[1][3] Historically, it was only resident in the milder parts of its range in western Europe and northwestern Africa, whereas all or most red kites in northern mainland Europe wintered to the south and west, some also reaching western Asia, but an increasing number of northern birds now remain in that region year-round.

[3][4] The red kite was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Falco milvus.

[6] In 1799 the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède moved the species to the genus Milvus creating the tautonym.

A mitochondrial DNA study on museum specimens suggested that Cape Verde birds did not form a monophyletic lineage among or next to red kites.

The early 15th century Hengwrt manuscript contains the lines: "Ther cam a kyte, whil þt they were so wrothe That bar awey the boon bitwix hem bothe."

The first recorded use of the word "kite" for a toy that is attached to a length of string and flown in the air dates from the 17th century.

There is a rare white leucistic form accounting for approximately 1% of hatchlings in the Welsh population, but this variation confers a disadvantage in the survival stakes.

[21] The BTO longevity record for Britain and Ireland is also 25 years and 8 months for a bird found dead in Buckinghamshire in 2018.

Their diet consists mainly of carrions of large domestic animals such as sheep and pigs, roadkills, and shored fish.

[24][26][27] Live birds are also taken, especially young or wounded, such as crows, doves, starlings, thrushes, larks, gulls, and waterfowls.

Illegal poison baits set for foxes or crows are indiscriminate and kill protected birds and other animals.

[35] In another incident, a red kite was reported as having stolen a wasabi-coated pea from a spectator at a cricket match in Wormsley, Buckinghamshire.

[36] Red kites inhabit broadleaf woodlands, pastures, mixed farmland, valleys and wetland edges, up to at least 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) elevation.

In recent decades, an increasing number of red kites from the northern European mainland have stayed in the region year-round.

Other threats include electrocution, hunting and trapping, deforestation, egg-collection (on a local scale) and possibly competition with the generally more successful black kite M.

[1] Red kites have declined in their traditional strongholds of Spain, France and Germany; while now stable in the last two countries, those populations remain well below their historical peaks.

[1] In contrast, red kite populations are increasing in parts of northern Europe, such as Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

[1][38][39] The red kite is the official landscape bird of the Swedish province of Scania,[40] and depicted on the coat of arms of the municipality of Tomelilla.

[42] In the mid-15th century, King James II of Scotland decreed that they should be "killed wherever possible", but they remained protected in England and Wales for the next 100 years as they kept the streets free of carrion and rotting food.

[48] Thirty Spanish birds were introduced into Rockingham Forest near Corby in 2000,[49] and by 2010, the RSPB estimated that over 200 chicks had been reared from the initial release.

The Grizedale programme was the ninth reintroduction of red kites into different regions of the UK and the final re-introduction phase in England.

[54] The stated aims of the Grizedale project were: As of July 2011, non-breeding birds are regularly seen in all parts of Britain, and the number of breeding pairs is too large for the RSPB to continue to survey them on an annual basis.

[56] Red kites were extinct in Ireland by the middle 19th century due to persecution, poisoning and woodland clearance.

[citation needed] Some of the best places to see them in the United Kingdom are Gigrin Farm near Rhayader, mid Wales, where hundreds are fed by the local farmer as a tourist attraction,[73] a Red Kite Feeding Station at Llanddeusant in the Brecon Beacons, visited daily by over 50 birds,[74] and the Bwlch Nant yr Arian forest visitor centre in Ceredigion[75] where the rare leucistic variant can be seen.

[76] In England, the Oxfordshire part of the Chilterns has many red kites, especially near Henley-on-Thames and Watlington, where they were introduced on John Paul Getty's estate.

[46] Red Kites are also becoming common in Buckinghamshire, often being seen near Stokenchurch, where a population was released in the 1990s, and Flackwell Heath near High Wycombe.