Chough report: May 2017

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Glyn Young

Wild flowers at Sorel. Photo by Liz Corry.

Jersey’s coastal habitat was home to spring lambs, wild flowers, and baby choughs this month. Here is what the choughs got up to. Or, as we can now call them, what the award-winning choughs got up to!

May the 4th be with you

On May the 4th the first of the three eggs in Issy and Tristan’s nest hatched. Staff were naturally excited and considering the date, the geeks amongst us (i.e. everyone), started putting bids in for Star Wars related names for the clutch.

Chough eggs hatch sequentially so we expected it to take a few days. However, the days passed and it became clear that this would be the only egg to hatch.

Han Solo was duly christened.

The parents were keen to remove one of the failed eggs. The other was left in the nest for quite sometime.

With only one chick to care for, Han Solo was well fed and grew steadily day by day.

Breeding in the wild

This year’s wall planner had a rather colourful month in store with various predicted hatch dates starred and scribbled in colour-coded marker. First off the blocks were to be Red and Dingle (hand-reared) who raised their first chicks last year. This year’s eggs were due to hatch around the first week in May. A change in Red‘s behaviour on 4th May suggested the eggs might have started hatching. Instead of waiting for the cue from Dingle, she was already waiting at the aviary for food in the morning. As soon as she picked up a mouthful of mealworms she zoomed back to her nest.

We asked Kevin le Herissier, responsible for ‘their’ building (Ronez naively still believe that the buildings are theirs not the choughs’), to check the nest the following week. This was to allow time for the entire clutch to hatch and so that the parents were not as sensitive to disturbance.

To our bemusement the photo he sent back was of a perfect nest containing four eggs.

Red and Dingle’s nest early in May. Photo by Kevin le Herissier

A follow up check on the 19th also found four eggs. Guess what was found when the nest was checked for a third time on the 31st? Sadly, not a case of third time lucky. Still four eggs. Under license by the States of Jersey, these eggs were candled in the nest to find answers to what had happened, why they hadn’t hatched. One egg had failed during embryonic development while the others looked like they contained almost fully developed chicks. The eggs were returned to the nest.

New nest-site discovered

Student John Harding and Ronez operational assistant Toby Cabaret checked on the nests in the quarry on the 19th. Armed with a GoPro and a very long pole they checked nest-boxes and known nest sites. One of the nest-boxes we fitted in the quarry in 2015 had nesting material in it. What flew out wasn’t a chough though. It was a kestrel!

Most of the nests were just centimetres out of reach of the pole and suspiciously quiet. The team did, however, spot a female on a nest in a building not previously used by the choughs. With no wish to disturb her the nest was left alone. We now have the task of trying to work out which pair this nest belongs to.

A neighbouring building was also found to have a nest. This one didn’t have a female on it, but from the begging noises it was clear there were at least two chicks in there. Again this is a new site and new pairing.

This video shows Toby and John trying to use the GoPro to check the cheeping nest. They didn’t realise at the time how close they were to the nest. You can see the chicks.

They look extremely young. Normally we would avoid disturbing a nest at this age. From our calculations we expected any chicks to be a few days older. From their begging they look strong.

All nest checks are done under license from the States of Jersey.

Chick ringing and revelations

On the 31st we returned to the nest sites. This time with Channel Island ringer Dave Buxton in case the chicks were old enough to fit with leg rings. We were also armed with a new piece of equipment…a USB endoscope camera. It doesn’t provide HD images like the GoPro. However, it is equipped with LED lights and a lot more manoeuvrable (and only cost £25).

Toby Cabaret checking a chough nest with the Potensic endoscope. Photo by Liz Corry.

Three chicks could be seen with the endoscope plugged into a smartphone. Photo by Liz Corry.

Due to health and safety concerns, two nest-sites were out of bounds. We were able to check the nest with the cheeping chicks. This time eerily silent, although it was clear from the endoscope image that there were three bills. They still had pin feathers on their heads and from their size they looked no more than two weeks old. Too young to fit rings.

Before leaving the building John and Toby went a checked the next floor up on a hunch that there could be something. They were right! They found a nest tucked away behind girders.

Spot the nest? Photo by Liz Corry.

Despite a grainy image, the colour and shape of a bill could be seen and possibly a second body. The image below is a snapshot from the endoscope. The image is less clear than in realtime. You will be forgiven if you can’t spot the head of a chick.

Screen grab of endoscope view in nest showing the pale bill of a chick (far right). Photo by Liz Corry.

Whilst checking this nest Kevin and Bean flew in and appeared slightly aggrieved that we had discovered their little secret. The disappointment of the chicks once again being too young to ring was quickly overshadowed by this news. Bean is one of our hand-reared females released as a juvenile in 2014 and now, three years later, rearing chicks of her own!

