Red Kite  (Milvus milvus)

This magnificently graceful bird of prey is unmistakable with its reddish-brown body, angled wings and deeply forked tail. It was saved from national extinction by one of the world's longest running protection programmes, and has now been successfully re-introduced to England and Scotland. 

Luckily for me one of the latest re-introduction sites is in the Derwent Valley at Rowlands Gill, Gateshead only a few miles from my house. The program has gone very well and the birds have spread out into Tynedale, Derwentside and Wear Valley. On a sunny day they are a truly spectacular sight soaring and gliding on the thermals.