OVER the last few weeks, the bird song in my garden has been drowned out by the high pitched song of a pair of red kites flying low over the neighbourhood and perching in the tall trees.

Red kites were driven to extinction in England by the end of the nineteenth century. Then, in the early 1990s, kites from Spain were imported and released into the Chilterns by the RSPB and English Nature (now Natural England). The programme was highly successful and numbers have risen to more than 1,000 breeding pairs across large parts of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Berkshire. The reintroduction has been so successful it is not possible to monitor all the nests, so the overall population may be more.

In March, kites begin to spend more time in potential nesting areas. So perhaps that is why they are spending more time in the trees around Charlton. Apparently they will use nests abandoned by other birds, or will build their own in tall trees. The nests are made from large sticks and are normally lined with wool, which the birds collect along with other unusual items such as pieces of plastic, and sometimes even items of clothing. I’ve seen them flying around with sticks in their beaks, so this does make sense.

By mid-April the female lays up to four white eggs, flecked with light brown, of which one to three usually hatch after 34 days. The young birds fledge in about six to seven weeks and will remain with their parents for a further week to ten days.

Is this an interesting addition to the bird life in our gardens? We’re used to seeing all members of the tit family, territorial robins and black birds, various finches, pigeons, doves, and the vicious magpies. I like to hear the sounds of the woodpeckers drilling holes in the trees, but will all this be affected by the addition of nesting red kites?

Red kites mainly scavenge on dead animals, but are opportunistic hunters, capable of killing small animals. It was interesting when one of our neighbours installed a robot lawnmower. The red kites were intrigued and came swooping down to investigate. They finally decided that it was harmless and not edible. They will feed on chicks, small mammals and invertebrates such as beetles and earthworms. So our nesting garden birds may be at risk, as may the frogs as they emerge from our garden ponds.

However, being a Schedule I bird, fully protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, it is an offence to intentionally disturb red kites at or near a nest site.

So, whatever they may do our native birds, there is nothing we can do.