Awards 2009 big tick logo

Big Tick winner 2009

Big tick winner

Northumbrian Water Ltd - Northern Kites

Power in Partnership Award 2009

Northern Kites is the Project that has successfully returned wild red kites to the region’s skies after an absence of more than 170 years.

Processes

It is managed by Natural England and the RSPB, working in partnership with Northumbrian Water, Gateshead Council, the National Trust and the Forestry Commission, with additional funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and SITA Trust.  Northern Kites was set up in 2004 to establish a population of red kites in northern England and it has become not only Britain’s most successful project of its kind but also the highest profile wildlife project in the northeast, ever!

The Northern Kites’ story has become part of the fabric of local life – thanks largely to the positive, “can-do” approach of the Northern Kites Partnership, its team of staff, legion of volunteers and the people of the northeast, who have taken the birds to their hearts.

Impact

  • The Project has delivered environmental messages to over 33,000 children in over 170 schools, with 107 schools in the region adopting their own red kites through the Northern Kites ‘Adopt-a-Kite’ scheme.
  • The economic benefits from the return of the red kites have been significant with extra income of over £160,000 a year for the local economy
  • It is estimated that over its lifetime, the Project has supported 12.5 FTE jobs in the local economy, and has generated a minimum of £1.73 million in economic activity, the majority of which has filtered through to local companies and business people
  • Between 2004 and 2006, 94 red kites were released in Gateshead’s Derwent valley, less than six miles from the centre of Newcastle City.

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