Red Kites, Milvus milvus, are a mid-sized, largely scavenging bird of prey, and are easily identified, with a wingspan of up to 195cm, a distinctively forked tail and a stunning variety of colours from rusty red on much of the body to a steely blue-grey head. Red Kites were reintroduced to Irish skies in 2007 after an absence of over 200 years. The native species were lost to habitat destruction and persecution, these distinctive raptors were reintroduced to multiple locations along the East coast of Ireland through a partnership of The Golden Eagle Trust, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and the Welsh Kite Trust. Ireland’s new founding population is comprised of birds relocated from Wales. Wales was the last stronghold of Red Kite on the island of Britain after a large reduction in population across the island caused by similar driving factors that caused the extirpation of Ireland’s own Red Kite population. In 1940, the British population had less than 10 breeding pairs, and it recovered to 100 breeding pairs by 1993. The Welsh population was most recently estimated at around 2117 breeding pairs (Hereward et al., 2024).
A recent BTO Research Report was published, titled; Modelling population-level impacts of wind farm collision risk on Welsh Red Kites by Hereward et al. (2024). Whilst Red Kites are known to fall victim to turbine collisions (Schaub, 2012), this study, through Population Viability Analysis (PVA) based on population estimates, breeding success, and juvenile and adult mortality rates, using a PVA modelling framework developed by Natural England (Searle et al., 2019), essentially concluded that if all currently planned wind farm developments were to be granted permission the red kite population is most likely to either stabilise or continue to grow at a reduced rate, with a low probability risk of populations declining in densely populated areas, such as in two specific Special Protection Areas (SPA) where red kites are listed as a species of Special of Conservation Interest (SCI). Sampling retained 19,775 models that reflected the observed recent population growth, and across virtually all combinations of impact scenarios and outcome scales, impacts are projected to be relatively small. Even in the cases of the densely populated SPA’s, where there is a small but non-zero probability of decline, for every impact scenario population decline is predicted to be less likely than continued growth (Hereward et al., 2024).
In Ireland, the Red Kite is protected under Annex 1 of the EU Birds Directive (2009, 147/EC), affording protection due to being: in danger of extinction, vulnerable to specific changes in their habitats, considered rare due to small populations or restricted local distribution. The species is not currently listed under any existing SPA, although their breeding distribution is very densely concentrated, for example in Avoca, Co. Wicklow.
At MKO, the preservation and continued population growth of this species are among our proud responsibilities as environmental consultants. Members of our dedicated ornithology team carry out surveys on sites where, thankfully, red kites are a common sight. The report detailed above goes to show that, with the continued high standards that we aim to uphold in our work, wind energy can continue to increase in capacity across Ireland, while still safeguarding the growing population of this, one of our country’s fledgling conservation success stories.
References:
Hannah F. R. Hereward, Callum J. Macgregor, Owain Gabb, Alice Connell, Robert J. Thomas, Anthony V. Cross and Rachel C. Taylor. (2024) Modelling population-level impacts of wind farm collision risk on Welsh Red Kites. BTO Research Report 766.
Schaub, M. (2012) Spatial distribution of wind turbines is crucial for the survival of Red Kite populations. Biological Conservation 155: 111—118.
Searle, K., Mobbs, D., Daunt, F. & Butler, A. (2019) A Population Viability Analysis Modelling Tool for Seabird Species (NECR274). Natural England.