{"id":643422,"date":"2026-06-17T11:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643422\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T11:29:08","slug":"majestic-red-kite-spotted-thriving-in-herefordshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/643422\/","title":{"rendered":"Majestic red kite spotted thriving in Herefordshire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Dave Gale captured images of the majestic bird and shared them on the Hereford Times Camera Club on Monday.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Historically, red kites were nearly wiped out in the UK as they were wrongly perceived as threats to game birds and domestic animals.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  However, due to legal protection and reintroduction efforts, their numbers have significantly increased.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"Red Kite\"\/>Unlike most birds of prey, red kites primarily scavenge rather than hunt, feeding on scraps and small prey, such as rabbits. (Image: Dave Gale)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Unlike most birds of prey, red kites primarily scavenge rather than hunt, feeding on scraps and small prey, such as rabbits.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Identified by their angled red wings, the birds also have distinctive white patches underneath, as well as a long, forked tail.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Originally, red kites were restricted to Wales due to persecution, but reintroduction efforts have seen them spread across the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  They are now found from the southeast of England to the Highlands of Scotland.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Historically, the birds were a common sight in Shakespearean London, scavenging for street scraps and using rags for their nests.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Shakespeare even referenced this in The Winter&#8217;s Tale.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The red kite\u2019s nest is notably untidy, often built on old crow&#8217;s nests and decorated with a mix of materials, including paper, plastic, and cloth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Gale captured images of the majestic bird and shared them on the Hereford Times Camera Club on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-643422","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\/643422","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=643422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}