After centuries of inactivity, a striking bird is making a comeback in England thanks to a concerted conservation effort, and it's even ahead of schedule.
The red-billed and red-legged chough recently bred in Kent for the first time in 200 years, as the Guardian reported. The crow has repopulated Jersey and grown its numbers to hundreds in Cornwall, but the Kent venture is in its early stages.
Eight choughs were released last year, and two built a nest on Dover Castle. One chick survived and fledged in June, though it has not been seen since gales in July, according to the Guardian.
"It's nature; it's what we expected," Wildwood Trust chough release supervisor Liz Corry told the Guardian. "But it was amazing that they bred so soon, and we have a good group of choughs flying around Dover, and they're being joined by new cohorts from further releases this year."
The care plan for the creatures has included habitat restoration and intense supervision. The birds are hand-reared, taken on walks so they can learn to forage, and monitored by a veterinarian. They are also trained to return to an open-roofed aviary if they need food or protection after their release, all per the Guardian.
The multi-agency revitalization effort also speaks to the charismatic nature of the chough and its cultural standing. It is said that the bird transformed from a crow that waded and dipped its beak in the blood of the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket in 1170.
The plight of the chough shows how intertwined our ecosystems and their species are.
"Changing farming practices" resulted in its disappearance, according to the Guardian, and it took 40 years to restore chalk grassland to provide suitable habitat in Kent. Still, the use of livestock drugs has contributed to vanishing populations of dung beetles, an important food source.
"Creating and connecting habitats at scale has been the starting point for the red-billed chough's journey back," Kent Wildlife Trust director of conservation and engagement Paul Hadaway told the Guardian. "Grazed chalk grassland can contain as many as 40 species per square metre and supports hundreds of species of invertebrates. It is an incredibly important habitat, and conservation grazing management by animals is crucial to maintaining its diversity."
If the conservationists have their way, choughs will thrive along the South Coast one day. The initial population in Cornwall in the southwest and the developing one in Kent in the southeast are connected by flocks in between.
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