EIGHT new arrivals have brought delight to wildlife experts - despite a setback in the re-introduction of rare birds of prey in Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Red Kite Restoration Project has announced today (Thursday) that six pairs of kites released at the Harewood Estate have successfully raised at least eight chicks in the county.

The kites, which became extinct across most of the country in the late 1800s, had not nested in Yorkshire for at least 100 years before last year.

The project's organisers were delighted with the good news, after this year's planned release of kites was postponed because of foot and mouth disease.

Project officer Doug Simpson, of the RSPCA, said: "These beautiful birds of prey have obviously settled well in the county and I hope their breeding success this year means they are now firmly established back in Yorkshire."

The project gained funding from Yorkshire Water and Integrated Waste Management, and planned to release 25 young kites this

summer.

But foot and mouth disease restrictions meant project workers could not take young birds from nests in the Chilterns, or release them at the secret sites on the Harewood Estate.

Yorkshire Water environment manager, Miles Foulger, said: "This has been a frustrating year for the project, because of the

restrictions on access resulting from the foot and mouth disease outbreak. We are all disappointed that it will not be possible to release more kites this year, but it should be business as usual in 2002.

"The news of the tremendous breeding success is, therefore, doubly welcome, and we are

grateful to all the enthusiastic landowners, farmers and gamekeepers who have wholeheartedly

supported this project and helped keep us informed about the activities of the kites in such difficult

circumstances."

The project also suffered setbacks when some of the birds were found poisoned around the county. Project workers electronically tag all the birds, so they can keep an eye on where they are.

The Red Kite Restoration project are keen to trace the movements of the young kites, and have marked them with a distinctive red tag.

Anyone who spots a kite with the tag outside the Harewood Estate is asked to contact the Red Kite Project on (0113) 3873079.