Peter Davis retired as Red Kite Recorder last season after 30 years in the role and having been involved with ornithology all his life. I first met him in 1979 when he was working for the Nature Conservancy on the very important work of ensuring the survival of the Red Kite in Britain. There was at this time only 30 breeding pairs in total and six of these were in the valley where I was staying. Peter is a very fine field naturalist and has no peer in his knowledge of the Red Kite and its history. He alone is more responsible for their survival than anyone. His dedication and hard work for kites was well rewarded when the population really took off, from about 1983 onwards. Peter had a good "volunteer monitoring team" of which I was proud to be a part, he also gave me great support in my attempts to make a film on Red Kites. Hopefully this work will be shown in the near future.

His work in the field with kites is unequalled and the results are a great legacy for Welsh wildlife.
We wait in anticipation for a book on the subject of the Welsh Red Kite and its survival story.

Sir Michael Leighton Bt.(A Patron of the Trust)


Dear Michael,

I couldn't agree more, Peter's knowledge of birds in general is pretty exceptional and I for one am very grateful for all he has taught me. We must, however, not forget the work done by many others - past and present. Foremost amongst those still active are Peter Walters Davies and John Davis, two other Welsh Kite Trust Trustees, both of whom worked extensively with Peter in the field.