Chough champions
Jenny Luddington

Temple Ewell’s Chough Champions

Temple Ewell is a proud to be the pilot school for Chough Champions, a recent addition to the Wilder Kent Awards. The initiative gives schools in Dover and surrounding areas the opportunity to support the reintroduction of red-billed choughs to Kent while completing practical challenges linked to the chough, improving habitats and making positive changes for wildlife as part of the Wilder Kent Awards.

On 17 December, Temple Ewell’s Chough Champions were visited by Liz Corry, a conservationist from Wildwood Trust who leads the chough reintroduction project. During the visit, Liz explained how conservation work is helping to bring the chough back. Pupils learned about chough behaviour, habitats and what the birds eat, including invertebrates found in short grassland.

Liz also demonstrated how the choughs are monitored using remote tracking methods. She showed the children different types of VHF and GPS trackers used on the birds and explained how each one helps conservationists follow movements, check survival, and understand how the choughs are using the landscape. 

Jenny Luddington

As part of the Chough Champions programme, pupils have taken part in a range of activities that contribute to the Wilder Kent Awards. These include designing leaflets to raise awareness of the chough project, delivering school assemblies to share what they have learned, and fundraising to support ongoing conservation work.  

Jenny Luddington

Being the pilot school has allowed Temple Ewell to help shape the Chough Champions programme for other schools in the area. The project gives pupils a practical understanding of local conservation and shows how schools can play an active role in protecting wildlife in Kent.

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The Wilder Kent Awards is a scheme set up to recognise and reward the work schools, businesses and community groups are doing in helping us create a #WilderKent. By taking positive actions to restore nature, they are helping to create a more climate-resilient county and provide a home for wildlife. Their action benefits us locally and helps tackle the global environmental threats we all face.

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