RED kites have been spotted across Herefordshire 30 years on from the start of the scheme to reintroduce the bird to England's skies.
In what environmental experts say may be the biggest species success story in UK conservation history, the once-vanished bird is now soaring over countryside, gardens and towns across swathes of England.
In three decades, the species has gone from a small number of breeding pairs in Wales, to thousands of birds across the UK, and members of the Hereford Times Camera Club have captured some stunning images of the birds in Herefordshire.
Photo: Karen Simpkins
The large bird of prey largely feeds on carrion and worms and cuts a distinctive silhouette with wing tips that look like splayed fingers and a forked tail, and were once common city scavengers in medieval Britain.
Photo: Tom Pennington, Weobley
But their numbers declined in the face of persecution and egg collecting, and by the 20th century they were extinct in both England and Scotland, with a small population hanging on in Wales too small to recolonise the rest of Britain.
In July 1990, 13 young red kites were brought from Spain and released in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
A scheme had also started in Scotland and further reintroductions followed in both countries, with the first birds successfully breeding in 1992, and by 1996, at least 37 pairs had bred in southern England.
Across the UK, there are now thousands of breeding pairs, according to the RSPB, with Herefordshire home to a number of the birds.
Photo: Kevin Massey, Harewood House
The Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England) collaborated with the RSPB, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Zoological Society London and British Airways for the reintroduction scheme.
Natural England chairman Tony Juniper said: "Red kites are one of our most majestic birds of prey with a beautiful plumage, and are easily recognisable thanks to their soaring flight and mewing call.
"Persecuted to near-extinction, they have made a triumphant comeback in England over the past three decades.
"Thanks to this pioneering reintroduction programme in the Chilterns, increased legal protection and collaboration amongst partners, the red kite stands out as a true conservation success story. "
Photo: John Savery, north Herefordshire
Jeff Knott, RSPB operations director for Central and Eastern England said: "In the 1980s, anyone wanting to see a red kite had to make a special pilgrimage to a handful of sites.
"Today it is a daily sight for millions of people. In a few short decades we have taken a species from the brink of extinction, to the UK being home to almost 10% of the entire world population.
"It might be the biggest species success story in UK conservation history."
Photo: Stu Lane, Eign Road, Hereford
Danny Heptinstall, senior International biodiversity adviser at the JNCC, added: "Thirty years ago the reintroduction of a lost species was a radical act.
"Thanks to pioneering projects like the Chiltern red kites, it is now a standard tool in the nature conservation toolkit.
"In 1990, the UK had only a few dozen red kites, 30 years later there are over 10,000."
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