In 2012 there were 214 breeding pairs of red kites in Scotland and 318 young were fledged. As populations of red kites have become larger SRSG members have also become increasingly involved in the annual monitoring effort.
The reintroduced birds have been closely monitored by RSPB Scotland staff using radio and wing tagging techniques. Finally, between 20 101 red kites were released on the outskirts of Aberdeen with donor stock from the Chilterns and from central Scotland. In order to re-establish red kites in the south of Scotland, between 20 104 birds were released near Laurieston (Dumfries and Galloway), using donor stock from north Scotland and the Chilterns reintroduction project in England. This initial reintroduction was followed by a second reintroduction programme in central Scotland (Doune, near Stirling) between 19, releasing 103 birds of eastern German origin. Between 19, 93 red kites of Swedish origin were reintroduced on the Black Isle (Ross-shire). Clues to their former presence live on in old place names, particularly with the old Scots name for the red kite (the Gled), in names such as Gladhouse (Lothian), Gledfield (Highland) and Gledsmuir (Borders).Ä«etween 19 a joint RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage project was undertaken to reintroduce red kites to Scotland, with the ambition of restoring the bird eventually to all of its former range in the country. Most of the last documented breeding attempts in Scotland were in the Highlands in the 1870-1880s and there is one later record of a pair nesting in Glen Garry (Lochaber) in 1917 (Baxter and Rintoul).
The red kite was formerly an abundant and widely distributed species in the country prior to this time.
The red kite became extinct as a Scottish breeding bird species in the late nineteenth century, primarily due to human persecution by sporting estates, the taxidermy trade and egg collecting.