A reintroduction programme by RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage over the past two decades has seen the bird prosper across the country.
Since 1989, the graceful bird of prey has been reintroduced in four areas of Scotland, with at least 149 pairs fledging 234 young in 2009.
Red kites are beautiful, sociable raptors with six-foot wing spans and distinctive forked tails, and are mainly scavengers. Once common all over the British Isles, widespread killing of the birds in Victorian times led to fewer than 50 pairs surviving in mid-Wales by 1989, when the bird was reintroduced to the north of Inverness and southern England.
Since then, further Scottish releases have taken place in central Scotland, near Doune, in Dumfries and Galloway near Loch Ken, and on the outskirts of Aberdeen.
Most areas below 1500ft are suitable for red kites in Scotland, and the agencies hope one day almost everyone will have some near them.
Duncan Orr Ewing, head of species and land management with RSPB Scotland, said: “Over 20 years, red kites have been brought back from extinction in Scotland to almost 150 pairs, which is almost certainly the highest number for 150 years. We hope that the population has now reached a critical mass.
“We’d also like to thanks the many landowners and farmers who host red kites on their land. These birds should be quite common in our countryside, and over the past 20 years the groundwork has been laid for that to happen again.”
Minister for Environment Roseanna Cunningham said: “Scotland is renowned for its birdlife and red kites are especially popular. These magnificent birds could easily have been lost to us for good so to have reintroduced them so successfully is a real feather in the cap for conservation efforts. Everyone involved is to be congratulated on making this possible.”
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