SOMEONE is poisoning the rare red kites which have been released into the wilds of Yorkshire from the grounds of Harewood House near Leeds over the past couple of years.

A national programme to rear and re-introduce the red kite was started in 1989 with birds introduced from Sweden and Spain, and such is the success of this endeavour that several birds have been released since 1999.

They can often be seen soaring in the skies above the dales and moors, huge birds with a wing span of up to six feet and a forked tail which provides a ready means of identification.

Apart from being a criminal offence with severe penalties, the destruction of these beautiful birds of prey is both senseless and futile. It is probably being done by someone who thinks these birds will attack game chicks or domestic poultry but experts maintain that the red kite is essentially a scavenger, surviving on the dead carcases of birds and animals rather than attacking living creatures. It will take the occasional living thing, that cannot be denied, but its usefulness far exceeds any harm it might do. For that reason, it does a good job for us all and deserves protection.

In medieval times, the red kite cleaned the streets of most of our cities, being especially useful in Tudor London where it helped remove tons of garbage ranging from dead animals to waste food, but as the human race became cleaner and disposed of its offal with more care, so the food supply for the kites dwindled away.

With a desperate shortage of food, numbers of red kites declined until, in the 1970s, only a handful remained in the mountains of Wales and it was the threat of this magnificent bird becoming extinct which prompted attempts to breed it in captivity for eventual release into the wild.

After all the care, thought and time spent on rearing these rare birds, a criminal is now poisoning them. Anyone with information about the perpetrators can ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or the North Yorkshire police wild life officer on 01423 539452, or the RSPB investigations department on 01767 680551.

ONE of the most repeated questions to which I am subjected, especially by people who either live outside North Yorkshire or who wish to show friends around the county, is: "What is the best place to take visitors if I want to show them a true flavour of North Yorkshire?"

That is not an easy question to answer, chiefly because North Yorkshire is such a large, interesting and varied county with so many world-class delights within its boundaries, while surrounding it there is the Lake District, Durham with its cathedral, the East Riding with its coastline and Wolds, or West Yorkshire with its own set of delights.

In spite of North Yorkshire's undisputed charms, one can so easily be sidetracked into wondering about other places - it's a rather like a man with a beautiful wife who never stops glancing at other women, no doubt thinking he's got the best!

To be honest, there is no single place which epitomises the entire county - Wensleydale and Swaledale are so special in their own way, not to mention Masham, Middleham, Richmond, Aysgarth Falls, Hawes or the Buttertubs Pass. Teesdale is so close at hand with its wild moors and High Force is splendid too, but so are the Hambleton Hills, the depths of the North York Moors or the sheer splendour of Castle Howard near Malton. In addition, we must consider the stunning coastline, the ruined abbeys and castles, the rivers, the villages and the market towns.

Really, the choice is endless - so, if you had to select just one showplace in North Yorkshire, one which would make a lasting impression on a newcomer and one which would produce a vivid first impression of the county, where would it be?

There is no doubt each one of us would have different opinions. Some may think York is the perfect example, or Rievaulx Abbey, or Robin Hood's Bay or the unrivalled expanse of open country high in the Pennines; others might think Ripon with its cathedral is so very special, or tiny Egton Bridge near Whitby, or the views from Ralph's Cross and the summit of Penhill.

It's a question which faces me from time to time, and almost invariably, I find myself taking visitors to Sutton Bank Top. Although this is not a particularly lofty vantage point, the view from there does embrace so much of North Yorkshire, looking as it does across the expanse of the Vale of York and high into the Pennines and the Dales while sitting almost on the edge of the North York Moors. In addition, there is the national park information centre and a splendid refreshment room.

There is legend and mystery too - why, for example, does Lake Gormire, glistening in the sunlight just below the summit, not have any inlet stream or outlet stream, and is it truly bottomless? Or was it really true the lake was formed when the devil leapt from the cliffs astride a horse and crashed, thence to form this curious lake?

There's romance here as well. William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, came this way in July, 1802 - almost exactly two centuries ago - and admired the view during their journey to Brompton near Scarborough for William's wedding. He thought he saw York Minster from here - and if you'd like to try that feat, you'll need to walk around the edge of the cliff, past the gliding club towards the White Horse of Kilburn. If you make that walk, remember it was once said that anyone standing there could watch a train leave York station and travel along the Vale of York all the way to Darlington. But that was in the day of steam trains!

Below the White Horse are the ruins of Byland Abbey, and the village of Coxwold, the home of the novelist Laurence Sterne, not forgetting the Kilburn workshops of the world-renowned Mousey Thompson who always carved a mouse on his wonderful oak furniture. Below the hills at the other side of Sutton Bank Top are the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey and if you travel along the A170 towards Helmsley, you will be treated to more astonishing views, this time across Ryedale towards Scarborough and the distant coast.

There are echoes of history here too. Crossing the moors from the north, having come all the way down from Scotland, is the former route of the drovers' road. This ancient route might have been used by William the Conqueror in 1069 after his harrying of the North, or it might have been used when St Cuthbert's body was being carried around the North, and it might have been used during the Battle of Scots Corner near Oldstead in 1322. It was certainly used by two-mile long processions of cattle heading from Scotland to York because Wordsworth saw them when he came in 1802. And the area was the site of the famous Black Hambleton races held here between 1715 and 1770, the turf being claimed as the best in England.

So there's quite a flavour of North Yorkshire around Sutton Bank. Or is there anywhere better from where to reveal the treasures of North Yorkshire?

THE term "liberty of Ripon" is still in use but instead of referring to the freedom of the city, it means an area. Because liberty means freedom from control or restraint, it was used in medieval England when referring to a place which enjoyed some degree of freedom, either in whole or in part, from royal jurisdiction. The term seems to have developed into the name for an area of manorial, ecclesiastical or feudal jurisdiction but whether or not such places enjoyed freedom from royal control is another matter.

Certainly, many Dales villages and districts made use of this term, e.g. the liberty of Langbaurgh, the liberty of Newton, or even Lord Zetland's liberty. In the latter case, this might have been a term used to describe those parts of his estate with shooting rights, although in some cases, the liberty really meant the entire village or township