Chough-watch

We received several reports of choughs out and about this month from members of the public. Of interest was a report of a pair from Tabor Park, St Brelade. They had been seen on the allotments, but flown before leg rings could be read. Five days later another report came in of a chough calling at the desalination plant by Corbiere.

We have radio-tracked choughs to the south-west before in 2014 and 2015. Since then there have been a handful of sightings around Gorselands, Le Creux and Red Houses.

Choughs on the move. Photo by Liz Corry.

Regular chough watchers Mick Dryden, Tony Paintin, and Piers Sangan reported choughs at Crabbé, Île Agois, and Grosnez during the day. We assume these are the sub-adults and non-breeders who don’t have commitments at the quarry. Without leg ring records we can’t be sure.

Grosnez to Plémont with Sorel point in the far distance: areas visited by the choughs this month. Photo by Liz Corry.

Personality research with Nottingham Trent University

Guille Mayor arrived this month to start his MSc research looking at personality traits in released choughs. He is trying to see if personality relates to dispersal distances and success in the wild. Part of his work will involve behavioural observation at the release aviary and how individuals react to a novel object.

The trickier part of his study requires him to find where the choughs go each day. He obviously likes a challenge since only three in 34 have radio tracking devices and Guille is on a bicycle. If you do spot a chough away from Sorel please as also let us know. Send an email, call 01534 860059, or post on Jersey Wildlife Facebook page. Location, date, time, and, if possible, leg rings need including.

And finally

British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) held their annual awards at The Deep in Hull this month. Durrell had entered four categories and came away with three gold and one silver. We are delighted to announce that the return of choughs to Jersey was awarded gold in the conservation category.

Many thanks to everyone involved over the years that have helped plan, raise, release, monitor, and protect the choughs, many of which have volunteered their free time to do so. And of course our partners at the National Trust for Jersey, Department of the Environment, and our extended chough family at Paradise Park.

Chough report: April 2017

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Glyn Young

by Liz Corry

April started on a tragic low note progressing, the only way it could, into a steady crescendo to a high and hopeful cadence. In fact, April started as it always does with April Fool’s Day. So when an email entitled ‘chough vs. peregrine’ was opened on the 2nd, wishful thinking wanted to dismiss this as a delayed prank.

The email was from Mick Dryden and Romano da Costa, two of Jersey’s top birders, who had been out at Sorel Point doing a migration count.

Mick described observing “an immature peregrine fly onto the cliff with a black bird in its talons. We both thought it was the remains of a chough. The peregrine was hassled by gulls and flew off west, but dropped the bird in the sea where a greater black-backed gull performed the last rites. I had the scope on it distantly and think I could see red legs very briefly, possibly also a ring which may have been green. So if you are short of a chough, you know why!”

For legal reasons we would like to state that the peregrine flying over Sorel in this photo is innocent until proven guilty. Photo by Liz Corry.

The email was read at home after spending the day out at Sorel monitoring seemingly very content choughs. In fact, it was the first day the choughs had been seen carrying nesting material. Not only that, but the first bird spotted carrying material was Pyrrho, a female of only two years of age. A potential new breeder!

Pyrrho carrying nesting material, but to where? Photo by Liz Corry

Added excitement had come when a large group of choughs spent the day hanging out around the section of cliffs where we fitted a nest-box in 2014. Birds were seen to come and go from the box. Could one of them be adding nesting material?

The acrobatic aerial displays they were putting on, launching themselves off the cliff face were a joy to watch.

Acrobatic choughs at Sorel. Photo by Liz Corry.

To get home and find out that one of them had most likely been skewered by talons, plucked apart, and unceremoniously dropped in the sea, only to be further shredded into oblivion, was a little disorientating to say the least.

The choughs have started changing their daily patterns most likely as a result of the breeding season. Pairs have been spending less time near the aviary, some turning up late. In the case of Lee and Caûvette, the notorious absentees, they did the opposite and started turning up for both morning and afternoon feeds.

Lee and Caûvette (centre) have started returning for the supplemental feeds suggesting they might be nesting nearby. Photo by Liz Corry.

Once the choughs had grabbed their free handouts they would swiftly return to their business of either nest-building and/or wild foraging. There has been an abundance of leatherjackets and other grubs in the fields this month keeping them fuelled for the day. It, therefore, didn’t raise alarm bells when only 32 of the 35 choughs were counted on the morning Mick described the attack.

A leatherjacket larvae unearthed and being tenderised before adding to the chough menu of the day. Photo by Liz Corry.

