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RSPB asks public not to feed Red Kites in Chilterns with waste food from kitchens (1 Viewer)

Chris Monk

Well-known member
Did anyone hear the Red Kite story on BBC Radio 4's The Today programme with the RSPB man asking the public not to feed Red Kites on their kitchen/table waste food as it causes them not to expand their range? IE they rely on this food source too much and not 'natural' food.

Another problem not mentioned is the lack of bones and feathers the Red Kites have in this diet causing all sorts of problems with their bone strengths/growth problems and possibly deformities and egg shell thicknesses.

Can anyone add details of this story if it becomes available on the BBC or RSPB web sites please?

Cheers,
Chris B :)



Wednesday, December 13, 2006 BLOG:

Red Kites Are Able to Feed Themselves :eat:

The red kite re-introduction is a heartening 20th century wildlife success story. However, naturalists are now warning against misplaced “kindness” on the part of people who attract these birds to their gardens with food.

Red kites used to be very common in England, and only died out because some of our more vicious Victorian forbears set out high-handedly to exterminate them. They are wild animals not pets - if they couldn’t look after themselves they would never have evolved in the first place!

If wild animals, whether kites, songbirds or hedgehogs, have trouble surviving in their natural environment then we need to look carefully at sorting out whatever of our modern practices are fouling up that environment (eg., roads, building, bad farming and pesticides etc.) not just tinker round the edges.

Some red kite information pages, including pictures and places to see red kites throughout England and beyond:

http://www.gigrin.co.uk/threats_to_red_kites.html
http://www.gigrin.co.uk/redkitediary.html
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/Redkite
http://www.chilternsaonb.org/caring/red_kites.html
http://www.chilternsaonb.org/caring/red_kites_faqs.html
http://www.rspb.org.uk/action/species/casestudies/redkite.asp
http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/features/feeding-wild-birds.asp
 
Should we feed red kites?

http://www.chilternsaonb.org/caring/red_kites_faqs.html#faq9

Chilterns Red Kites FAQ:

Should we feed red kites?

In the wild, red kites feed on the whole carcasses of dead animals. They gain essential nutrients from all parts of the carcase. If they feed on purely lean or processed meat, they might end up with vitamin or mineral deficiencies. Artificial feeding may also prevent the kite population from spreading to new areas. For these reasons, feeding of red kites is not encouraged in the Chilterns. :news:
 
Interesting point. I seem to remember being told that people on the estates around the Gateshead area had taken to feeding the intoduced R Kites. Wonder if something is being done to inform them?

On a more general point I feed the garden birds each day and all year. I believe that is a good idea, but I do question the still common practice of many around here who throw out great lumps of white bread. I reckon that does more harm than good. If people feed the birds I think they ought to at least feed them what they require.
 
Birds of prey target food scraps

Birds of prey target food scraps :eat:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/6175407.stm

Red kites were reintroduced in the Chiltern hills

Village residents in the Chilterns have been blamed for holding up a wildlife programme by being kind to red kites.

A new study has revealed that too many of the birds being reintroduced to the Buckinghamshire hills are staying put.

Conservationists said people were feeding the birds of prey in their gardens, preventing them from learning to fend for themselves.

Graham Madge from the RSPB in Sandy, Bedfordshire, said the problem stopped the birds spreading out across the UK.

"Red kites are basically scavengers and kitchen scraps left out for them constitute easy pickings," Mr Madge said.

"The birds are not being encouraged to disperse and hunt for new food sources.

"The original purpose of introducing them to the Chilterns was to give them a secure environment where numbers could build up and spread to other parts of the UK.

"This is not happening because of the easy access to food."
 
Red kites soaring high

Red kites soaring high

inthenews.co.uk

http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/news/environment/red-kites-soaring-high-$1029448.htm

Wednesday, 13 Dec 2006 14:28

Red kites had stronger numbers in the Middle Ages Printer friendly version

A programme to improve the environment for red kites in the Chilterns has resulted in numbers of the bird soaring.

