Red kites are steadily increasing in Scotland

Red kites were extinct in the area for more than a century until a project to establish a new colony was launched two years ago.

On Monday the link between nature and tourism will be further cemented with the launch of the Galloway Red Kite Trail - a 50-mile marked route around Loch Ken and Clatteringshaws Loch.

It includes a series of potential viewing places, one of which is a feeding station on a farm near Laurieston which attracts up to a dozen of the birds every day.

Local hotels, pubs and caravan parks are backing the initiative, saying nature-based tourism is critical to Galloway's economy.

Kites poisoned

In July this year, experts said they had recorded more than 100 red kite chicks in Scotland for the first time since the early 19th century.

The birds of prey, with their distinctive forked tails, were hunted to extinction in Scotland in 1870.

This year the chicks have fledged from 35 breeding pairs in north Scotland, 18 in central Scotland and four in Dumfries and Galloway.

Ninety red kite chicks have been released in Galloway in the past two years and while some have perished - a number of which were poisoned - the majority have settled well to their new surroundings.