Year Five (2008)
In 2008, the red kite breeding population
Such work has appeared in a number
saw a 75% increase in successful pairs
of national publications and some is
from 2007, a 100% increase in the
available for sale in local retail outlets.
number of young reared by these pairs,
Red kite fl owerbed, Derwent Park
and a similar increase in birds nesting
and laying eggs. This year saw the fi rst
Northern Kite Volunteers
nest of three young, whilst one fi rst-
the Community Heart of the Project
time nesting female managed to lay
Over 140 volunteers were involved in
four eggs, though only one youngster
the Project’s work and have contributed
was successfully reared. In 2008, two
over 18,000 hours over the lifetime of the
pairs of kites nested in different parts
Project. In pure staffi ng support terms,
of Northumberland and two Northern
this was calculated as being worth over
Kites released birds bred successfully
£40,000 per annum to the Project.
in Yorkshire. Two of these, Speedy and
Scarlet, fl edged six young between
More importantly, the contribution of
them. Probably the most exciting news
Northern Kites volunteers effectively
was that Flag and Red Philip, not
turned the red kites into the ‘people’s
only once again reared two young in
kites’. This had untold value to the
the Derwent Walk County Park but in
Project’s work in the region. Perhaps
2008, they became grandparents. Their
most importantly for a project that was
female chick from 2007, Farra Flame,
promoted as being about ‘red kites
displayed amazing maturity by rearing
and people’, was the fact that it was
a youngster, Fire Star, with her partner,
volunteers that were often the ones
Sky Diver, who had been released in
delivering the Project’s work and its
Gateshead in 2006. Red kites bred
messages. This demonstrated that the
successfully in at least four well-
Project was for people, delivered by
differentiated areas of the North East
people, in effect, the community doing
and it was believed that pairs might
it for itself.
have been breeding in anything up to
ten other locations across the region.
Red Kites in the Picture
As the Britain in Bloom red-kite themed
fl owerbeds in Rowlands Gill, in 2006
and 2008, demonstrated, the red kites
inspire the creation of eye-catching
images. Since the fi rst kites were
released, many photographers and
artists have produced striking kite-
related images.
26
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