THIS wonderful picture of a red kite was taken at Bolton Abbey while the sun was setting by David Gaunt.

The birds of prey, which have a wing span of almost six feet, were once a rare sight but numbers are now building, thanks to successful reintroduction projects.

This one is likely to come from a project based at the Harewood estate, near Otley, which saw a number of birds released in 1999 as part of a UK conservation initiative.

Their spectacularly successful re-introduction to lowland areas of Yorkshire is now complete and now have a self-sustaining population, whose numbers are gradually increasing yearly.

At the last count there were more than 300 red kites in the area around Harewood and Yorkshire.