The following day was spent staking out Sorel ticking names off the chough register. Mick’s description of a green ring turned out to be a red herring when, after a few hours, all the choughs sporting green rings were alive and well. This is included a breeding male, Pale Green, a wild-hatched chick, and hand-reared Bean. Never believe parents when they say they don’t have a favourite!

Ticking off the chough register each day isn’t easy with birds like Helier whose broken green ring has slipped over the blue one. Photo by Liz Corry.

By the end of the day the identity of two birds still remained unconfirmed. Hayle and Yarila, both hatched at Paradise Park last year, and wearing almost identical leg rings. One blue and white striped. One black and white striped. Out in the field with the glare of the sun, the white-out of the fog (we had both), and the desperation in your mind, it is very difficult to determine the difference between the two rings.

Attempts to get a clearer view of leg rings by feeding choughs outside of the aviary failed when the sea fog rolled in. Photo by Liz Corry.

Even when Hayle’s radio transmitter was tracked down to the cliff face where the peregrine attack occurred your mind wants to add the element of doubt. What if she just shed the transmitter there and is merrily foraging in the fields? Sea fog and sheer cliffs prevented the recovery of the transmitter.

Somewhere beyond the gorse lies a cliff face and a lost radio transmitter. Photo by Liz Corry.

Not that it would have told us anything other than Hayle was no longer attached to it. Three days later, with a total count of 34 birds, none of which wore a blue and white striped ring, we reluctantly concluded Hayle wasn’t attached to anything in this world.

And now for the steady crescendo…

Breeding season update

The chough group did not spend long mourning the loss of their friend. Priorities were focused around breeding and collecting nest-liner courtesy of the sheep. We were able to ascertain a few new potential breeding pairs thanks to this. We have also noticed a few unexpected couplings based on mutual preening and feeding behaviour.

The most intriguing of which is a new trio. Pyrrho has teamed up with one of last year’s wild-hatched chicks. At only 11 months old (someone call Social Services) he would seem a bit young for Pyrrho. The young male is still very close to his sister and the three are often spotted flying to the quarry together. It would be unusual if this trio were to produce anything other than a nest this year.

Wild-hatched siblings Pink-Orange (male) and Black-Orange (female) have teamed up with Pyrrho this breeding season. Photo by Liz Corry.

We already have a trio of Dusty, the original wild-hatched chick, and two females Egg and Chickay. Both females have been building nests; however, Dusty pays more attention to Egg and we believe she has started incubating. Last year, when this trio formed, they did not get beyond the nest-building stage so Egg’s behaviour is very encouraging.

Egg collecting nesting material from the quarry for her nest with Dusty. Photo by Liz Corry.

Chickay, a hand-reared chick, collecting nesting material from the quarry. Photo by Liz Corry.

These were not the only choughs to be busy nest building. We have seen five pairs visiting the sheep pens to collect wool. Not straight from the sheep’s backs I hasten to add.

Choughs busy collecting wool to line their nests at Sorel. Photo by Liz Corry.

The choughs have been making the most of the sheep’s confinement to the aviary field this month. Photo by Liz Corry.

We have struggled to assign each pair to a nest site. With so many choughs using the quarry now simply for recreation it is difficult to know who is who and what they are up to. Working with quarry staff, we believe we have double the number of nest sites compared to last year.

A tell-tale clue as to where this pair has chosen to nest is in the fact that they are covered in quarry rock dust. Photo by Liz Corry.

We started to notice behaviour in the last two week’s of April that suggested some of the females had started incubating. It has not been as clear-cut as in previous years making it trickier to predict hatch dates. Bets aside it is certain that May will be a productive month.

Health updates and post-release care

Monthly faecal screenings showed the parasite count in the flock to be lower than last month. It would be a statistical miracle to assume that the entire flock was represented equally within a sample. However, taking into account fewer observations of sneezing birds it appears to be a fair reflection of the group’s general parasite loads. The reduction was possibly helped by the absence of Hayle who had been seen sneezing and wheezing a few days before she encountered the peregrine.

One of the wild-hatched choughs was seen to have something wrapped around her foot on 17th April. We monitored her closely and it soon became clear the offending material was not going to come off unaided. We are permitted to catch up and handle wild-hatched choughs for welfare reasons under our license granted by the States of Jersey. Therefore, to avoid any potential problems with blood circulation in the future, we caught her up and snipped the thread free.

PP003 had to be caught up in the release aviary to remove tangled thread from her foot. Photo by Glyn Young.

At the same time as attempting to catch this bird (it took several days) we noticed Bean had managed to wedge one of her digits up into her plastic rings. We had hoped that she might manage to wiggle it free or break the plastic since the rings are now quite old. She didn’t comply so she too was caught up.

