Red kites in Scotland have started their own blog….sort of.
In a fascinating new project, the information provided by satellite tags fitted to red kites is being interpreted and transposed by a computer programme and then automatically published in the form of a blog post on the project website.
The project, called ‘Blogging Birds’, is a collaboration between scientists at the RSPB and computer geek types at the University of Aberdeen. It’s brilliant! At the moment there are four red kites ‘blogging’ – you can read about their daily and weekly movements and view maps to see where they’ve been. Take note, English Nature, this is the level of information you could / should be providing about tagged hen harriers instead of just giving us a wall of silence.
Check out the Blogging Birds website here. You’ll notice that all four of the current kites have been flying dangerously close to some well-known persecution blackspots. Wouldn’t it be cool if they could automatically blog “Help! I’ve been poisoned! I’ve been shot! I’m caught inside a crow cage trap and there’s a man approaching with a shotgun in his hand! I’m caught by the leg in an illegally set trap and I’m about to have my head smashed in by a man with a shinty stick!”.
Kudos to the organisations and individuals involved – the more the public can see what happens to these birds, the better.
Raptor Persecution UK 
How long before we can put cameras on birds of prey, downloading live data, so we can really catch the criminals. Maybe one day.
Hopefully the blogs do not help the guns find the Kites.
On a different note, a bird-blog is a really cool idea. There are some birds that I know of (Sandhill Cranes – not raptors) already being tracked by satellite in our area (Vancouver, BC, Canada) for which this might be a nice add-on.
By the way, I enjoy your blog despite its subject matter – it is very enlightening. I saw the RSPB article on the Hen-Harrier’s breeding failure in England, which led me to ‘Glorious Twelfth’ which led me to a whole bunch of “facsinating” stuff on grouse-hunting which eventually led me to Raptor Persecution Scotland.
Kevin
[Ed: thanks Kevin, and welcome!]
Thank you RP. This is fantastic – and how I agree with your comment to Natural England. How can we ensure they read it?
Fantastic, well done to all concerned.