Chough news
It’s year four of the red-billed chough reintroduction programme, co-led by Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust in partnership with Paradise Park. And the flock at Dover is doing well. Twenty-four birds have now been living wild for between one and three years, including the one-year-old that last year became the first chough to be successfully reared wild in Kent in over 200 years!
We’re currently monitoring seven potential nests. Two pairs already have chicks, including the pair that bred successfully last year. Five more pairs are attempting to build nests, as far afield as Folkestone and Margate. So far none of the choughs have moved west, but that remains a possibility and hope. The project, which aims to introduce up to 50 birds to Kent, is part of a broader strategy to restore chough populations across the whole of southern England, overseen by Natural England and other leading conservation organisations.
Red-billed chough -breeding is well underway at Wildwood, see the timeline below for the journey so far!
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2022 - 2023
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The first releases
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In 2022 we built the release aviary in Dover and did a trial release in the spring. This was later than hoped due to several major delays with building supplies and the knock-on effect of the Covid pandemic.
With no birds in the wild for our birds to follow, we had to rely on “buddy following”. Among that first group, we know that three left the release site immediately. One returned that evening, but two flew east. It didn’t end well, with one getting electrocuted in a pylon and the other being trapped by staff and returned home to the aviary. Plans were put on hold until the following summer, but one of these died that summer.
In 2023, we released our first creche-reared birds – five fledglings followed by the five one-year-olds housed at the release site over winter. Two went missing, but in October 2023, some of the released choughs were spotted around Dover Castle for the first time.
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2024
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The first wild chick
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In 2024, two of the one-year-olds in the wild paired up and had the first wild chick. Sadly, it didn’t survive to fledging age, possibly due to bad weather.
Meanwhile, seven more creche-reared and six parent-reared birds were released.
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2025
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A wild-born chough makes history in Kent
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The pair that nested in 2024 tried again in 2025 and had three chicks, one of which survived to become the first wild-reared chough in Kent for over two centuries!
One other pair built a nest in 2025, but unfortunately no chicks were seen.
Seven parent-reared chicks and four siblings from Camperdown Wildlife Park in Dundee were released that year. A group of four non-related, older birds was also released, but with no strong bonds within the group they all became overwhelmed and flew away. We know two perished due to fatal injuries likely caused by the local breeding peregrine pair.
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2026
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Seven nesting attempts and more releases
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A local team of nest-watch volunteers are monitoring this year’s nests and nest-building attempts, safeguarding the sites through the incubation, hatch and fledging periods.
And at Wildwood Kent and Devon, more chicks are being parent-reared or creche-reared for release during May. The wild birds are spending more time foraging in the field but still come to the aviary for supplementary food, giving us an opportunity to introduce them to these chicks, whose chance of success in the wild will improve if they have birds to follow.
Reintroducing choughs across Southern England requires painstaking and proactive work by conservation organisations like ours, and you can help!
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We are thrilled to have achieved so much within the first 5 years of chough releases back into Kent.
If you are able to support this groundbreaking project, please donate. All contributions make a real difference.
Laura Gardner, Wildwood’s Director of Conservation, hopes they’ll be able to replicate the success of the first release when the new chicks are ready to spread their wings:
“This is another hugely important milestone for the project. We’re expecting the eggs to hatch in the coming weeks and then the hard work really begins.
From the first eggs being laid, to the hatching, rearing and fledging it’s going to be a very busy and exciting few months for the birds and the dedicated teams at Wildwood.
The eight birds from last year’s successful release are flying free and thriving and our hope is to see these fantastic birds nest-building and breeding successfully next year.”
Hand-rearing the Red-billed Chough chicks at Wildwood Trust!
With feeds every two hours, hand-rearing these little chicks takes incredible dedication, planning and patience!
Nationally this 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.
These reintroductions will increase the numbers of chough in the British Isles as well as establishing new populations that will facilitate the movement of birds between colonies, making them more sustainable and resilient.