We had to be very careful with Bean and the rest of the group when it came to entrapment. Not for legal reasons. We did not want to inflict any unnecessary stress on any of the egg-laying females. We had suspected Bean could be one such female since her and her partner have collected nesting material. Once in the hand her brood patch was a big giveaway. Her foot was quickly freed, replacement rings fitted, and she was allowed to return to her nest within minutes of being trapped in the aviary.

Yarila preened out her broken tail feather this month complete with radio transmitter. Photo by Liz Corry.

Yarila conveniently preened out her radio-transmitter on 24th April whilst sat on the aviary roof. At the start of the month one of her middle tail feathers was sticking up at a right angle to the other eleven. Obviously loose, but hanging on to something. In fact we noticed it the day after the peregrine incident. Coincidence?

Looking at the recovered transmitter it is clear that the loose feather was still holding on by a thread to the base of the transmitter. The other central tail feather, which gets glued to the transmitter, has snapped off and detached from the base of the transmitter hence the tag falling off. This is the first time we have seen this with our choughs.

Jersey Zoo breeding pairs

CI Fire & Security Ltd kindly installed a new wireless system at the chough breeding aviaries this month to allow staff to monitor all three nests. CI Fire & Security Ltd have previously installed cameras at Durrell in the bear and orang enclosures. Whilst seemingly not as challenging as designing an orang-utan-proof camera, the chough-cams proved trickier than expected. Two of the three cameras were up and running in March. The third, in Issy and Tristan’s aviary where we hope the pair will parent rear took a bit longer, but finally went online on 13th April. At which point we discovered she was sitting on three eggs!

Keepers had found an egg on the floor near to the nest-box earlier in the week. We don’t know why it was on the floor. We do know that she has not laid anymore eggs since the day the camera went online. An unusually low clutch number for Issy, but at least she has eggs and is looking after them.

Now we have the nest-camera we can closely monitor the progress of these eggs, any subsequent chicks and support the parents along the way if needed. We expect the eggs to hatch at the start of May with a view to release healthy fledged chicks in the summer.

Simon Inman’s fundraising last month has managed to raise £140.73. This has help pay for the new wireless nest-camera in Issy and Tristan‘s aviary. Simon’s sponsored skydive is in summer so there is still time to donate.

Our other two breeding pairs appear to be dawdling. It took them a while to start building nests and now they just don’t want to stop. This footage of Denzel and his partner was captured on 25th April…

It is a little harder to tell what Gwinny and Lucifer are up to thanks to Gwinny inadvertently repositioning the camera.

For our tame bird Gianna she has to sit and wait for the likes of Gwinny to start egg-laying. We can then give Gianna a dummy egg to stimulate her to start laying her own (infertile) eggs. When the time is right we can swap eggs or chicks for foster rearing purposes. Timing is partly influenced by the behaviour of the pairs especially Lucifer who has a tendency to dislike eggs appearing in his nest box. We’re not exactly sure what he expects to use the nest for.

Gianna taking nesting material for her foster nest. Photo by Liz Corry.

Gianna completed her nest and is now waiting for the cue from keepers to start laying eggs. Photo by Liz Corry.

Chough report: March 2017

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Glyn Young

By Liz Corry

Preparations for the breeding season were well under way this month both at the Zoo and out on the coast. The breeding pairs at the Zoo moved into their seasonal accommodation ready to begin nesting. For Issy and Tristan that meant staying put and keeping a watchful eye on the visitors to the Zoo. Our other two pairs headed off show. Last year Issy and Tristan successfully reared two chicks who were later released onto the north coast. We are hoping for the same success this year. Maybe even more as keepers can now monitor activity in the nest from their computers thanks to a new wireless CCTV installation in their aviary.

One of the off-show breeding aviaries at Jersey Zoo. Photo by Liz Corry.

The off-show aviaries had a spruce up before the other two pairs moved in. The birds had a quick health check by the vets prior to moving. All appeared physically OK. Mentally? We will have to wait and see.

We are hoping that Lucifer learnt his lesson last year and allows Gwinny to incubate her eggs in peace.

A reminder of the ‘domestic dispute’ can be found in the April 2016 report.

In case he does live up to his namesake, we have set up the artificial incubation room at the Bird Department. We also have foster-mum Gianna on standby.

Gianna is on standby to help foster-rear chicks with the Zoo keepers. Photo by Liz Corry.

To ensure that she is in sync with the pairs we moved her into her own ‘breeding’ aviary when the others moved into theirs.

Nesting material was provided over several days by keepers. Each pair received material at the same time to encourage the pairs to nest in sync.