According to the RSPB's Grahame Madge, the increase in the southern English area has been rapid.

Efforts to boost the red kite have included members of the public working to help them settle in their local area.

Speaking on the Today programme, Mr Madge said: "These birds were only introduced in 1989 using birds from Spain and now we have one of the highest densities of red kites anywhere in the world.

"This year we have 320 pairs of red kites estimated in the Chilterns, and the number keeps on growing and growing."

Although the public have played a large role in this increase, he added that people would have to be careful to not over-feed the birds so that they remain in a small area.

"People are quite rightly very enthusiastic about having these fantastic birds soaring overhead and coming into their gardens, but there could be a couple of 'disbenefits' associated with that," Mr Madge said.

"Firstly red kites are scavengers. If people are putting out kitchen scraps then for a red kite that is a very easy picking.

"The birds are not being encouraged to disperse if they are coming to an area where they know there is food; what we would rather see are these birds fanning out across England."

Although red kites were widespread in the Middle Ages, their numbers have since been under threat from persecution and poisoning.
 
Just been a discussion on local BBC News (Radio Newcastle) about the Red Kites in the area and their feeding habits. I missed the start of it, but assume this is reinforcing what was already said earlier today on Radio 4. Someone rang in right away and asked that there be more info available on feeding birds in general. Good stuff.
 
One of the suggested sites to view Red Kites is Gigrin Farm. Tagging shows most of the kites in Wales pass through Gigrin Farm at some point in the year, but it doesn't stop them breeding over an increasing area of the principality.

At Gigrin Farm they are fed cut up scraps of lean meat, as far as I could see on my visit. They, and the Ravens, crows and Buzzards that also freeload there, don't look exactly out of condition.

If you spend time in the Chilterns you quickly realise that although the kites spend some time drifting across towns and villages eyeing up gardens, they also spend time on the local landfill sites and following roads on the look out for roadkill. Now, which of these activities is safest for them? All of them including looking in gardens are normal scavenging behaviour, but a kite on a road stands a chance of being run over. Should we be actively teaching nestling kites the Green Cross Code (for younger viewers, that was a late 20th century road safety campaign featuring Dave Prowse aka the body of Darth Vader)?

This is just another meaningless bleat. The next thing will be telling us not to feed small birds as making it easy for Sparrowhawks to find concentrations at bird tables will degrade their hunting skills.

John
 
The arguement against garden feeding with kitchen scraps

The arguements against garden feeding with kitchen scraps are twofold:

The first is as Nicola says; they get used to finding 'easy' food at
particular sites and at regular times. This might mean they no longer
range as far as they would without these easy pickings and thus the
birds stay within a smaller home radius than those Kites finding their
food from a wholly wild source spread over a greater distance from the
nest or roost site.

The second is that kitchen waste i.e. cooked leftovers is not like their
'usual' food in that it doesn't contain fur, feathers or bones. This
means that young Kites in particular don't get enough calcium and other
minerals essential for growing bones to become strong and not malformed.
Eggs forming inside the female Kite also need these minerals in order
for them to become thick-shelled enough to withstand the normal weight
and movements of a brooding parent bird.

HTH
Chris Monk

>>> Nicola Orchard 14/12/2006 12:03:59 >>>wote:

I think that one of the concerns that the RSPB had was that the kites
were staying in one area and not spreading out into the rest of
England.

Certainly the evidence seems to be with the Midlands re-introduction
that the breeding population seem to be "filling in gaps" in suitable
habitat around the original release area and have only recently (last
1-2 years) started spreading very slowly into the surrounding
counties. So it may be that the expansion of the population will be
naturally slow.

It could be argued that by feeding the kites the fledgling survival
will be higher, therefore creating more competition for nesting sites
and forcing the kites to spread out to find territories.

To be honest, I think the biggest impact on the kites at the moment
is accidental (not deliberate) rodenticide poisioning. The kites
scavange on rats that have eaten poisoned bait and the levels of
toxins then build up in the kites.

