Red Billed Chough breeding and reintroduction
Red-billed choughs disappeared from Kent's coast over 200 years ago, driven out by habitat loss and persecution.
But they never left Kent's culture — they're still on pub signs across the county and on the Canterbury coat of arms.
We're reintroducing them to the cliffs of Dover, restoring not just a species but the coastal habitat it depends on.
Red-billed chough breeding is well underway at Wildwood
The project
With our partners Kent Wildlife Trust, we are reintroducing this magnificent bird to the cliffs of Dover.
We are also indebted to other stakeholders in this project including Paradise Park in Cornwall, the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership, English Heritage and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust at Jersey Zoo.
We could not have set this project up without the unwavering support of the public. Thanks to your generous donations and other funding, we are well on our way to seeing these acrobatic birds soaring above the cliffs of Kent again.
Saving them from extinction
Choughs are unlike other corvids and have quite specific habitat requirements. They like to nest on cliffs to remain safe from predators, and they also require insect-rich grassland to forage for food.
Dover is well known for its cliffs, but what the cliffs are made of is also very important for chough. Chalk grassland is an incredibly rare habitat, with 50% of all global chalk grassland being located in England. It has one of Western Europe's most diverse plant communities and also exceptionally high insect biodiversity.
In order to bring choughs back to Kent we have looked to Jersey where the species was successfully restored between 2013-2018 in a partnership project between Jersey Zoo, the States of Jersey and The National Trust for Jersey. We are extremely grateful to our colleagues at Jersey Zoo for their generous advice and guidance. Many of the techniques developed on Jersey are being used to guide the Kent project.
Wildwood's successful breeding
Wildwood has contributed to this project and continues to do so by successfully breeding choughs for release into the wild.
This exciting project would not have been possible without the breeding programme for the species which has been managed by Paradise Park in Cornwall for over 30 years. We work closely with Paradise Park who set up our breeding pairs of chough at Wildwood.
Conservation breeding requires particular techniques to ensure that these birds will be able to survive in the wild and will have the necessary social skills to mate and live alongside each other. Occasionally keepers assist in the rearing of chicks to ensure the maximum number of chicks survive.
The parent birds have also been specially selected to ensure genetic diversity is high and the risk of in-breeding is low.
Woven into our history
Choughs appear on the Canterbury coat of arms and in the story of Thomas Becket's murder — historical proof of how deeply this bird was once woven into Kent life, long before it disappeared.
What happened to choughs?
Choughs were once a common sight on coasts across England.
Two things drove choughs out: farming intensification destroyed the insect-rich habitat they feed on, and historic persecution, including the 1566 Acte for the Preservation of Grayne — pushed them out directly.
Today, chough strongholds remain in Ireland and Wales.
Why they need out help now
Two things drove choughs out: farming intensification destroyed the insect-rich habitat they feed on, and historic persecution, including the 1566 Acte for the Preservation of Grayne, pushed them out directly.
Choughs don't travel far on their own. Even where good habitat exists (like Dover's chalk cliffs), they're unlikely to reach and resettle it without being reintroduced directly.
The future
The reintroduction of the Red-billed chough to Kent is the first step in a much broader vision to help restore the birds across Southern England and their coastal habitat.
If you would like to get involved, please contact [email protected] to find out more.
Pete Burgess, Wildwood’s Director of Conservation and Development, said the project's early milestones mark just the beginning of a long-term vision to restore chough across Britain's coastlines and ensure they once again become a familiar part of the country's natural soundscape:
“I've spent all my life and conservation career in the Southwest where chough in Cornwall are steadily returning to their historic coastal sites. The unique sound of chough is one of life's great pleasures and their return gives me a great sense of hope for the future.
