Award-winning conservationists celebrate as dream to return red-billed chough to the South East reaches new heights - Kent Wildlife Trust

Choughs breed in the wild in the Kent for the first time in two centuries as the second season of releases gets underway.

Once extinct in Kent, there are clear signs that red-billed chough will once again thrive in the South East following the hatching of the first wild chick for generations. The nest was discovered at Dover Castle (which is in the care of English Heritage) in May - just a year after the first choughs were reintroduced to the Kent skyline. The chick fledged successfully in June but unfortunately went missing during strong winds and hasn’t been seen since early July. Despite the setback, conservationists behind the project have hailed its birth a ‘monumental milestone’ for the project.

The surprise arrival came just weeks before the start of the second season of releases by award-winning conservation collaborators Wildwood Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust, and Paradise Park. The team have worked tirelessly to return the charismatic corvid to the Kent skyline after a 200-year absence.

Liz Corry is the Chough Release Supervisor for Wildwood Trust:“The birth of the first wild chick was a milestone we didn’t expect to hit so early. The parents are young themselves but successfully built a nest and incubated the chick, which is a huge achievement. A sudden change in the weather led to very strong winds at Dover and we lost sight of the chick. This is the reality of working in the wild with Mother Nature and we know other breeding species have also been affected this season. There will be ups and downs in this project, which is why we need to keep the releases going and grow the population, with the hope that they’ll start forming bonds and and pairs and continue to breed..”

The second season of releases is now underway with six female chough, all creche-reared at Wildwood Trust, having taken to the skies over the past few weeks. They’ll soon be joined by six male chough from Paradise Park, potentially taking the total number released in the wild so far to 20. The project plan is to release between 30 and 50 over the course of the five year project. Nationally, it is hoped the Kent population will be the first in a series of planned chough restoration work along the south coast of England which could act as stepping stones to join up remaining isolated and fragmented populations. This is being facilitated by a Southern England steering group, which includes Natural England and number of NGOs.