But regardless of all that, we're still very lucky to have them on
our doorstep. I speak to birders in North Lincs who get excited by 1
red kite!

Nicola
 
Last edited:
I live in NE Hampshire and I can assure you the Chiltern Kites are spreading down our way and staying to breed, so the free food isn't holding them all that close to the sites where it is issued. As for the calcium issue, the answer surely is to advise the feeders to put out their chicken carcasses after the Sunday roast rather than just left-over meat?

I'm sorry, I can't get my head round this one at all.

Incidentally, have you ever read some of the historical stuff on Red Kite that suggests in the past it was very much an urban raptor, cleaning the streets?

John
 
Red kites relying on handouts

Red kites relying on handouts

15/12/2006 11:36:29 >>>wrote:

I think part of the potential problem here is that Red Kites are a good
deal smaller than people and so it takes less of a harmful substance
(salt for e.g.) to cause a problem. This is certainly the case with lead
where the odd pellet in gamebirds is an irritating inconvenience for
people but can easily be fatal to birds of prey. There is also the
example of the veterinary product diclofenac which has caused all the
problems with Gyps vultures in India.

The more serious concern is what is missing from meat scraps. Several
young kites in the Chilterns have been diagnosed with metabolic bone
disease and a possible cause of this is calcium deficiency due to birds
relying too much on food handouts.

Despite the lack of hard evidence that feeding is causing problems, a
precautionary approach seems sensible and people should be encouraged
either not to feed or to feed only small amounts of food based on whole
carcasses rather than meat scraps. This will also help to ensure that
excessive feeding does not reduce the rate at which the birds can spread
out to new areas.

The point made about bonemeal is very interesting and I will forward
this to the folk at Zoological Society of London (who issued the press
release on feeding kites) for a response.

Ian

Ian Carter
Ornithologist
Animal Ecology Unit
Science and Evidence Team
Natural England
Northminster House
Peterborough
PE1 1UA



>>>14/12/2006 09:24:42 >>>
Sorry, but the suggestion that processed meat contains harmful
additives doesn't make any sense to me at all. The human body is at
least as vulnerable to toxins as an avian one, surely. Would anyone -
and I mean anyone with specific records and details of precisely which
additives might be harmful - care to list a few examples.

I would also be extremely concerned about sprinkling bonemeal, which is
sold as a garden fertiliser and which has long been banned in animal
feeds following the disastrous epidemic of BSE, as being highly
imprudent. As a gardening journalist, by the way, I would be breaking
the law if I were to make such a recommendation.

The question of whether to feed or not to feed remains a vexed one.
There are cogent arguments on both sides and I'm currently concerned
about hygiene in garden feeders and their potential for disseminating
avian diseases. (And I'm not referring to bird flu,by the way.)

I'd be interested in what anyone has to say on this issue. Oh, and i
think it really important that the feeding worries with red kites, does
not mask the wonderful news about the success of this re-introduction
programme and the near miraculous recovery of the red kite population
in Britain.

Please keep any responses moderate. And if I've caused any offence to
anyone, I apologise.

Best wishes to all
Nigel

On 14 Dec 2006, at 03:29, Chris Monk wrote:

The Times Online

Red kites relying on handouts

LONDON Red kites are being "killed with kindness" by householders in
the capital who put meat on bird tables, slowing the raptor's recovery
in Britain, the Zoological Society of London said.
Left-overs contain too little calcium, processed meat can have
harmful additives and regular feeding is making kites dependent on bird
tables.

Instead, the advice is to sprinkle bonemeal over meat and only feed
kites in the afternoons, so they are obliged to hunt in the mornings.

Christopher Monk
Data Services
Science and Evidence Team
Natural England
Northminster House
Peterborough
PE1 1UA
Tel 01733 455253
Fax 01733 568834
 
Red Kite background literature

Please find below more information from Natural England and elsewhere about the Red Kite in the UK: :news:

Here's the information on projects I've been involved in regarding Red Kites (Milvus milvus) over the years in the UK. Firstly, I was involved in the reintroduction of the Red Kite into England. Please find below several items on this project and the various regions of England where the species has been released. I hope you find them of some use, giving an idea of what has occurred in England since 1989 up until this year.

