News

Kite flies high in town

June 13, 2008

A project to bolster the population of a rare bird in England as proved a success – and sightings have been made in Wokingham.

The red kite has been returning to the skies over Berkshire after breeding pairs were released in the Chilterns in 1989.

The county remains one of the few areas where the bird can be seen.

David Fox, who lives in Elizabeth Road, has seen a lone red kite circling around All Saints Church in Wiltshire Road, as well as over Norreys Avenue and London Road.

The sightings began several months ago, and was last spotted on Monday, June 2.

The birds were hunted almost to extinction in the 19th Century and they remain absent from most of the country.

Although there are now more than 500 pairs, sightings of red kites in Wokingham only began fairly recently.

Marek Walford, from the Wokingham and Bracknell RSPB group, said: “The spread of the red kite across Berkshire has been remarkable.

“I live in Twyford and see them daily over the village.”

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I live in Earley and see red kites most days; I have seen up to four at once cicling over the area near the University. They fly very low over the gardens and I wonder what they feed on round here given that they are supposed to be carrion eaters,

Rob, Earley
2/08/2008 at 23:06

Do try to keep up Mavdo! Red Kites are now, very pleasingly, a daily sight over many parts of Wokingham District. Indeed there are Buzzards too - their Westward spread across Berkshire has been another welcome development of recent years but Buzzards and Red Kites are very easy to distinguish with the naked eye due to the Red Kite's obvious forked tail. If you need photographic evidence of their presence check out Mr Walford's excellent website Berksbirds.co.uk

Pete62
20/07/2008 at 11:07

We shouldn't jump to the conclusion that just because there are birds of prey circling, that they are all Red Kites. This is still a rare bird.

I've seen two or three circling over North East Wokingham many many times, but these are buzzards. You can tell by their almost seagull like cry. I suspect these are the same that have been seen before in other parts of the borough. There might be red kites in parts, but these aren't them.