Supplementary feeding of the reintroduced Red Kite Milvus milvus in UK gardens

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of the elements of the guidance/advice on Red Kite Milvus milvus supplementary feeding assessed here, indicating the publication(s) mentioning them and the percentage of respondents from SE England (n = 114) complying with each element.

Guidance given	Included in	% of respondents complying
Nature of food provided
State/imply food should contain skin and bone	1–4	78 (42% only this; 36% some)
Do not provide processed meats/state these may be harmful	1–4	77^c
Feed whole small mammal carcasses	1–3^a	19
Avoid cooked meat^b	2, 4	80 (49% only raw; 31% some)
Do not feed roadkill (may have been poisoned)	1	97
Nature of provisioning activity
Provide small amounts (not quantified)	1, 4	80^d (49% ≤ 200 g; 31% ≤ 400 g)
Remove remaining food at end of day	1–3	81^e
Feed irregularly	4	88^f

Notes: 1 = ZSL (2006): guidelines for landowners, 2 = Anon (2006): guidelines for the public. See text for details of withdrawal of support by two authors, 3 = Carter (2007, p. 123): book on the Red Kite. Note that these are described as a summary of (2) but were included here as feeders may access only one of these, 4 = Carter & Whitlow (2005); booklet on Red Kites in the Chilterns.

^a(3) States ‘food derived from complete animal carcasses’ but does not specify small mammals.

^bAlso implied by (1) and (3) as the food described in these is unlikely to be cooked.

^cProvision of processed meats and/or kitchen scraps assumed to represent non-compliance.

^dPercentage who estimated masses.

^ePercentage who stated that not all food was eaten by kites (n = 77). Of those not complying, only one respondent stated that all such food was left out and the rest reported ‘a combination’ of being eaten by other species and left uneaten.

^fThis percentage did not feed daily. We acknowledge that less frequent feeding may still be regular.

ZSL. 2006. Helping red kites. A good practice guide for landowners in England. Available from: http://static.zsl.org/files/red-kites-final-279.pdf [accessed September 2013].

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Anon. 2006. The effects of feeding reintroduced red kites in England and guidance on best practice. Chilterns Conservation Board, Natural England, RSPB, Southern England Kite Group, ZSL. Available from: http://web.onetel.com/~gerrywhitlow/sekg/kite%20feeding%20guidelines.pdf [accessed September 2013].

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Carter, I. 2007. The Red Kite. Arlequin Press, Shrewsbury.

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Carter, I. & Whitlow, G. 2005. Red Kites in the Chilterns, 2nd edn. English Nature; Chilterns Conservation Board, Chinnor.

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