Red Kite Crash Lands
A young red kite fitted with a satellite tag has survived an early brush with danger to be rescued by a gamekeeper after crash landing near Munlochy on the Black Isle. The bird, known for now as 'H', was one of 10 fitted with the tags by RSPB Scotland as part of a new project called Eyes to the Skies to link the magnificent birds in with local communities and schools, and was being followed online at www.eyestotheskies.org.uk ever since fledging its Black Isle nest in July.
The bird, adopted by Farr Primary school, was discovered tangled up in equipment on the Craigiehowe Mains shooting estate by local keeper Rob Colyer. Rob quickly phoned the SSPCA, who took H in overnight and checked his condition. Thankfully, he seemed to be in good shape, and has been re-released after his scare.
Rob said: “The kite was looking very sorry for itself when I found it and didn’t seem to be grateful to be rescued. However I’m delighted to have been able to help and even more pleased to hear that it has been able to take to the air once more. I look forward to seeing it again over the estate in happier circumstances!”
The RSPB’s Red Kite Project Officer Claire Buchanan said: “We are very grateful to Rob for reporting the downed kite and the SSPCA for looking after him overnight. He has been checked over and successfully released and should be none the worse for his experience.
“We have satellite-tagged ten young Red Kites this year and each has been adopted by a local primary school as part of the 'Eyes to the Skies' project, which let us identify this kite as the one adopted by Farr Primary School. One of the jobs of the school children is to name their kite and it will be very interesting to see what the children in Farr come up with. Maybe they’ll name him after Rob Colyer who rescued the bird!”
“The progress of all of the birds in the scheme can be followed on our special website: www.eyestotheskies.org.uk, and the children at each school will be writing a blog about their bird
“It’s really fascinating to plot their travels. All were born on the Black Isle and the furthest any of the birds has travelled so far is to Kingussie.”
Local estate owners and keepers are being asked to keep an eye on the birds and report back any interesting examples of behaviour. These will be forwarded on to the school concerned.
The schools participating in “Eyes to the Skies” are: Aviemore, Avoch, Beauly, Carrbridge, Culbokie, Daviot, Dingwall, Farr, Grantown and Merkinch.
The Eyes to the Skies project is backed by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW Scotland), Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Highland Council, Leader Highland, Leader Cairngorms, and RS MacDonald Trust.
Story from RSPB