Colour Ringing of Red Kites in North and West Yorkshire.

We’ve been asked to add this new innovation to see if you can help please

National Red Kite Communal Roost Site count January 2024

Each year in early January there is a National Red Kite Communal Roost Site count that YRK contribute and submit to. Below are the numbers and total, 2024 for Yorkshire.
East Yorkshire: 143 birds over 2 locations (max of 103)
North Yorkshire: 235 birds over 7 locations (max of 83)
West Yorkshire: 157 birds over 2 locations (max of 107)
A grand total of 535 birds over 11 locations.
Why do kites attend a communal roost?
Play’ is often common before the birds finally roost and maybe the ones that have found sufficient food earlier in the day and are ‘fed up’ have time on their hands. Play can be seen as carrying objects, twigs etc, dropping and catching them with others joining in. There are often aerial chases and mock fights, especially on windy days when not much energy is expended, giving young birds the chance to learn and improve skills. It may be that come the following day, hungry birds can ‘share information’ and follow other individuals to a known food source, sometimes called ‘network foraging’. It is also likely that unpaired young birds may find a mate in the opportunity to socialise at the communal roost.

Protectors of the Wild Project

 

Earlier this year Protect the Wild launched a new project – ‘Protectors of the Wild’ a free resource to help us all become ‘eyes in the field’ by learning how to recognise, record, and report wildlife crime and wildlife persecution.

As our Protectors landing page says, “Have you ever wondered what UK law says about hunting with dogs, shooting, or collecting bird eggs? Or what protection foxes, badgers, bats, and birds of prey have? Whether a gamekeeper is using a snare, spring trap, or a cage trap legally? Wanted to know more about operating drones, using airguns, or driving quad bikes legally? What the different forms of trespass are, what constitutes assault, or what we should do if we’re arrested?”

You have? Us too, which is why we have now written thirty-six separate pages and we’ve answered over 400 FAQs! All using a clean and simple, mobile-friendly design.

A renowned undercover investigator called Protectors ‘an amazing legal resource -  perhaps the best anywhere’ when we launched, but we update pages and add information almost every day so now it’s even better.

For instance we have recently updated our page on Birds of Prey and the Law adding more information about the so-called ‘Falconry Exemption’ in the current Hunting Act.

We’ve added more information on who can obtain a firearms certificate and the need for background checks and home visits for first-time applicants to our page on Firearms and the Law.

We have added more information on poaching to our page on Trespass (to Land) and the Law.

We’ve added information on Bats on the Law following the recent conviction of a developer for not adhering to Natural England’s Mitigation Licence conditions. The developer was ordered to pay a total of £14,435.17.

Following NatureScot’s recent clarification of licencing for the use of dogs for killing wild animals, we have updated our page on The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023.

And finally because we’re getting numerous requests to supply body cams to monitors, we thought it would be worth compiling a page on them. We’ll be adding more to this one in the coming weeks but if you’d like to check it out it’s at Body Cams and the Law.

We think Protectors of the Wild is already a very useful resource, but - and this is where you, our brilliant supporters come in - we can’t possibly have thought of every question that might need answering or every situation someone might find themselves in.

Maybe you’ve found a mistake or discovered an arcane piece of legislation you think we really ought to know about? Perhaps you have specialist knowledge about how some wildlife laws differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? Maybe you run a monitoring group or know a wildlife rescue that we could add to our contact map? Or perhaps you’d like to help spread the ‘Protectors’ message and would like to talk with us or invite us to an event?

If you’d like to offer feedback, we’d welcome it. We’re continually looking for ways to improve and expand Protectors of the Wild – for the benefit of animals and all of us – so please let us know using our dedicated Contact Protectors page or email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you
Charlie, Protect the Wild
CHECK OUT PROTECTORS OF THE WILD
DONATE TO PROTECT THE WILD
SHOP AT PROTECT THE WILD

Snowdrop Sunday - Londesborough

snowdrop

One of the first red kites released into England (Thames Valley) dies

Following the news that Aragon, who was one of the first red kites released into England from Spain in 1994. At 29 years old, this probably made him the oldest red kite in the country.

See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-65646200

aragonAragon the red kite. Photo by Chrissie Gaines

Here in Yorkshire we can tell you of two long lived kites that don’t quite match the age of Aragon.

In East York’s we had a male kite from the Harewood release that found its way over in 2000 and became one of the pair to be the first recorded breeding kites in this county for 150 years. The last sighting we had of him was in 2021 that made him around 21 years old and he was the father of at least 39 young red kites.

Regular readers may remember the story of a female kite, tagged Orange/Red 7, again released at Harewood and was first seen in East York’s in 2003 and last seen in 2019. Due to access problems we’re only aware that she raised at least 24 young kites. Of course she may still be alive, but same as most kites, could most probably have lost her wing tags.