The Welsh for The Wrekin is Caer Gwrygon, a name older than the Welsh language.An aircraft Warning Beacon was erected during the Second World War.Bonfires have been lit on The Wrekin for special occasions for many centuries.The Cuckoo’s Cup or Raven’s Bowl is supposed always to contain water.It used to be said that a girl who looked back when going through the Needle’s Eye would never be married.All ‘True Salopians’ have climbed through the Needle’s Eye.
The Wrekin is one of the most important pre-Christian religious sites in Britain, ranking with Stonehenge.Everest, the Alps and the Andes are hundreds of millions of years younger than The Wrekin.
#Red kite shropshire full#
The legend of The Wrekin Giant is that he made The Wrekin with a shovel full of earth.The Wrekin’s most ancient rocks were formed as far south as the Falkland Islands and have slowly moved north.It was formed when faults appeared in the Earth’s crusts part of an upheaval called the Caledonian Orogenesis.The Wrekin was never a volcano, though it has many volcanic rocks.NOTE: Recordings of breeding behaviour is not given on this website, the above, then is a mere taster of activity in and around Shropshire. Forton Heath, Montford Bridge, Shrewsbury Reported sightings of red kites from ġ9 Apr & Venus Pool, Cound, between Cross Houses and Cressage Nine pairs were successful producing 18 fledged young. They were all in the AONB in the southwest Shropshire hills. Six pairs were successful, producing 12 fledged young. Six nests were found in 2007, when five young fledged, and in 2008 seven nests were found. Both these sites are close to the Shropshire border.
By 2005 there were around 500 pairs in Wales. A pair has also nested in Herefordshire since 2004 and a second pair bred successfully in 2007. The population is now growing much more rapidly, and their range has also expanded from the stronghold in mid Wales, near Tregaron and Rhayader, and there are now several known Welsh nest sites close to the Shropshire border. Since then numbers have slowly increased, assisted by a variety of systematic conservation measures, to 30 pairs in 1972, and more rapidly from the mid 1980s, finally reaching 100 pairs by 1993 and an estimated 260 pairs in 2000. Only a few pairs were left in the hills of mid Wales by the early 1930s, and in some years only a single chick was raised. Red Kites are the most graceful of Britain’s birds of prey, but they almost became extinct in Britain 100 years ago, through human persecution. Around one-third die in their first year, but after that the annual survival rate is around 80%, and some birds live to 20 or over. Young birds wander widely and cover large distances very quickly whilst foraging for food, so most of these recent local sightings will be due to immature Red Kites. Red Kites usually start breeding when they are two or three years old, though some start later, and the average age of first breeding is just below three. Although the proportion of broods of two or three is slowly increasing, more than half of the successful nests only produce one fledged young, and the average productivity rate is less than one per breeding pair. Mature pairs nest in late March, but pairs breeding for the first time may not have eggs until mid April, or even early May. However, regular sightings of this attractive raptor in recent years raised hopes that they might return to breed in Shropshire again. Their extinction in England was the result of sustained persecution but a few pairs remained in Wales. The Red Kite was last recorded nesting in Shropshire near Ludlow in 1876.