BBC News: Red kite with McDonald's cup sparks litter concerns

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Red kite with McDonald's cup sparks litter concerns

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-56648701

A photographer is trying to raise awareness of the dangers of litter after seeing a red kite flying off with a discarded McDonald's cup.

Chad Brown spotted the bird of prey last week in Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk.

"One dived down for what I thought was going to be prey, but instead the kite appeared with this McDonald's cup in its claws," he said.

A McDonald's spokeswoman said the fast-food chain took its "responsibility around litter very seriously".

First reported by the East Anglian Daily Times, the amateur photographer posted pictures of the bird with the drink cup on a local Facebook group.

He wrote: "Surely this pandemic has reminded us all how important our wildlife and green spaces are, and it would be such a shame for them to be blighted by litter at a time when we need them the most."

  • Red Kites are quite noted for decorating their nests with non natural items, A friend who is involved with the monitoring of local Kites has told u of many bits of litter seen in the nests sometimes to the detrimental effect on the safety of the chicks. There has been photos on media sites with children's soft toys ending up in nests which makes a good story for the press. From this I suppose a dicarded coffee cup would seem like faily normal behaviour.
  • Apparently they've also been known to nick small items of washing from people's lines!

    Even though a discarded cup (in this case) is going to be used to line a nest it doesn't alter the fact that littering in the UK is a national scandal.
  • Agree about the litter Clare judging on our 3 grandsons,aged 4,7 11, reaction to litter the young generation are now showing the older generation up
  • I've seen a few species over the years trying to make good use of our waste/discarded items.

    Sadly, I doubt the people they need to alert to the indiscriminate dumping of waste would actually read the article or even take much notice.