Choughs make a comeback in skies over isle

RARE red-billed choughs have been sighted in Thanet for the first time in 200 years.

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The charismatic corvids had long been extinct in Kent, but two years ago chough chicks were released in Dover as part of a groundbreaking conservation project aimed at bringing the at-risk species to the county.

Now a trio of red-billed choughs have been spreading their wings and eagle-eyed members of the public have reported sightings of them as far afield as Ramsgate, Margate, and Broadstairs.

The birds’ coastal adventures have come as a welcome surprise to conservation collaborators Wildwood Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust, and Paradise Park, which have tirelessly worked together to return the species to Kent's skies.

Liz Corry, chough release supervisor at Wildwood Trust, said they had not expected the birds to travel so far so soon. She added: "Ahead of this year's nesting season, we'd been using GPS to track the birds and had a sneaky suspicion they were venturing further afield.

"The tags only collect location fixes every two hours so we had gaps in the data.