Conservationists are “Chough-ed” as coastal bird breaks records across Cornwall and Ramsey Island

• A record number of Chough pairs have made breeding attempts along Cornwall’s coastline this summer, with RSPB Ramsey Island and RSPB South Stack Cliffs in Wales also welcoming a successful breeding year. 

• The distinctively red-beaked bird, which is found along the British and Irish coastlines, reached record breeding pair numbers in Cornwall and at RSPB Ramsey Island in Wales this Summer. 

• Efforts from the RSPB, nature-friendly farmers and dedicated conservationists have been crucial to this summer’s success for the species in England and Wales. Meanwhile, it is hoped that conservation efforts can help to also reverse the fortunes of the Scottish Chough population, which has been gradually declining in recent years, and in Northern Ireland where the bird was sadly lost in 2016. 

A record number of Chough pairs have made breeding attempts along Cornwall’s coastline this summer, with RSPB Ramsey Island and RSPB South Stack Cliffs in Wales also welcoming a successful breeding year.  

Chough, a distinctive black bird with bright red beak, feature in Cornish heraldry and Welsh folklore, and are found along the British and Irish coastlines, including further colonies on Islay, Scotland.  

This year, RSPB-coordinated surveys have revealed a record 55 pairs attempted breeding in Cornwall this summer, up from a previous high of 47 in 2023. Of the confirmed pairs, 40 successfully raised a brood, with 108 ‘Choughlets’ known to have fledged nests around the Kernow coastline alone.  

While the poor springtime weather hampered the breeding attempts of inexperienced pairs, the record-breaking number of breeding pairs in Cornwall illustrates the success of more than 20 years of conservation efforts to restore the bird to a healthy and sustainable population. 

Elsewhere, at RSPB Ramsey Island, on the Pembrokeshire coast, a record 12 pairs of Chough were recorded holding territory, of which ten successfully fledged 25 chicks. Farther up the Welsh coast, RSPB South Stack Cliffs, Anglesey, had 14 breeding pairs, up 2 pairs from 2023, which fledged 23 chicks. 

According to the last known survey of the bird across the UK and Isle of Man, there were 430 Chough pairs in 2014. Having declined due to changes in agricultural practices, Choughs were extinct from their traditional Cornish coastline habitat 50 years ago and were sadly lost from Northern Ireland in 2016. 

Meanwhile, the Pembrokeshire Chough population is stable, but it is declining in North Wales, with most inland breeding pairs lost in the last two decades, although sites in Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park remain important as feeding areas. Successful Chough breeding seasons, and the associated decades of partnership conservation work undertaken to help secure their future, are therefore all the more important. 

Thankfully, the conservation expertise of the RSPB, the passion of nature-friendly farmers and land managers who have brought back grazing to the cliffs (which creates the short grass and dung invertebrates that Chough feed on), and the support of funders and conservationists is helping to turn the tide for this species.  

Monitoring by volunteers, ringing projects and sightings from members of the public have also been crucial to this conservation success story, with valuable sightings helping to identify new pairs. 

Andrew Jones, RSPB Chough Conservation Officer in Cornwall, said: “We know Chough are a much-loved species in Cornwall and beyond, having battled the elements on our westerly cliffs to feed, nest and breed for many years. Seeing Chough numbers bounce back from their extinction in Cornwall alone has been incredibly rewarding, not least for the dedicated volunteers and brilliant members of the public who monitor the birds and share their sightings with us in order to inform conservation efforts.

The cooperation of farmers and land managers has been vital to the revival of choughs in Cornwall over the years, in particular the increase in cattle grazing in coastal locations, which when grazed at the right level, opens up vegetation and gives Choughs easier access to beetles, cranefly larvae and caterpillars, and also offers a supply of grubs that are found in dung. With the strength of local communities, conservationists and farmers behind them, there is real hope for this charismatic bird’s long-term recovery."

The hopeful news from the Cornish and Welsh coast Chough colonies follows their reintroduction to Kent which saw the first successful breeding of Chough in the county for 200 years earlier this Summer.  

Meanwhile, in Scotland, work is underway to increase invertebrate food supply to boost first year survival of young Choughs and to create new nesting sites. This work is supported by the EU LIFE 100% Project, and it is hoped that this could help to reverse the gradual decline the Scottish population has been experiencing in recent years. Despite the extirpation (local extinction) of Chough in Northern Ireland, the RSPB also continue to manage land for the bird on Rathlin Island, and efforts are underway to assess the feasibility of a reintroduction.