For your information please find below an English Nature publication that will give you some idea of what has been happening with the reintroduction of the Red Kite in England and Scotland togetherwith the growth of the Welsh population over the last twenty years or so:

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/pubs/publication/PDF/Redkite.pdf

You could also visit this web site run by the Welsh Kite Trust. It provides details of the status of the Red Kite in all of the reintroduction areas in England and Scotland as well as the remnant population in Wales.

http://www.gigrin.co.uk/w/index.htm

Finally, here is a link to a web site that covers the latest Red Kite reintroduction area in England near Gateshead to the west of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north-east of that country :

http://www.northernkites.org.uk/news.htm

Galloway Kite Trail web site to support this on-the-ground experience:

http://www.gallowaykitetrail.com/index.html

This newspaper article tells of the money that tourists using the Galloway Kite Trail spend in a year in that part of Scotland:

http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1283242006

There is also this book written by a colleague at Natural England with data supplied by myself:

The Red Kite by Ian Carter, Arlequin Press ISBN: 1900159619

Best regards,
Chris
 
Killing Kites With Kindness

KILLING KITES WITH KINDNESS

Aylesbury Today Bucks Herald (FRIDAY DECEMBER 15)

RED kites are being killed with kindness by well-meaning bird lovers feeding them potentially lethal food, a new report shows.

Having already been saved from extinction once, these beautiful birds of prey are being put at risk, warn conservationists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

A reintroduction programme set up in 1989 which translocated birds from Spain and Sweden to the UK has had marked success, with more nesting birds appearing each year. But a study carried out in the Chilterns this year by Tom Killick, a student at Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, has revealed up to one in 10 people are feeding red kites in their gardens, and well over half of these are leaving out cooked leftover food scraps, which have little or no nutritional value for the kites. This can make red kites over-dependent on food handouts and deprive them of the opportunity to feed naturally.

Rat and mouse poison is also seriously threatening red kites' survival, with ZSL vets who monitor wild kite health identifying poisoning as a significant cause of death. Kites that eat dead or dying rodents killed with anticoagulant pesticides face being poisoned themselves.

Commenting on his findings, Tom Killick, 28, of Thame, Oxfordshire, said: "It took me by surprise quite how many people reported to feed red kites from their homes. It was obvious, however, that all of these people meant well and weren't aware of the adverse effects that their actions can have."

The problem has become so serious that conservationists at ZSL and the Chilterns Conservation Board are contacting hundreds of home and landowners in the Chilterns – where there are a large number of red kites – to advise them on feeding. ZSL, which runs London Zoo and Whipsnade Wild Animal Park, has even produced a leaflet packed with information to send out to homes visited by red kites.

ZSL's Native Species Conservation Programme Manager Emily Brennan said: "Many people like to feed red kites as they want to help conserve them and enjoy seeing these beautiful birds on their land. But feeding red kites the wrong types of food can cause serious dietary deficiencies which could lead to death. If you do decide to feed red kites, it is important to follow the advice given by ZSL and the Chiltern's Conservation Board."

Cathy Rose, from the CCB, adds: "There is plenty of natural food available to kites in the Chilterns countryside so they really don't need any more from us. The best thing we can do for them is let them remain wild and scavenge for themselves without interference."

Red kites were historically a common sight in England, scavenging for scraps in towns. Both Chaucer and Shakespeare mention the bird in their works, with Shakespeare referring to London as "the city of kites and crows". Their numbers started to dwindle around 200 years ago when organised rubbish disposal reduced food availability and drove them out of towns into the countryside, where they were persecuted as a perceived threat to game birds and livestock. At one point their numbers fell so dramatically it was thought only a single female of breeding age existed in the whole of the UK.



15 December 2006
 
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