return is considered one of the UK\u2019s greatest conservation success stories<\/a>, thanks to a reintroduction scheme launched in July 1990.\n<\/p>\n\n Tony Juniper, chairman of Natural England, said: “Red kites are one of our most majestic birds of prey with a beautiful plumage, and are easily recognisable thanks to their soaring flight and mewing call.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Persecuted to near-extinction, they have made a triumphant comeback in England over the past three decades.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The reintroduction project began in the Chilterns in July 1990 and involved releasing 13 young birds brought from Spain.\n<\/p>\n
\n The first successful breeding occurred in 1992, and by 1996, at least 37 pairs were recorded in southern England.\n<\/p>\n
\n The programme was the result of a partnership between the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England), the RSPB, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Zoological Society London, and British Airways.\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
Red Kite (Image: Paul Devine)\n<\/p>\n
\n Another commenter joked that they worried Red Kites could carry people away when he spotted one whilst building.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kieron James Staton said “I was building some sheds near Reading and I felt like I was going to be kidnapped by one.”\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
Megan Morton, 14, took this photo of a Red Kite on 14 April (Image: Megan Morton)\n<\/p>\n
\n Devine’s photography business is called Best Friend Pet Photography, a name he attributes to the friendship with his dog Dudley before his death last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The impressive bird, identified as a red kite, was spotted in flight above a residential area on April…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-547903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}