As I’ve talked about in previous blogs, Phoenix the kite is quite the traveller. She was one of the first birds collected for the project in the Chilterns in June of last year and brought to Aberdeen with 14 other kites. She was named by one of the volunteers from Aberdeen Countryside Project that built the cages in spring. Phoenix was wingtagged (07) and had a radio transmitter attached in early-July and was released on 17 July. Since then she’s got even more air miles under her belt. During fine weather in September several of the Aberdeen red kites dispersed from the area and during an aerial survey of the region we re-located a couple of the birds, including Phoenix. She was near Nethy Bridge with another bird.
Since October, Phoenix has made the journey to and from Nethy Bridge three times! The 120 mile round trip goes across some of the highest ground in Grampian, and isn’t an easy jaunt for our young female. At the moment she is with the main flock near Aberdeen, but when the weather clears on the higher ground I imagine she’ll be off again! If you see Phoenix, or any other of the Aberdeen Red Kites, we would love to hear about it. Please email us at aberdeenredkites@rspb.org.uk