MPs have praised a unique scheme to reintroduce one of Britain's rarest birds of prey to an urbanised area in the North-East.

The Northern Kites Project has released red kites into one of their former strongholds in Gatesheads lower Derwent valley.

The majestic kites were once a common site across medieval Britain until persecution reduced their numbers to a handful of pairs in a small enclave in rural West Wales.

Attempts to save the distinctive rufous-grey birds started as early as 1905 but gathered pace in the late 1980s and 1990s when kites from Sweden and Spain were introduced to sites in England and Scotland.

There are now around 2,000 of the birds in the UK, with the Northern Kites project being the latest of seven so far.

The project, managed by the RSPB and Natural England, is the first scheme to attempt to reintroduce the birds near a large urban area.

The birds, which eat carrion, worms and small mammals, have been released in a semi-urban environment, within 20 minutes of one million people and centred upon some of the areas of highest local deprivation in England.

The original aim was to introduce 80 kites but 94 birds were released in total - 20 in 2004, 41 in 2005 and 33 in 2006.

A group of MPs praised the project's work.

A Commons motion, tabled by Labours Dave Anderson (Blaydon), "welcomes the reintroduction of the red kite into the North East of England; recognises that the reintroduction of the kites is the first of its kind in that the birds were bred and freed very close to a large urban conurbation."

The motion, signed by eight MPs, adds that the project has gone from strength to strength and is a matter of great interest and pride in the local area.

It also praises Northern Kite Ale, brewed by Wylam Brewery, which has been introduced into Parliaments Strangers Bar.