- Long-lost corvids, which are steeped in history, were last seen in the Garden of England over two centuries ago.
- A second successful season of chough releases has taken place following years of work from the leading conservation collaborators behind the innovative bison project.
- This marks another major milestone for the team this season with the hatching of the first wild chick in the South East for centuries.
- The chough project acts as a flagship to help towards the widespread recovery of the birds and their habitat in England.
- A Just Giving appeal has been launched to help fund the project in 2025.
Conservationists are celebrating the end of a second successful season of chough releases, which has taken the total number of red-billed chough now soaring over the South-East to nineteen.
Award-winning conservation collaborators Kent Wildlife Trust, Wildwood Trust, and Paradise Park, Cornwall, have worked tirelessly over the past five years to return the charismatic corvid to the Kent skyline after a 200-year absence.
The season got off to an exciting start when a nest was discovered at Dover Castle in May, less than a year after the release of the first cohort. Although the chick fledged successfully, it sadly went missing some days later during strong winds.
The conservation charities, who have received global acclaim for their groundbreaking work to release bison into the wild in Kent, have brought together some of the leading experts in chough breeding and reintroduction to reintroduce the long-lost species.
Of the twelve birds released this year, six females were creche-reared at Wildwood Trust, just outside Canterbury, while six males were reared at Paradise Park in Cornwall, which coordinates a zoo-based breeding programme. They joined the eight choughs released last year.
The reintroduction is only made possible through the dedicated work of conservation organisations over the past four decades. Kent Wildlife Trust has worked alongside the likes of English Heritage, the National Trust and White Cliffs Countryside Partnership, to restore chalk grassland habitat and reintroduce conservation grazing management across East Kent.