Red kites swooping in to feed

Three Red Kites - Milvus milvus - swooping into a feeding station at the Rhayader, Wales.

The increase in UK kite numbers is down to a very successful re-introduction from Europe coupled with a great reduction in persecution of the species. It was once a common citizen in towns where it fed on carcasses and food waste that littered the streets. Despite this useful service, from Tudor times it was persecuted until by the Twentieth century it was confined to small pockets in Wales. Its exhilarating and unmistakable flight can now be enjoyed in many parts of the country. Its natural diet of small mammals such as mice, shrews, weasels, voles and young rabbits and hares, birds including magpies and pigeons as well as frogs, lizards, fish and earthworms is very diverse. It is a common sight at landfill sites where it feeds on food waste, much as it did in past ages. The feeding stations feed meat unfit for human consumption.