The Welsh Kite Trust

Sir Michael Leighton Bt..

I inherited my Family Estate, Loton Park, Shropshire, when I was 22 yrs. old in 1957, on the death of my Father. The Loton Estate has been in the family since 1391, and portions of it lie in Powys.

It is very rich in all forms of wildlife, and one of the Country's most important wintering grounds for Wildfowl. As well as a fine herd of Fallow Deer, it contains over 3 miles of the River Severn, many water meadows and natural ponds, and quarries (which are natural habitat for orchids and rare species of mosses), all of which are a sanctuary under stewardship.

I feel very fortunate to have been able to have the freedom to study all this in my lifetime. I first started filming birds in my thirties, (cine and still photography) and thirty years later am still at it!! (now mostly cine film). The ongoing films yet to complete are Buzzard, Little Owl, Sparrow Hawk and Red Kite, all of which have been filmed here on the Loton Park Estate. Hopefully, they will be finished. All my cine film has been taken on 16mm., positive and negative and then archived for video purposes.

For a short period the Hawk Trust was situated here, with the aviaries in the grounds at Loton. One of the committee members, Barbara Handley, kindly invited me to her house in Wales, to view the Red Kites in 1979. The next 12 years saw me filming and observing nest sites at a distance !! and the general behaviour of the Red Kites. During my time spent there I recorded daily in diaries and made tapes of my observations while at the same time attempting to make a film. I also made tape recordings of many natural sounds, sheep etc., which are to be used as background in the film. All the footage taken was during fieldwork in late February to early May. The weather was always very cold indeed early on, and frequently wet - not surprising for Wales!! On rare occasions there were balmy, really warm days, when even the birds themselves became becalmed.

My fieldwork during all this time was taken from 4 different pairs of kites, and generally I was there about 90% of the day. Then later on back out in the evening light - which tended to be very fickle, but Kites would hunt the valley when I had good opportunities for close photography. The early years (1979 - 1982) there were very few pairs of Red Kite. They started to increase (1986 - 1990) which began their revival to what it is today in Wales. A tremendous amount of credit for this must go to Peter Davis, who was then working for the Nature Conservancy Council. He supervised a dedicated team of voluntary workers, of which I was privileged to be one, but my work of wardening and filming was one of the easier jobs. I do hope my film "IN THE VALLEY OF THE KITE" will be a success. I am currently having difficulty finding the right editor, but hopefully it will find a place in the archives of Welsh Natural History. It would indeed be a just thank you for all the help I received.

The above photograph is Kilt Tartan taken from all the colours and shades of the Cwmystwyth Valley. It was designed by Audrey Sidebottom and myself. Audrey was a great friend and a keen supporter of all the Kite and Peregrine protection in the Valley. She is sadly missed.

It is great news, now that the Red Kites are spreading throughout the British Isles.
The Welsh Kite Trust is doing a great job securing the future, and the wellbeing, of the kites, and is in very capable hands. We must support the Trust in our lifetime for its continuing success.

I well remember in 1989 when the ten Red Kite were released in England for the first time. They were all wing-tagged and wore radio-tracking devices on their tails. They were allowed to leave their aviaries in the last few days of August. Two of the released kites, (code named B and C) suddenly, on August Bank Holiday, appeared in the Deer Park here at Loton. Straight away I rang Peter Davis, and he said: "They are probably looking for you, Michael." For the next 4 to 5 weeks Tony Cross and myself were kept very busy following and tracking them around the Powys/Shropshire border.