How can we attract these red kites down?

[Primrose]

We are fortunate enough to have a number of red kites in our area now and I would love to be able to attract them down to our garden occasionally to feed, just for the pleasure of seeing them at close quarters.
I've been putting out the odd chicken wing & scraps scrounged from our butchers but whenever I do this, darned gulls appear from nowhere to thwart my efforts and steal the stuff.
I suspect kites feed more often than anything on road kill, so apart from driving round the roads looking for dead squirrels, any ideas how I can do this?
I don't want to encourage them down too regularly and frighten off our local bird population but just a couple of brief encounters would be very satisfying.

[glallotments]

I did see on a TV programme where red kites were being fed - I think it was one of the organisations who were helping reintroduce them to the wild. I don't remember where the one I saw was but there is a feeding station in Wales http://www.gigrin.co.uk/ where you can visit - maybe there is one near to you. That way you could have a close encounter without feeding them yourself.

I know in some places people are urged not to feed them as it can cause problems for the birds but there is some advice here
http://www.zsl.org/conservation/regions/uk-europe/native-birds/helping-red-kites,566,AR.html

[Colin_M]

Hi Primrose, you have my admiration and I'm very jealous of you having Red Kites on your doorstep.

I've been putting out the odd chicken wing & scraps scrounged from our butchers but whenever I do this, darned gulls appear from nowhere to thwart my efforts and steal the stuff.

Having visited one of the farms in Wales that do this, the Kites there do get competition from other birds. In fact at the one I went to, the food got put out at 3pm but the kites started circling from at least an hour beforehand. When the meat was put out (straight onto the ground) the kites waited until they'd seen magpies etc fly down to peck before they decided it was safe for them to join in. After that the Kites took over.

I suspect it's a question of getting them used to visiting your spot and developing a regular cycle (the ones in Wales are fed every day of the year, inc Xmas). Not sure how you square this with your desire to make this an occasional thing that doesn't scare off the other birds...

I was very fortunate to get some good pictures on the day I visited. Here's one - you can find more here

[PLUMPUDDING]

My son took me to see them feeding the kites in Wales a couple of years ago and they just chucked some chicken carcasses out into a field. Like Colin said the birds were so used to being fed that they were circling round waiting for feeding time. I don't think you would want to encourage this. It would work out a bit expensive and might not suit your back garden!