[David Anthony]

Hi John,

I really enjoyed your winning entry: well deserved.

Regarding the shitehawks, my dad served in the Western Desert and as far as I could understand any bird of prey (including a vulture) was a shitehawk to the British army.

The shitehawks on the M40 are in fact red kites, reintroduced from Spain about 12 years ago and now breeding profusely and shoving out other native wildlife. Even the best intentions...

Best,

David

[Charlotte Innes]

John, just popping back to say thanks for the shitehawks/kitehawks info. Fascinating! But from Kingsley Amis, eh? Hmm!

Charlotte

PS: David, also interesting about the M40 kite crowd. I'll have to take look when I go back to England this summer....

[John Whitworth]

David, I didn't know they came from Spain but I wonder what native species they have replaced. Kestrels? Plenty of those. There are now kites, I am told, in central London. In fact ALL birds of prey have increased lately, perhaps due to less poisons in the farmer's armoury.I saw a pair of Marsh harriers round here (over a marsh natch) and buzzards are around too. And wasn't there a peregrine falcon in Trafalgar Square after Ken Livingstone's pigeons. Go, go Peregrine.

[Jayne Osborn]

Regarding red kites, two miles from my house is a lane where they circle, not too many feet up, lots of them. I'm not sure when they first arrived, it wasn't all that long ago, but there are always cars parked there now, with bird-watchers ('twitchers' sounds rather derogatory, don't you think?) standing around photographing them or looking at them with binoculars.

[John Whitworth]

Kites are really (not REALLY) vultures in that they cannot kill prey because they have very weak feet. So motorways supply the dead stuff they need. Go on someone, tell me this is bollocks.

[David Anthony]

They are often accused of taking small animals and birds, though conservationists dispute it.
In fact, a fierce debate has been raging in the Stoke Poges parish magazine, where a decline in the local population of small birds was blamed on predatory kites. I myself incline to the view that they edge other species out by cornering the food supplies.
Red kites are as common as muck everywhere in the Chilterns now, including the towns. Beautiful and graceful birds.
Several times I've seen rooks attacking to drive them away from the rooks' territory.

[Jerome Betts]

Rob Hume's RSPB field guide Birds of Britain and Europe
(DK 2006) says: "FEEDING Eats dead aninals such as rabbits or sheep; catches birds up to crow or gull size in surprise dash; also feeds on insects, earthworms or voles."

Perhaps they could have a go at over-abundant magpies?

The introduced birds also came from Sweden and Germany. Good numbers in Wales too now helped by feeding-stations, such as the one near Rhayader. They were down to a handful of indigenous pairs at one time - don't know whether they've mixed with the introduced population.

[R. S. Gwynn]

Wonderful news! JW for the Nobel!

[John Whitworth]

They've got my name, Sam. They've got my name.