Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 9 on 20/7/2003.

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Lets go spy a kite

GRAHAM HOLLIDAY EXPLAINS WHERE TO SPOT BIRD OF PREY THE RED KITE, ONCE EXTINCT BUT NOW SUCCESSFULLY RE-INTRODUCED TO SCOTLAND

Red kites were once widespread in Scotland, but became extinct in the 1870s. The 1990s saw Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (the RSPB) team up to return this striking raptor to Scottish shores. At the RSPB reserve around Loch Ken, near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway, nearly 60 kites have been released over the last two years, with plans for a further 30 this summer. Kite chicks fledge by August, and should be on the wing together with the adults throughout the whole of August, making Loch Ken a good viewing point.

The loch is further enhanced this year with the opening of the Red Kite Trail. This is the first ‘Making Tracks’ project to bear fruit. Making Tracks, funded by VisitScotland, is a sustainable nature-based tourism project for the south of Scotland. The trail, which opens in August, will offer an abundance of information, guided walks and the first opportunity in Scotland to see red kites at a feeding station.

“It is hoped that the Galloway Kite Trail will help to get across the message of the importance of wildlife, the habitats that support it and the need to take care of it,” says RSPB’s Chris Rollie.

Night owls might want to go looking for badgers, the largest members of the weasel family, on late summer evenings. This powerful, short-legged animal with a distinctive black and white-striped head is common, but very difficult to see because it is almost entirely nocturnal and spends a great deal of time .....

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By Graham Holiday

Section : Scottish Wildlife

Page number : 22