Fledgling chough's flight is first in Kent for more than 200 years

A YOUNG red-billed chough has successfully taken to the skies from a nest in the wild in Kent for the first time for more than two centuries, conservationists said.

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The successful fledging of the chick from a nest at Dover Castle comes just three years after the launch of a reintroduction programme led by Wildwood Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust and Paradise Park to restore the species into the region.

The red-billed chough has strong cultural links with Kent and its history, appearing on pub signs, the coat of arms of Canterbury and in the legend of martyred Thomas Becket, whose blood was said to have stained the bird's red beak and legs.