[waterbuffalofarmer]

In order not to divert the Lynx thread I thought we could talk about them on this one instead I have tons of them up near me and lost a lamb whilst it was asleep due to it being attacked clawed by some, def not dogs or badgers as claw marks too small, no idea how this happened but I was informed so by my brother. We have a wildlife centre for kites about 20 miles away and they seem to have migrated over to us, not many problems yet Do you think they do need controlling or not? Aren't they protected and isn't it illegal to shoot them?

[in the hills]

Yes, definitely protected. And definitely illegal to shoot them or get rid by any other means.

How do you know that you lost the lamb to a kite? Did your brother see it actually kill the lamb?

I have commented in the other thread, that kites are only supposed to be carrion feeders. We were told at an RSBP talk that they are not strong birds and in fact they struggled to even open a carcass and relied on other carrion feeders doing this.

We have at times seen a dozen or so flying together over here. Not heard of any problems yet. Not sure if high numbers or lack of food could drive them to catch live prey in say bad weather.

[SallyintNorth]

As I also posted on the other thread, there are often other raptors in the same range as the red kites.  Given what the RSPB told inthehills, it would seem more likely that any kills are down to other raptors - or even ravens.  Or natural causes.  The red kites may then opportunistically feed on the carcass, of course.

[Kinburn 1919]

Hi... I have several Red Kites visiting me in Perthshire, they are a beautiful bird and are such a pleasure to see, they generally have a wingspan of 5 foot six, they are so beautiful to watch in flight... when I am cutting hay or baling the Kites quite often follow the tractor high above and wait for any field mice or frogs or anything that has been injured and swoop down and eat them, I previously had been worried about them flying and landing near new born lambs, so I did some research on them, and found out that Kites do not have the ability to kill things like lambs as their beaks are not designed for this, they rely on other animals or birds breaking the skin and then they can have a feed, they generally scavenge.. worms are one of Kites regular feeds, Kites also feed on the  lambing afterbirth , that is why you see them landing near new born lambs, apparently the afterbirth is a valuable source of food for them , and a easy meal... as for them being protected , I would say definitely .. as they were nearly wiped out at one point, as they were being blamed for things they hadn't done..

[waterbuffalofarmer]

thanks for that [member=162141]Kinburn 1919[/member] I am glad that, that is cleared up. We have loads up here and they are indeed very beautiful. We also have loads of buzzards too.

[Buttermilk]

Round here we well know the difference between buzzard and kite as both are present.  The buzzards help themselves to rabbits and rats but it was definately the kites that were taking the young poults.

[Bionic]

We have red kites here. Their feeding station is only a few miles away.


local farmers are always complaining about crows but I have never heard them saying anything bad about the kites

[Kinburn 1919]

Crows are scum... a sheep does not have to be on its back before a crow will take its eyes out, and once it has finished with the eyes they pull out the sheeps intestines....Ravens are worse they prey on new borns lambs and pull their tongues out, last year we lost eight lambs this way... totally heartbreaking... they are protected... but you can apply for a special licence in Scotland which allows you to kill 3 Ravens..

[oor wullie]

We have red kites over us most days.  I have never seen them attempt to take anything living and the hens barely even look up when a kite flies low over them.  No doubt if they were starving they might try but I don't think they would normally eat anything but carrion.

[devonlady]

Two of my grandsons, 10 and 12 and both keen naturalists say they saw kites at South Prawle at the weekend when they were camping there.

[pharnorth]

Is it a bad year for crow haters?  We seem to have about three times the usual number of crows sitting over our fields. I do t mind a few around but there must be a couple of hundred. What is the best way to get rid of a few?

[Womble]

Crows or rooks pharnorth?  But yes, I've never seen so many rooks as this year. I wonder if last year's wet summer meant loads of worms etc for them to eat, hence population explosion this year?

[Buttermilk]

There seems to be a fair few of most things here especially wood pigeons.

[pharnorth]

Hi Womble, yes I was being generic, if it was a mere solitary crow I would be most happy, but it is a crow-d of rooks. I guess it is wrong to consider mass extermination in a category of posts regarding preserving wild life. Nonetheless I wish they would move on.

[SallyintNorth]

Gangs of corvids are usually rooks and/or jackdaws (they cohabit).  As far as I know, rooks and jackdaws don't attack lambs or sheep.  They'll be interested in any cake or grain that's about.