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A hard-won comeback

Thirty-odd years ago, a red kite in Britain meant a trip to mid-Wales. By the 1980s the entire British population had shrunk to a few dozen pairs clinging on in the uplands of Radnorshire and Cardiganshire, and the species looked finished. Then came the reintroductions — beginning on the Black Isle and in the Chilterns in 1989, followed by releases along the Welsh borders, in Northamptonshire, Yorkshire, Dumfries and Galloway and elsewhere. Today kites drift over motorway verges, churchyards, playing fields and back gardens across a great swathe of England, Wales and Scotland. For a bird once persecuted to the brink, it is a remarkable turnaround, and it makes the red kite one of the most rewarding large birds to watch in Britain.

Better still, you do not need a permit, a hide or a five-mile walk. You need patience, a decent pair of binoculars and the habit of glancing up.

Reading the silhouette: how to be sure it's a kite

Most confusion arises between kites and buzzards, and the two often share the same patch of sky. Work through these features in order and you will rarely be caught out.

• Tail: deeply forked and constantly twisted from side to side, as though the bird is steering with a rudder. A buzzard's tail is shorter and fan-ended.
• Wings: long, narrow and swept back from the wrist, with splayed "fingers" at the tips. Buzzard wings are broader and held in a shallow V.
• Colour: rufous body, pale grey head and a bold white patch towards each wingtip, edged with dark. In bright light the pale head and white patches glow at surprising distance.
• Flight: buoyant and loose, the bird rocking and yawing on the breeze rather than soaring with steady, heavy purpose.

At close range look for amber-yellow eyes and yellow legs, and check for wing tags. Many British kites carry coloured tags with letter and number combinations that can be read through binoculars, which is enormously useful for anyone recording sightings.

Where to look in the British countryside

Kites want a landscape that is part pastoral and part untidy: somewhere to nest, somewhere to scavenge, and plenty of open ground to quarter at low height. Reach for a map and look for these ingredients.

• Woodland edges and belts of mature trees beside open farmland — classic nesting territory, and the first place to scan.
• Valley bottoms and gentle slopes where damp pasture makes worms and beetles easy pickings.
• Farmyards, muck heaps and freshly cut verges: kites are unashamed scavengers and quick to investigate anything dead or newly turned.
• Fields being mown or ploughed, where kites trail the machinery for whatever it disturbs.

Strongholds now include the Chilterns and the surrounding counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland, the Derwent Valley and Gateshead, much of Yorkshire, the Welsh borders around Rhayader and Newtown, Galloway, the Black Isle and lowland Perthshire. In many of these places you can see a kite from a roadside pull-in without leaving the car — though you will see far more on foot.

Listen for the mew

Before you see a kite, you will often hear one. The call is a thin, high, descending whistle, usually written as a mewing "wee-oo" or "peee-ya" — plaintive, slightly querulous, and quite unlike the sharper, more aggressive cries of gulls or the hard bark of a crow. Buzzards mew too, but theirs is a longer, more drawn-out wail.

Kites call most when they are interacting. Two birds tumbling in a spring display, a bird that has found carrion and is being pestered by others, or a group gathering towards an evening roost will all be noisy. Learn the sound once and you will find yourself looking up at exactly the right moment, often at a bird you would otherwise have missed entirely.

Timing your visit: season, weather and the roost

Late February to April is the finest time for watching behaviour. Pairs tumble, lock talons, and carry sticks to favoured trees, and the birds are vocal and conspicuous. Through summer adults are busy provisioning young, so there is a steady traffic of birds between woodland and open fields, best watched from a footpath with a clear view over a valley.

Winter, however, offers the greatest spectacle. From mid-afternoon kites drift in from all directions to communal roosts, settling in stands of pine or larch. On a still, cold, bright afternoon after a frost, dozens — occasionally well over a hundred — may circle and drop into the trees. Arrive an hour before dusk, position yourself with the low sun behind you, and wait.

Weather matters. Avoid heavy rain and strong wind; kites simply sit it out. A gentle breeze with sunny intervals is ideal, giving thermals for soaring and enough drift to keep birds moving over your viewpoint. Scan with the naked eye first, then sweep the sky with binoculars about ten to twenty degrees above the horizon, where passing kites so often travel.

Watching responsibly

The kite's recovery is a genuine success, but it is not yet secure everywhere, and illegal persecution continues in parts of the uplands. A few sensible habits go a long way.

• Stay on public rights of way, and keep well back from nest woods during the breeding season — a couple of hundred metres is a reasonable minimum.
• Keep dogs close and under control between March and July, and never let them swim towards a nest tree.
• Leave drones at home. They cause real disturbance and are unwelcome near any nest.
• Resist feeding kites from a car or lay-by. It draws them towards traffic, encourages poor food, and habituates birds to people.
• Be discreet about precise nest locations when posting online or chatting at a reserve.

Do record what you see. Note the date, a grid reference, the number of birds and any readable wing-tag combinations, and send the details to your county bird recorder. Those ordinary observations are what keep track of a bird that, not so long ago, nobody expected to see at all.