The Red Kite was the subject of a reintroduction programme into England, based on the existing population in Wales. The nearest release point to us is the Chiltern Hills where the birds were introduced in 1999.

This programme seems to have been extremely successful but, although there have been many reports of sightings in the north of Hampshire for several years, it was March 2009 before we stumbled across them ourselves, after walking to the top of a prominent hill.

This first shot shows a typical view: high up in the sky, displaying the characteristic forked tail shape. However, from our elevated vantage point, we were lucky enough to observe these beautiful birds from above as well, as you can see in the two pictures below.

Photographs - March 2009

Some years later, while slope soaring at Win Green, a Red Kite took an interest in a clubmate's model glider which was modelled on a Buzzard. After a while a second, then a third bird joined in. Although they flew with the glider for some while, they were not aggessive and just looked to be curious. It did though provide a wonderful view of these beautiful birds.

Photographs (above) - March 2015

I even managed to shoot a short video clip:

 

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