For some the prospect of a new nest is way too exciting…

By the end of the month Gianna had pretty much completed her nest. Material could be seen sticking out of Issy and Tristan‘s nest. The other two pairs were a bit slower on the uptake. From watching this video taken from Gwinny and Lucifer‘s nest camera you will understand why.

Our cameras are not online for public viewing. However, over in Cornwall, our partners at Paradise Park have their nest cameras up and running. You can follow their progress by clicking here.

Back on the north coast the free-living choughs were also busy with nesting material. The established breeding pairs started turning-up late to the feeds and not foraging as much around Sorel as the others.They were spending their time in the quarry trying to keep what they were up to under wraps. However, thanks to the new chough nest-box cameras in the quarry they could not keep it a secret for long.

To everyone’s relief Green and Black decided to use the nest-box Ronez fitted to encourage them away from working machinery. Within a week of the box being up, the birds were adding twigs. This will provide extremely valuable information to the team if the pair complete their nest.

Chough CCTV in the quarry providing evidence that nest building began in early March. Photo by Mark de Carteret.

The other nest camera is located in the building used by Dingle and Red. The monitor showed an empty nest-box, but we know from their antics they were up to something. It will be a case of wait and see.

The trickier detective work this month focused on trying to determine if Lee and Caûvette would attempt to nest for the first time? If so would it be away from Sorel? And will there be any other first timers now that the birds coming of age?

We know Lee and Caûvette like hanging out at Les Landes in the morning. Towards the end of March they also started missing out on the afternoon supplemental feed. They would arrive 20-40 minutes later than everyone else. We delayed the afternoon feeds by 30 minutes to give them a shot of getting some food before all the others scoffed it. This worked out well for a bit. Then the clocks changed and the birds gained at least an extra hour of daylight to frolic in before roost.

Lee and Caûvette seemed quite content without the aviary feed. They were obviously finding plenty of wild food. Probably because they had added Plémont to their list of daily foraging sites. From the aerial images below, courtesy of Chris Brookes Aerial Photography, you can understand why.

Plémont Bay. Photo by Chris Brookes Aerial Photography.

A view of Plémont café with Sorel Point visible on the horizon (top left). Photo by Chris Brookes Aerial Photography.

Headland at Plémont at high tide. Choughs have been seen foraging in this area. Photo by Chris Brookes Aerial Photography.

I am personally indebted to Tony Paintin for his feeding observations from Plémont since they reaffirmed my sanity as, on the 25th March, I looked up from my lunch plate at Plémont cafe and watched as two chough-like birds flew across the panoramic window view towards the headland. It meant that when I ran down the steps to the beach like a crazy lady I knew I would be rewarded with the site of Lee and Caûvette exploring the nooks and crannies of Plémont’s coves and crevices.

They didn’t stay for long. Minutes later they were off exploring Grand Becquet and Grève de Lecq. They probably wanted to get a look at the black guillemot reported there to see what all the fuss was about.

No sign of them collecting nesting material, but then again we only get to see them for about an hour each day. The radio-tracking study stopped at the end of this month allowing the team to spend more time observing behviour. Only five of the original eleven birds were still wearing their transmitters. Besides, apart from two birds, the flock was staying put at Sorel.

Project student Simon monitoring the choughs at Sorel. Photo by Liz Corry.

During this time we discovered a shift in one of the non-breeding couplings. Q has ditched Pyrrho in favour of Flieur who is a month shy of her 3rd birthday and prime age to start breeding.

We also noticed a few of the youngsters sneezing. The monthly faecal screening showed presence of Syngamus and Coccidia within the group. The condition of the birds was not as severe as on previous occasions so there was no urgent need to catch them for worming injections. Instead we focused on repairing the aviary so that we could catch birds and continued to monitor the group as closely as we could.

The aviary finally had a spring clean. More like overhaul with new hatch wires, in some cases new hinges. The hatches themselves were cleaned and painted and the broken central beam was replaced and, thanks to Trevor’s trusty truck, the partitions were hauled back into place.

Maintenance staff came up with a novel idea to operate the release hatches. Photo by Liz Corry.

At the same time the National Trust for Jersey were up replacing the sheep fencing a Sorel. The sheep are still confined to the aviary field and adjacent field. Once the lambs at St Catherine’s are old enough they will move up and roam free at Sorel and Devil’s Hole.

Not content with their wool, their dung larvae, their drinking water, and their feed, the choughs found another way to exploit the grazing flock…a shelter box. Photo by Liz Corry.

Other activities this month included a visit by Allen Moore from the Isle of Man. Allen is pretty much chough aficionado and not just in the Isle of Man. In fact he flew to Jersey from Las Palma (indirectly sadly) where he had just spent a two week ‘holiday’ studying the choughs and the other birds of La Palma. The La Palma chough is a bit of an oddball of the chough family (there is always one). It can be found in a wide range of habitats, including pine forest, and eats olives!

