12
Individual Kite Tales
The ability to accurately track the released kites using signals from their radio
transmitters meant that Northern Kites was able to build up fascinating biographies
of many of the birds, the details of which had a ‘soap opera’ element to them. This
was particularly true of ‘Scarlet’, whose wanderings were so noteworthy, that they
made television news.
Scarlet – Gone with the Wind!
Within a few weeks of her release in 2004, Scarlet had left the Gateshead
area. In September 2004, she was seen visiting red kites in Wales, before
heading further south to the Chilterns and spending time with kites where
she was born. It was not long before she travelled north back to Gateshead,
before returning south to Yorkshire, where she eventually settled. Scarlet
has successfully bred in Yorkshire every year since 2006, raising fi ve chicks
up to 2008.
Precious Ruby
Other birds did not quite make the headlines, but their life stories have proved
equally fascinating. Ruby, also released in 2004, proved to be rather more
of a ‘home bird’, venturing only as far as the Derwent Reservoir, where she
was spotted at ‘Crooked Oak’ near Muggleswick in June 2005. Otherwise,
she has spent all of her time in Gateshead and the lower Derwent valley.
Although this might seem unadventurous, it is Ruby’s romantic liaisons,
which have proved most interesting. She paired up with Rufus as early as
spring 2005 and, after displaying, built a nest on the ground, completely at
odds to the normal kite practice of using tall trees. Unsurprisingly, nothing
came of this low level nest. Nevertheless, they tried again that year, this
time in a tree, and it is believed that eggs were laid, but Ruby showed her
inexperience, abandoning the nest before hatching.
Perhaps dissatisfi ed with her partner’s support, Ruby ditched Rufus in favour
of Flame, who she was seen consorting with in January 2006. A pairing
followed but again disaster struck. In May 2006, Ruby’s nest was destroyed
three weeks into her incubation period, following a spell of gale force winds,
her two eggs being lost in the process. Nonetheless, Ruby stayed true to
Flame and this proved to fruitful, for they managed to build a better nest in
2007, raising a chick, ‘Silky Striker’, and another in 2008, ‘Golden Glider’.
In 2009, Ruby and Flame were still together and nesting once again in the
Derwent valley.
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