Red-billed chough beak from 6CE shows bird’s long Kent links
07 August 2025
Scientists have determined a beak excavated from a 1,400-year-old Anglo-Saxon settlement in Kent belonged to a red-billed chough - a species reintroduced to the county just this week.
The faded 4cm beak, which was worn as a pendant, was recovered from a sixth-century building within an Anglo-Saxon settlement excavated in 2013. It was only formally identified as having come from a red-billed chough last month following inspection by Hein van Grouw, Bird Curator at the Natural History Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire.
Famed for their bright red beaks, the small birds can be seen on the Canterbury coat of arms. After 200 years of extinction, the first red-billed choughs to be born in two centuries successfully took flight in the county this week.
Professor Gabor Thomas found the beak while excavating an important Anglo-Saxon settlement at Lyminge, Kent, that went on to become a royal centre and monastery in the 7th century.He said: “This tiny beak tells an extraordinary story that spans fourteen centuries.
“To think that 1,400 years ago, someone at Lyminge valued a chough's crimson beak so much they turned it into a pendant and wore it around their neck - it shows just how deeply embedded these birds were in Kent's cultural landscape.
“The fact that we're now celebrating the first wild chough to fledge in Kent for over two centuries makes this discovery even more poignant. It's remarkable proof that our connection with these charismatic red-beaked birds isn't just recent folklore - it runs right back to the very foundations of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent. This little beak shows that choughs have been part of Kent's story for far longer than we ever imagined." 
The reintroduction programme, led by Wildwood Trust, Kent Wildlife Trust and Paradise Park, aims to introduce up to 50 birds in the South East over five years.
The Lyminge monastery was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Reading between 2007-15 and 2019. Research has indicated it was subjected to repeated Viking attacks, but resisted collapse for almost a century.
Professor Gabor Thomas is available for interview. Contact the University of Reading Press Office on 0118 378 5757 or pressoffice@reading.ac.uk
Download images of the beak and Lyminge monastery via Google Drive.
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