Six red kites have been released into the skies near Aberdeen.

A further 30 of the birds of prey will be released into the wild during the next few weeks as part of the third and final year of a special reintroduction programme for the area.

It is hoped the birds, which were once persecuted into extinction, will once again become a common sight in Scotland.

RSPB Red Kite Project Manager Jenny Lennon said: "Since 2007 we’ve released a total of 65 red kites on the outskirts of Aberdeen. Since then we've had a really high survival rate of those birds.

“It shows Aberdeen is a great place for them to be and this was all topped off this year when the first red chick kites were born in Aberdeen for 150 years, which as you can imagine is really the icing on the cake for our project.”

In medieval times, the Red Kite was considered useful as a scavenger, helping to keep streets clean.

However it later became considered a pest and was hunted to near extinction in Victorian times. In 1989 just a few pairs of the birds remained in North Wales.

The first stage of reintroducing the species in Scotland began on the Black Isle, north of Inverness.

Further phases across Central Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway saw the species build to around 90 pairs by 2006.

It was decided to release the birds across Aberdeenshire in order give the species enough strong holds around the country to be self-sustaining.