Kite bird uk1/17/2024 ![]() To see my first, in the mid-1970s, I had to travel to mid-Wales, where they had taken refuge from gun-toting farmers and gamekeepers. This elegant, fork-tailed raptor had almost died out in Britain by the end of Queen Victoria’s reign. “Reintroductions are a very effective way of restoring them to areas where they have been lost due to the past persecution by humans.”įans of the osprey hope they will eventually become as familiar as the red kite. “Much suitable habitat exists in southern England for ospreys but they are naturally slow to expand their range,” says Mackrill. The Poole Harbour birds were reintroduced by veteran conservationist Roy Dennis and his colleague Tim Mackrill, in partnership with a local charity, Birds of Poole Harbour, set up by the entrepreneur and philanthropist Mark Constantine. Today there are close to 250 breeding pairs, in Wales and England as well as their Scottish stronghold. Ospreys returned to breed in the UK the 1950s after a gap of almost 40 years. Given that this fish-eating raptor was once so rare that the nest at the RSPB’s Loch Garten reserve in Scotland was under 24-hour guard, this is truly astonishing. Last week came the welcome news of the first osprey chick to hatch on the south coast of England for more than two centuries, in Poole Harbour, Dorset. ![]() Photograph: Woodland Trust Media Library/PAĪnd what a perfect time to watch these raptors, because Britain’s birds of prey – many once persecuted to the brink of extinction – are this year enjoying a golden summer. Osprey pair Dorcha and Louis on their nest at Loch Arkaig pine forest in Lochaber in spring this year.
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