attract red kites gives off a strong smell of rotting flesh.

When the gate is removed, I half expect the chicks to run out, but other than a few flutters inside the enclosure, nothing happens.

Several hours pass, as if they were gaining courage, before one by one they leave the safety of the enclosure and fly off into the wild.

“It's an exciting time now that they're in the wild, they can learn to find food, avoid predators, interact with other species in the area… thanks to GPS, we're going to keep a close eye on these birds that we've released,” Alfonso tells me.

But it's a nerve-wracking time for AMUS field technician Sofia Marrero.

“The mortality rate of predators in general is very high in the first years of their life,” she says. “So now it's a little difficult because you already know that some of them may not reach puberty, so it's a bittersweet moment.”

In fact, only about a quarter of the red kites flown during the project survive.

The biggest threats come from predators and natural causes.

In 2023, eagle owls killed half of the project's newly released red kite chicks.

In response, the AMUS team adapted the way and timing of chick release to improve their chances of survival.

Much work has also been done to adapt thousands of kilometers of power cables to reduce the risk of electric shock.

But the biggest risk to humans for birds of prey comes from illegal poisoning.

Between 2020 and 2024, the project tagged and equipped with GPS 3,060 red kites. Life of the EuroKite projectcovering 40 project areas in 12 countries.

By September 2024, 1,377 tagged red kites had died: 622 from natural causes including predation, 195 from poisoning and 54 from illegal shooting.

Experts say these numbers represent just the “tip of the iceberg” of illegal prosecutions.

In the UK, the RSPB works with European partners to provide advice on the investigation of poisoning cases.

A report by the charity last year found that at least 1,344 birds of prey were killed in the UK between 2009 and 2023.

“Predator persecution is directly linked to hunting grounds, ie lowland pheasants and partridge, and upland grouse,” says Mark Thomas, head of investigations at the RSPB.

“All the statistics prove that…two thirds of all convictions are against gamekeepers, meaning they are people legally employed to deal with pests that they can handle, but on some estates some of these gamekeepers are killing animals that are completely protected,” he adds.

The charity believes that hunting licenses would help solve the problem, but this is disputed by the Countryside Alliance.

In a statement, the nonprofit said: “Any incident of predator harassment is absolutely reprehensible and penalties include imprisonment and an unlimited fine.”

In Spain, a translocation project in Extremadura has so far recorded three mating pairs, resulting in two surviving chicks.

As more tagged red kites reach sexual maturity next year, it is hoped that this number will increase.

“There are still huge areas in southern Spain where the red kite was common three decades ago and is now almost extinct,” Mr Godino says.

“So the next step is how we can apply this experience to other regions of Spain.”