The Red Kite (Milvus Milvus) is the national bird of Wales, and the UK's greatest conservation success story. Genetic research shows that the UK's native red kite population was reduced to one nesting female in the 1930's, and today the total UK red kite population has grown to over 4,700 breeding pairs.

From the 1600's, red kites were hunted to extinction in England & Scotland, with only a small population remaining in Wales, which suffered at the hands of Victorian egg collectors. By the 1930's the red kite population in Wales was reduced to two breeding pairs.

Since then, red kite conservation efforts have grown the population in Wales, with European breeding pairs imported into England and Scotland helping to boost the population to its current levels. The breeding programme has been such a success that Wales now exports pairs of red kites to countries in the EU in an effort to reintroduce the species across the Continent.

At Red Kite Feeding Stations such as this one in Llanddeusant, Carmarthenshire, West Wales, hundreds of wild red kites flock daily to feed on meat provided by the Welsh Kite Trust with the support of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority.