Red Kites in some parts of mid-Wales are regularly fed by humans. This has a dual purpose: it is intended to help sustain and increase the kite population through the provision of extra food, and it also acts as a tourism draw.
Locations at which this takes place include:
- The Black Mountain Feeding Station at Llanddeusant in the Brecon Beacons, which is visited daily by over 50 birds.
- Gigrin Farm Red Kite Feeding and Rehabilitation Centre, near Rhayader where between 200 and 500 kites visit per day. The visiting birds regularly include the very rare leucistic (white) red kite.
- Nant-yr-Arian, a Forestry Commission centre near Ponterwyd, Ceredigion, where over 30 kites feed every day.
Debate has taken place over the effectiveness of kite-feeding as a conservation method. Practitioners of kite-feeding argue that it has helped to increase the species' population, and sustain the birds through poor winters. It has also been suggested that the practice of feeding kites has hampered their spread out of central Wales into other parts of the United Kingdom.
Famous quotes containing the words red, kite, feeding and/or wales:
“O my luve’s like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June;
O my luve’s like the melodie That’s sweetly play’d in tune.”
—Robert Burns (1759–1796)
“A saint about to fall,
The stained flats of heaven hit and razed
To the kissed kite hems of his shawl....”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“How did you feel feeding doughnuts to a horse? Had a kick out of it, huh? Got a big laugh. Did you ever think of feeding doughnuts to a human being? No!”
—Robert Riskin (1897–1955)
“I just come and talk to the plants, really—very important to talk to them, they respond I find.”
—Charles, Prince Of Wales (b. 1948)