Red Kite Awareness

Help support Red Kites

Red kites are magnificent birds; adult kites have a wingspan of almost 2 metres. They are now an important part of our everyday lives. But like all wildlife, we need to manage our interactions with them.

Red Kites were brought close to extinction in Tudor times due to a bounty for any animal ‘causing a nuisance’.

They were reintroduced in the 1990s. There are now over 10,000 birds. It’s the biggest species recovery success story in UK conservation history.

Red kites mainly eat dead animals, such as roadkill, plus worms and insects. Their rapid expansion after reintroduction shows they have plenty of food available in the environment.

Admire red kites, but please don’t feed them, they will associate humans with food and become a nuisance again, like gulls at the seaside.

This is a joint campaign, led by Wild about Wallingford and supported by Wallingford Town Council

Wild about Wallingford was interviewed by BBC radio https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c390g7v7zv8o
which was followed up by the Oxford Mail l https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/24893569.wallingford-group-campaigns-stop-feeding-red-kites/
They were also interviewed by Wallingford Radio on Monday 3 February.

We’ve had very positive feedback to the campaign from Wallingford residents including:

“Oh, I thought we had to feed all birds, but I take your point we shouldn’t feed kites.”
“I’m glad to hear about your campaign, we love kites but something needs to done about them swooping on kids in the park.”
“We love kites and don’t want people turning against them, we’ll spread the word.”
“My dog ate a piece of raw chicken dropped by a kite and was very sick so we had to take him to the vet.”
“Kites are spectacular when they swoop, one took a sausage off my barbecue!”

Photo by Chris Smith.