Part of the chough flying display at Sorel put on for the DESMAN students. Photo by Anna Chouler.

Durrell Training Academy is hosting the annual DESMAN course at present. Running from February until May. Participants spent time this month learning about the Birds On The Edge project via lectures and site visits. They also received training in radio-tracking techniques. For the tour of Sorel they were joined by a visiting course group from Nottingham Trent University. Despite the number of visitors and disturbance caused by maintenance work, the groups got to see the choughs in action.

The video below shows project student Simon feeding the choughs. Sometimes you don’t need to worry about whether or not the choughs will hear the whistle and come for food.

Due to ‘unnatural’ weather conditions at one point this month (i.e. no wind!), staff at Ronez Quarry tried to see if an alternative to a whistle cue would work…

And finally,

if you want to read the moving story behind the first ever chough at Jersey Zoo then grab yourself a copy of Dingle by Marie Marchand. It has a introduction by Gerald Durrell who was responsible for bringing the original Dingle to Jersey.

Published in 1961, hard-copies are few and far between. We got hold of one through the good folks at Cotswold Internet Books Ltd. However, if you prefer a digital copy then register for free with www.archive.org, an online lending library.

Want to study choughs?

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Glyn Young

From DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)

Scholarship opportunity: Restoring a Kentish icon: feasibility of reintroducing the chough to Kent

DICE are seeking applications for a PhD in Biodiversity Management supported by the University of Kent’s Vice Chancellor’s Research Scholarship Fund. Applicants need to be versatile with a demonstrable aptitude for conservation science, interdisciplinary research and quantitative analysis, together with an interest in bird conservation and/or reintroduction biology.

Supervisors: Dr Bob Smith, Prof Richard Griffiths, Prof Jim Groombridge & Dr Dave Roberts

Advisor: Professor Carl Jones MBE.

The science of reintroducing species back into the wild has evolved into a distinct branch of conservation science. The Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology has been working at the forefront of species conservation and reintroduction biology with partners around the world for over two decades. An opportunity has now arisen to apply this experience and expertise locally, with an analysis of the feasibility of bringing back the iconic red-billed chough to Kent. The chough population has become highly fragmented with several isolated populations around the coast of Britain. The chough was once more widespread and formerly occurred as far east as Kent where it became extinct c. 160 years ago. However, it still lives on in the Coat of Arms of Canterbury City and the University of Kent, and potential habitat remains in Kent, with large areas of nature reserves and farmland across the Dover area.

Partners This project builds on the experience of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust who lead the chough reintroduction to Jersey through the Birds On The Edge project. The project will also partner with Operation Chough, based at Paradise Park in Cornwall, who have led the ex situ components of the reintroduction programme; and Wildwood Trust in Kent, a leading centre for the conservation and rewilding of British Wildlife.

Aims & Objectives

1. Habitat suitability analysis: this will involve combining an ecological assessment of potential release sites with an impact and risk assessment of a potential reintroduction. This will require spatial analysis and species distribution modelling using GIS;

2. Assessment of local attitudes to a proposed reintroduction: this will use social science methods to gather quantitative and qualitative data on awareness, attitudes, and knowledge of the chough and broader conservation issues among the wider local community;

3. Systematic conservation planning assessment: This will involve working with local NGO and government groups to map the different protected areas and management activities in the focal area, and identify sites where habitat management would support chough conservation;

4. Flagship species potential: this will use choice experiments and other social science methods to identify whether the chough would make a suitable flagship species for different target audience groups, including neighbouring communities and visiting tourists.

Training The project will require a versatile student who will be trained in both social science and natural science survey methods, GIS and species distribution modelling. The student will be required to take forward dialogue with local organisations, identifying potential release sites with them through applying the research, and help produce a reintroduction plan in conjunction with IUCN/SSC (2013) guidelines. The student will be expected to undertake some teaching as a Graduate Teaching Assistant on undergraduate programmes.

Funding £14,296 (2016/17 rate) plus tuition fees at the Home/EU rate. This scholarship is administered under the Graduate Teaching Assistant Scheme

Applications Applicants should have at least a 2:1 Honours degree and a good MSc in a relevant subject. Graduates who can demonstrate equivalent relevant experience to MSc level through professional work, research and publications may also be considered.

Applications should comprise of a covering letter (1 page) and CV (2 pages max including the names and contact details of two referees) and should be sent to Dr Bob Smith (R.J.Smith@kent.ac.uk) by midnight on May 8th 2017.

