100s of Red Kites but nothing else

Have seen Red Kites co-exiting alongside Ravens, Rooks and Buzzards for a short time in area when pheasant/partridge shoots take place.  They also appear in these areas during lambing time.  Most of the aerial squabbles have been rooks or crows trying to oust Buzzards in the same area at any time of year.  Never seen more than 4/6 at one time.  Must have been quite a site to see so many together.

What I find strange is.- If I have a dead sheep on my private land with no public access I have to pick it up and dispose of it. The RSPB and others  can spread carrion and take paying public in close proximity. The natural food source for the Kites and Buzzards have to be sanitized so the buffer between them and live stock is removed leading to human conflict. Just no logical sense.

We have lots of Red Kites up here😁 You can often spot a dozen or so around Harrogate/ Knaresborough area, wheeling around. Some farms feed them up here, and they are spreading out further North and South. We do see them in South Yorks, but not in the numbers a bit further up. They are scavengers, so untidy humans and lots of roadkill are making things easy for them to gradually extend their territories. We saw four or five patrolling over A1 North of Wetherby on our way up here last Saturday.

They are colonising far and wide. I’ve seen them both just south and north of the Humber, from the Lincolnshire  Wolds to the North York Moors but never very close to the coast. A real rewilding success story. We humans are a double edged sword mind in such matters. At one extreme our dirty habits help and at the other our despicable acts blast these and other raptors out the skies or poison them. There are those mind who wish to assist such reintroductions in sensible and controlled ways. We can live alongside nature and undo our damage, we just need to be a little more understanding and compromise. 

Add to that East of the Humber, I saw a solitary one flapping & soaring over the Holderness plain a few days ago, none before that mind. They are a super success story👍🏻

Yes, not in great numbers mind, just a handful seen over the last couple of years, where once we totally eradicated them, now with help they are returning to address nature’s balance. I do worry a little when I see them and other raptors entering the Moors airspace! There are a few despicable people a foot!

I think we are both of the-‘let nature sort itself out’ school of thought. If left alone too many will be balanced out to sustainable levels. No doubt the RK I saw was on a recce for potential hunting grounds. I’m afraid the prime real estate around here is taken as there are at least 2 pair of Buzzards in my area of the Holderness plain. They are a treat to watch spiralling upwards on Spring thermals calling as they go-it’s a joy👍🏻

As common as sparrows here in their heart land. We dont artificially feed them ( except I believeat Crigin Farm) so numbers are OK. Coming up past Rheyadr the other day and the huge numbers previouslyseen were not there so perhaps no artificial feeding now.

We have recently moved into in laws 1930s house were have always kept our caravan, the neighbours on either side each have large leylandii tree at the bottom of their gardens the other evening I was treated to a murmuration of starlings all be it only several hundred the best part was when they split and dropped into each tree   

Yes, R2Bs I do but like with red kites we need to reintroduce some species we previously eradicated. This also entails correcting or making the environment right again for them to establish and then they can recolonise other areas naturally. It’s not many decades ago that red kites were abundant even within our cities. 
Out of interest I’ve just got back from Fryup in the NYMs and a buzzard was circling high in the sky. The highlight however was a barn owl which flew alongside the car for about 200 metres before veering off into an old barn on a farm near the Cycle Hub. Beautiful!