Following the news that Aragon, who was one of the first red kites released into England from Spain in 1994. At 29 years old, this probably made him the oldest red kite in the country.

See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-65646200

Aragon the red kite. Photo by Chrissie Gaines

Here in Yorkshire we can tell you of two long lived kites that don’t quite match the age of Aragon.

In East York’s we had a male kite from the Harewood release that found its way over in 2000 and became one of the pair to be the first recorded breeding kites in this county for 150 years. The last sighting we had of him was in 2021 that made him around 21 years old and he was the father of at least 39 young red kites.

Regular readers may remember the story of a female kite, tagged Orange/Red 7, again released at Harewood and was first seen in East York’s in 2003 and last seen in 2019. Due to access problems we’re only aware that she raised at least 24 young kites. Of course she may still be alive, but same as most kites, could most probably have lost her wing tags.