Fifty eight sites were located, and 99 young resulted from 44 successful nests (90 ringed and tagged from 40 nests). Six sites were occupied by pairs where no nests were found or fledged juveniles observed. Eight sites failed and three infertile eggs were delivered to the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology for analyses and archiving. Brood sizes were : 3 x 17; 2 x 21 and 1 x 6. Three long dead nestlings were noted at the time of ringing and tagging. This was a significant population increase with range extension to the north and west, and new site occupation within the core area. Near Corby, west of the A6003, six juveniles fledged from two nests. This followed a four-year period when a different pair of two year old kites failed in their nesting attempts.
Three presumed females died at or near their nests. On 18th April a fresh carcass (GN52926 - White/white black spot), picked clean, was found on a nest containing two broken eggs, on top of which was a stick nest with greenery, believed to be Common Buzzard. Another freshly dead carcass (GN28502 - White/pink G), again picked clean, was found below the nest on 20th April. Body feathers on the nest indicated death had occurred there. A pair seen overhead subsequently reared two young using the same nest which also contained two infertile eggs. These may have been laid by the female which died. It is clear replacement of the mate and clutch can result where failure occurs early in the season. At the third failed nest, GN37761 - White/blue S was found dead 30m from the nest tree on 8th June.
Red 1 featured on the video link at Top Lodge, Fineshade, the Forestry Commission District Headquarters, for the sixth consecutive year. True to form she chose a new site, but in a precarious position in an Oak. A second visit showed the nest had collapsed and a replacement nest was found in a Lime, from which two nestlings fledged. She has finally lost both tags. Our other oldest known breeding birds still retaining tags are White/black B and White/black I, both ringed as nestlings in 1999. We believe Red ?, now without tags, once again bred near King's Cliffe. This bird had been shot in the Chilterns in 1996 and released in Northamptonshire, still carrying several pellets, following rehabilitation at the Institute of Zoology, London.
Two nests were located by radio tracking the adults. One of these was Orange/white 2 (GN28494 ), an ex-Chilterns bird released in Yorkshire in 2002. Not recorded in Yorkshire in the 18 months following release, it was sighted in Northamptonshire on 12 December 2004.
During final nest checks in August and September, three nestlings were found long dead near their nest sites. White/orange L was found on 7 September caught by the right foot in frayed baler twine embedded in a manure heap at Colston Bassett near the Nottinghamshire/ Lincolnshire border. The farmer who found it had been searching for a missing cow which had wandered from the herd to calf. The bird was released near Bulwick 16 September, following rehabilitation. Our task now is to determine survival rates, and to date 27 juveniles have been recorded at a feeding site near Deenethorpe.
It would be reasonable to expect a minimum of seventy nests in 2006. The future of the Red Kite here looks secure.
