Restoring Chough to Kent Appeal

The red-billed chough (pronounced ‘chuff’), the rarest member of the British crow family, once called Kent’s coastline home, and could be found throughout the British Isles. Changes to farming practices and persecution have caused a catastrophic decline in the chough population, and there are now only 23 breeding pairs left in England.

The story of the chough has long been interwoven into the culture of Kent. Chough are even featured on the coat of arms for the city of Canterbury. Yet these iconic birds have been missing from the county for the last two centuries.

With animal and plant extinctions taking place across the world, we must act now to restore vital habitats and return lost species before it's too late. The chough is the rarest British member of the crow family and is a protected species, but the chough story is far from over, and there is the chance of a new beginning. Click here to find out more.

With YOUR HELP, we could see this charismatic bird flying over the White Cliffs of Dover for the first time in over 200 years!

To make this project possible, we urgently need your help to raise £60,000 by 31 January 2022. Together Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust have an amazing opportunity to each raise £60,000 which will unlock an additional £120,000 of match funding. This means that every donation made until this target is reached, will make DOUBLE the impact towards helping these iconic birds return to the wild.

Wildwood have been breeding chough for several years as part of the National breeding programme coordinated by Paradise Park in Cornwall, and are now working in partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust and Paradise Park to return this iconic species to the Kent coastline. Our long term vision is to restore chough across southern England, and Dover is the perfect place to start.

Why Dover? Why now?

Dover's chalk grasslands and White Cliffs provide nest sites and a rich diversity of insects on which choughs feed. As suitable coastal habitat and grazing practices are being restored, and persecution is no longer a threat, now is the perfect time to return the chough to the skies of Kent.

This new Kent population will be the first in a series of planned chough reintroductions along the south coast of England acting as stepping stones to join up remaining isolated and fragmented populations, bringing new genetics into the existing population, making them more sustainable and resilient.

In order to produce enough birds for reintroduction, the project has the full support of Paradise Park in Cornwall who have been managing a diverse captive population for many years and techniques including creche rearing have been developed.
 

How you can help us restore the chough to Kent

Wildwood Trust plans to hatch and rear chough chicks, which will then be released into the wild to settle and breed. There will be subsequent releases each year to bolster the population until our target population size is reached. We're confident that the chough will develop a healthy, self-sustaining population in this area, but to begin with, this fledgling group will need our special care.

Although these birds will be prepared, as much as possible, for life in the wild, we will closely monitor them after release to ensure their welfare and track their progress. We will be able to see where they have settled and monitor the success of their foraging and nesting.

We must raise £60,000 by 31 January 2022 so that our team can begin pairing the birds in mid-February, and to ensure that the release aviary is ready to house the choughs prior to their release in summer 2022. You can help us to make this happen by making a donation today!

Donate today to DOUBLE your donation

£25 = £50 could feed a baby chough for two months

£60 = £120 could provide food and veterinary supplies for a chough for two months

£110 = £220 could purchase and install two chough nesting boxes

£250 = £500 could contribute towards the construction of the release aviary

£1000 = £2000 could purchase two GPS trackers to help us monitor the chough after release

Photo credit: Paradise Park, Cornwall

Start fundraising

If you would like to do even more to help support the restoration of the chough in Kent, another fantastic way you can help is to set up your own fundraiser. You can take part in an existing event or create your own.

Becoming a fundraiser means that you will not only help to raise vital funds for this project, but you will you help to spread the word and raise awareness too. Whatever you decided to do, you can have a lot of fun and get a real sense of achievement by doing something that will make a huge difference towards restoring the chough in Kent.

For fundraising inspiration, please check out some great ideas on our website. You can set up your own fundraising page on JustGiving, simply choosing Wildwood Trust as your charity. Make sure to share the link to your fundraising page with everyone you know to raise awareness and get as much support as possible. You could even make it a team effort and get friends and family fundraising with you!

We love to hear your success stories and see photos of your fundraising activities. We also want to give you all the support you need, so please let us know if you are holding a fundraiser. If you have any questions or need any help at all, please don't hesitate to email us or call 01227 711900.
 

Adopt a chough

Wildwood chough adoptions are the perfect gift for anyone who loves birds. Each adoption helps support our work to see this iconic species returned to Kent. Your adoption package will include a mounted photo, a personalised plaque at the chough enclosure, a personalised certificate, a fact sheet and even more depending on which level of adoption you choose. Click here to adopt a red-billed chough at Wildwood in Kent.
 

Our Pledge to You

We promise to spend any money raised in this appeal on getting chough back into wild. Your donation will help cover the wide range of costs to enable this historic reintroduction to happen. Once we meet our target, donations will no longer be matched, and any additional donations will still support the restoration of the chough in Kent and will help us to make it a success. We really couldn't do what we do without your support and we can't thank you enough!