Red kites have attacked people at barbecues' leaving them needing medical attention, according to a Watlington resident.

And local primary school children have been advised not to eat outside in case the kites swoop to steal their food.

Rod Calcutt has written in to the Oxford Mail in response to a reader who says he hasn't seen so many of the spectacular birds of prey of late.

He wrote: "In response to your readers letter asking why the red kites are missing, I may be able to supply a possible answer. I live in Watlington, and in 1989 five young kites were released into the Chilterns between Watlington and Stokenchurch.

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"These were the first to be re -introduced to England, after a successful introduction in Wales. Apparently, there are now an estimated  10,000 kites in the UK and 1800 breeding pairs.

Oxford Mail:

"After a few years, locals noticed that in the Autumn, the birds seemed to be a bit scarce and the ones that we did see seemed to be very unkempt and missing a lot of feathers, then one of the local Twitchers came up with his possible solution, saying that in the Autumn, the kites moult their feathers and so flying would be a big problem - this could be the reason for their absence in the county. 

"Just a footnote to add to this is, that there are so many red kites in the Chilterns now, that the they are finding it a struggle to find enough food for them all, and consequently are getting more and more desperate and adventurous  for food, the local primary school has advised children not to eat food outside, as some of them had food taken from their hands, also several locals have had to get medical attention, after being mugged for food by the kites, usually at barbecues.