Aren't birds of prey brilliant
Birds of prey have had very mixed fortunes over the years. For example, during the Middle Ages, red kites were highly valued: as scavengers, they helped to clear the streets of London and other towns of carrion and waste. Their contribution was considered so vital that they were granted protection by royal decree.
However, attitudes towards red kites and other birds of prey changed in the 16th century, when a series of laws encouraged people to kill them as vermin. It wasn't until 1954 that new laws were passed to make it illegal to kill birds of prey.
Although there are a number of successful reintroduction schemes for red kites and white-tailed eagles, and the spectacular sight of sparrowhawks, buzzards and kestrels is less rare, there is still much to be done to return these amazing birds to their rightful places within the UK.
Read on to find out more about our ten top birds of prey. Download and print (double-sided) our fun arts and crafts activities to do at home, or take into school and get your teacher to do a lesson on how brilliant our birds of prey are.
If you are a teacher, come back soon when we'll have a brand new educational resource available, including bird of prey teachers' notes and worksheets to use with your pupils.
Want to see brilliant birds for yourself? Join us at one of our Aren't birds brilliant! projects across the UK for your chance to see birds of prey in action.
The commonest UK bird of prey, it is quite large with broad, rounded wings, and a short neck and tail. When gliding and soaring it will often hold its wings in a shallow 'V'. It is variable in colour... More... |  |
Of the UK's birds of prey, this is the most intensively persecuted. Once predating free-range fowl, earning its present name, its effect on the number of grouse available to shoot is the cause of mode... More... |  |
A familiar sight with its pointed wings and long tail, hovering beside a roadside verge. Kestrels have been recently declining as a result of habitat degradation due to continuing intensive management... More... |  |
Seen in flight from below the osprey has white or slightly mottled underparts. The long wings are angled, bending at the 'wrist' which has a black patch contrasting with the white wing linings, and at... More... |  |
The peregrine is a large and powerful falcon. It has long, broad, pointed wings and a relatively short tail. It is blue-grey above, with a blackish top of the head and an obvious black 'moustache' tha... More... |  |
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 p... More... |  |
Adult males have a slate grey back and white underparts, closely barred with orange. Their grey tail has 4-5 dark bars. Females are larger, with brown upperparts, a white stripe over the eye and dark ... More... |  |
The white-tailed eagle is the largest UK bird of prey. It has brown body plumage with a conspicuously pale head and neck which can be almost white in older birds, and the tail feathers of adults are w... More... |  |
With heart shaped face, buff back and wings and pure white under parts the barn owl is a distinctive and much loved countryside bird. Widely distributed across the UK, and indeed the world, the bird ... More... |  |
Short-eared owls are medium sized owls with mottled brown bodies, pale under-wings and yellow eyes. They are commonly seen hunting during the day. In winter, there is an influx of continental birds (... More... |  |
