Six dead kites have been recorded during 2007. Orange/Green 9, raised at an East Yorkshire nest in 2006, was found dead in a field in early April. Tests showed that it had been poisoned by Bendiocarb, the probability being that it had found an illegally placed bait dosed with this substance. Tests on a second bird proved inconclusive.

Two further birds found dead together, in close vicinity to a dead fox and a dead crow, were shown to have been poisoned through feeding on a rabbit bait which had been dosed with an insecticide. Police enquiries are continuing on this case – hence the limited detail. The sixth bird has only just been found (11/07) and submitted for analysis. Two of the five known 2007 casualties also had lead-shot in them, indicating that they had been deliberately targetted at some point. See also the section on Rat Poisons below.

The last four Yorkshire birds known to have died through feeding on poisoned baits were found near to public footpaths by walkers. This begs the serious question as to how many other kites have died, undetected, in the wider countryside. Anyone discovering a possible poisoning incident is asked to report it either by phoning the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) on Freephone 0800 321 600 or contacting the Police.

Rat poisons.

The widespread intensive use of anti-coagulant rodenticides probably represents the greatest single threat to kites and other scavenging species in the UK. First-generation substances such as Warfarin and Coumatetralyl would probably be effective in controlling fresh outbreaks in new areas, but it appears that their availability is limited. New, stronger poisons, based on Difenacoum, Brodifacoum and Bromadiolone (developed for use in areas in which rats have developed resistance to Warfarin and Coumatetralyl) are known to be in widespread use. They have a longer residual effect than the first-generation types and have been known to cause spontaneous haemorrhaging in kites which have fed from carcases of rats killed by them.

Analysis results on Orange/Yellow 23, which was found dead in mid-Wharfedale in April 2007, showed that it had died from a combination of two of these second-generation substances. This is the first record of a Yorkshire Red Kite having died from this cause. Copies of a joint Natural England/RSPB rat poison advisory leaflet are available from the addresses at the end of this Newsletter.