I have been meaning to share this one for a while: a really special accessible walk I led for Wild with Wheels and Get Active Get Outside Dover. It was an absolute honour to do. Working so closely with Gini, the founder of Wild with Wheels, was a real privilege, and I am so proud of everything she is achieving to open up the outdoors for everyone. As a walk leader I am grateful to the great outdoors for letting me showcase just a little of what it has to offer. Dover Castle is steeped in history, wildlife, flora and fauna, and it has been at the heart of a wonderful project: the reintroduction of choughs to the White Cliffs of Dover.

We took a scoot from our meeting point at the lower car park down the road towards the choughs, which at the time were housed in an aviary on the old hospital grounds opposite the fire command post. We spent time learning all about the project from one of the castle staff who volunteers his time to care for the birds. More on the project, and how far it has come since, further down.

Then volunteer Neil showed us inside the fire command post, where we were able to look through binoculars out into the English Channel. It was a little misty, so we could not see France, but on a clear day you often can. We then scooted to the battlements walk to see some of the cannons and the flora and fauna. We spotted Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum, also known as Horse Parsley or Black Lovage) and Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) amongst other plants.

We came back around to the main castle along the roads, taking a little detour into a tunnel to see the view. Those who had time to stay enjoyed a chat and refreshments in the café.

A word on access

Most of our group came on their own wheels, their own mobility scooters. One of our group borrowed a mobility scooter from English Heritage at the castle, so they could join in fully too.

If you would like to do the same, Dover Castle offers both wheelchair and mobility scooter loans. They cannot take bookings over the phone at the moment, so the way to reserve one is to email Dover.Castle@English-Heritage.org.uk ahead of your visit.

I will be honest about the terrain. Dover Castle sits high on the hill, and while a lot of the grounds are on tarmac paths, there are some steep slopes and patches of uneven ground. Access inside the main castle can be a little tricky in places too. There are ramps to some parts, but you can expect cobbles, as you might at somewhere so steeped in history. With wheels and a route planned around the easier paths it opens up beautifully, but it is worth planning ahead and asking staff for the most accessible routes on the day.

A little more about the choughs

Red-billed chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax.

What is a chough? A red beak, red legs, broad deeply fingered wings in flight, crow sized, black feathers, a body around 39 to 40cm long, a wingspan of 73 to 90cm, and a lifespan of up to 16 years.

It is the rarest member of the crow family in Britain, a Species of European Conservation Concern and a Schedule 1 bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Choughs lived in Kent 200 years ago but were lost from the county through persecution and habitat loss.

The chough also has deep Kent roots. It appears on the coat of arms of Canterbury, and legend says its red beak and legs were stained by the blood of Thomas Becket.

In 2021 the Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust, working with Paradise Park and English Heritage, set out a shared vision for a wilder Kent: to establish a population on the White Cliffs of Dover, with the aim of 50 birds over time. At the time of my visit, the castle was home to just two male birds, while two females were away being bred with other choughs to avoid close genetic pairing.

An update since my visit

This is the part that makes me so happy to finally share. In July 2025, a chough chick hatched and fledged from a wild nest at Dover Castle: the first wild-born chough to take to the skies in Kent in more than 200 years. It came just three years after the reintroduction project began, and by autumn 2025 there were 27 choughs flying free along the cliffs.

The little aviary I visited has since been taken down, its job done, as the birds now nest in the wild around the castle and cliffs. To think I stood and watched two birds in an aviary, and a wild chick has now flown free over the same spot. What a thing to be a tiny part of.

You can follow the project and read more about the choughs over at Kent Wildlife Trust: The Chough Reintroduction Project.

Life is a journey… treasure it.

Tamsin x