Further information

Project title Restoring a Kentish icon: feasibility of reintroducing the chough to Kent

Application deadline: midnight on May 8th 2017

Interview: May 18th 2017

Start date: 16 September 2017

Programme: PhD

Mode of Study: Full time

Studentship Length: 3 years

Chough report: February 2017

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Glyn Young

By Liz Corry

Considering February is the shortest month, Mother Nature managed to fit in pretty much every weather type bar drought. The choughs faced blinding fog, F10 gales, hailstorms, thunder, and glorious sunshine.

Rolling sea fog to the west of Mourier Valley (left) glorious sunshine to the east at the same time. Photos by Liz Corry.

This might explain why Lee and Caûvette failed to turn up for supplemental feeds four days in a row. In fact they were not sighted anywhere for almost five days. We are not entirely sure if they stayed out at Les Landes the whole time or just waited until sunset to reach their regular roost site at Sorel. Staff attempted to find the answer by stalking the pair around Les Landes and staking out the roost site. Both of which failed because they were either nowhere to be seen to stalk or the roost site was shrouded in fog.

Just as panic set in with the sighting of peregrines hunting at Les Landes the pair were spotted. Both completely fine, behaving as normal feeding around the parade ring at the racecourse.

There was the slight twinge of excitement about their absence if we went with the train of thought that they had chosen to roost at Les Landes. Would this be a clue about where they will attempt to nest?

Chough nest-site prospecting with the Channel Island Occupation Society

Choughs will nest in man-made structures and down mine shafts as well as sea caves and crevices. We know Jersey’s choughs have been hanging around the German observation tower at Les Landes so we decided to investigate the various structures built during the German Occupation in the 1940s. We met with Tony Pike from the Channel Island Occupation Society (CIOS) and his dog Sal who very kindly gave us a guided tour of the site.

Tony Pike kindly allowed access to several German military structures to assess feasibility of chough’s nesting. Sal, his dog, was also keen to show us around as long as it wasn’t underground. Photo by Liz Corry.

We started at the tower, known as the Kriegsmarine Marine Peilstand 3 tower. This was originally built by the German Navy for observing targets at sea. There are seven floors to it, five of which look out to sea and take a fierce battering from the sea winds. Birds cannot enter the tower from this side as the openings have been blocked off with perspex to preserve the interior.

View of the MP3 tower at Les Landes. Photo by Liz Corry.

There is one opening on the land side left open by CIOS members for bats to access if needed. Theoretically, the choughs can use this to access the tower. The walls of the tower are two metres thick providing a convenient shelter ledge for choughs at the opening. Despite the depth it might still be too exposed for choughs to choose to nest on.

Looking inland from inside the tower. Photo by Liz Corry

Once inside there are just flat walls, no ledges to build a nest on with the exception of the concrete spiral staircase. When it rains the floors can become very wet and although they dry out fast I imagine that a smart bird like a chough will quickly realise that this is not a suitable place to raise young.

There are two ‘brother’ towers of Bt Steinbruch on Guernsey and Bt Annes on Alderney allowing the Germans to pass semaphore messages throughout the Channel Islands. The mobile network of its day. Maybe that is what the choughs are doing? Trying to scope out the other islands to decide whether its worth the flight across?

Choughs practising semaphore in an attempt to communicate with Guernsey. Photo by Liz Corry.

As a side note Tony pointed out two sites along the cliffs which the Germans had blasted square holes into the rock face to provide sheltered artillery positions for a soldier to sit in. This side note turned out to be extremely relevant as one is positioned a metre below where we have stationed ourselves several times in the past two months watching the choughs. If only we had known we could have saved ourselves a lot of earache and a few less head colds.

View from a rifleman’s lookout position blasted out of the cliff face. Photo by Liz Corry.

A chough foraging on a cliff face the profile of which was changed when the Germans blasted rock and dumped rubble when building the bunkers. Photo by Liz Corry.

The other structures we were interested in are to be found below ground. There is an extensive complex of passage-linked personnel and ammunition bunkers at Battery Moltke. Precision engineering by the Germans meant that the bunkers had heating and ventilation through a series of shafts and underground piping. None of which look accessible by choughs. Most of the public entrance ways to the bunkers and passageways are behind locked metal-sheeted doors to stop vandalism. If the choughs did find their way in I would like to think they would appreciate what is hidden away underground as much as we did.

Battery Moltke under the ground. Photo courtesy of the Channel Islands Occupation Society

One particular bunker was unearthed by Tony and a team of volunteers last year several decades after the States of Jersey had back-filled it with rubble for health and safety reasons. The ‘flower bunker’ as Tony called it, is an anti-aircraft bunker with a decontamination unit in case of a gas attack. On the walls inside you can see the original artwork by German officers of flowers in what one assumes is an attempt to brighten up the doom and gloom one would face being locked away in an air raid.

