In the Chilterns, the kites' enthusiasm for carrion is valued by deer stalkers, who leave the entrails from shot deer for the kites to clean up.However, considering their size they are not very powerful, though they have been recorded robbing much bigger raptors, such as white-tailed eagles, of their prey.Road-casualty pheasants, rabbits and squirrels form an important part of the diet of the reintroduced kites in England.They are mainly carrion eaters, but are quite capable of killing small mammals and birds. Kites hunt on the wing, soaring and circling over open ground.This is a reference to the thieving habits of nest-building kites. Shakespeare makes several references to kites, such as Autolycus in The Winters Tale, warning that when the kite builds, look to lesser linen.Historically, the kite was associated with towns and cities here it was valued as a scavenger, helping keep streets clean.In 2007, there were 12 confirmed cases of kites being poisoned in Scotland. Illegal poisoning remains a threat to carrion eating birds like kites, even though the bait may have been laid to kill foxes and crows.It was the advent of the breech-loading shotgun that led to the kite's final demise in England, where a long-stranding war had been waged against these birds, with bounties paid by parishes for kite bills.The birds had been exterminated because of persecution, not loss of habitat. The reintroductions succeeded because the habitat was able to support a healthy population.Following the success of the early introductions, new releases followed at a number of different sites, including Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Central Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway.
In addition, clutches were larger, with more young fledged per pair than in Wales. The English population increased rapidly, as birds started breeding at one year old, unlike Welsh birds that often don't breed until their third summer.Reintroduced birds bred for the first time in both England and Scotland in 1992.The first reintroductions of red kites to England and Scotland took place in 1989, with the English introductions in the Chilterns, the Scottish birds on the Black Isle.Today the Welsh population is thought to number between 750 and 900 pairs.Careful protection of the Welsh kites helped the native population increase slowly, with 20 breeding pairs in 1967, 30 in 1978, 50 in 1988 and 80 in 1992.In the early 1930s, only two breeding pairs of red kites were known to survive in the British Isles, both in central Wales.The reintroduction of the red kite to England and Scotland has been one of the major conservation success stories of the last 20 years.
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