Original artwork by German officers on the walls of an anti-aircraft bunker at Les Landes. Photo by Liz Corry.

Original artwork by German officers on the walls of an anti-aircraft bunker at Les Landes. Photo by Liz Corry.

From what we observed it looks unlikely that choughs would nest successfully in any of these places. We are very grateful to Tony nonetheless and now have a greater appreciation of Les Landes when we go out radio-tracking. The choughs still have the option of sea caves and crevices along that stretch of coastline. They may look to the farm buildings behind the racecourse. We will keep a close eye on Lee and Caûvette in March. At the first sign of twig carrying we will be on them like…falcons (in a non-aggressive way).

Big brother is watching you

Simon visiting the dusty nest sites at Ronez Quarry. Photo by Glyn Young

Ronez Quarry very kindly agreed to fund nest cameras in the quarry this year. With help from quarry staff nest-boxes have been installed to try and encourage two particular pairs to nest away from active machinery.

We cannot be sure that the pairs will use the boxes, but if they do we will be able to follow their progress closer than ever before. Using equipment supplied by Handykam we will be able to record what goes on inside the box and hopefully learn more about clutch size, hatch rates, and general day to day activities of nesting choughs.

We do not currently have the option to view live footage. This incurs a greater cost and would be a gamble since we are not even sure if the birds will use the boxes.

The set up also includes monitors at each site to allow quarry staff to check the nests whenever they like without disturbing the birds. Their attentiveness over the past two breeding seasons has been invaluable to the success of the choughs. In the past we have had to wait for a scissor lift or something similar to be brought into the quarry to look in a nest if staff alert us to a situation. Now we just flick a switch.

Highly sophisticated calibration techniques for setting up nest cameras. Photo by Liz Corry.

If the pairs decide not to use the boxes we may be able to reposition the cameras and still capture nesting activities. However, it all depends on timing as we do not want to disturb the choughs unnecessarily. We are very grateful to Ronez Quarry for funding and supporting this project. In particular Mark de Carteret and Andy Paranthoen for co-ordinating and fitting the cameras.

Last, but not least

A future chough diet?

Orlux Remiline granules, a complete food for song thrushes, is being gradually added to the supplemental diet this month. We are trying to see if we can switch from an egg-based diet which can spoil relatively quickly to a dry pelleted diet.

If successful we will then look into automated feed stations similar to those used in Mauritius and New Zealand.

Chough report: January 2017

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Glyn Young

by Liz Corry

New Year, new adventures. That appears to be the motto of the juveniles, in particular the foster chicks who have taken a liking to the bay at Le Pulec, known to locals as “Stinky Bay”. This area is just below Battery Moltke, Les Landes, where we reported the choughs were last month. So not a surprise, but certainly an interesting addition to their home range. The bay has plenty of rotting seaweed, hence the name, harbouring insects attractive to many shorebirds. Are the choughs also exploiting this food resource as Scottish choughs do?

Seaweed collects by the sea wall defence providing birds with plenty of invertebrates to feed off. Photo by Liz Corry.

So far our observations suggest not. Trying my best to avoid analogies to a certain president and his wall, there is a current divide between the shore birds foraging below the sea wall defence and the choughs probing the loose soil on the other side.

Dozens of rock pipits were down at Stinky Bay to raid the strandline for tasty morsels. Photo by Liz Corry.

Black redstart at Le Pulec joining in on the breakfast feast. Photo by Liz Corry.

That may change as January’s freezing temperatures restrict the amount of food available in the coastal grassland forcing the choughs to look for alternative sources. The choughs were definitely more hungry this month than last. Wing-begging at staff is just one way to determine how hungry each individual is. Having the entire group of 35 stalk staff from the public car park along the cliff path to the aviary shows just how little wild food is available. They also had a great desire to cache food in preparation for the cold days that lay ahead. Something I think the magpies have cottoned on to as I observed a pair promptly dig up a stash once the unsuspecting chough had left.

The first time the juveniles were spotted alone at Le Pulec there was concern that they might not have the gumption to make it out of the bay and back to the aviary. Would they find enough food in the bay?

View over Le Pulec and L’Etacq from the Battery Moltke where the juveniles have been spending their mornings. Photo by Liz Corry.

I had spent the first hour of the morning above the bay at Les Landes trying to pinpoint the radio signals. When I arrived at Le Pulec car park and walked around to look across the bay I could make out six chough shapes on the cliff face, but couldn’t identify them. Until that is, they took to the air calling excitedly and four choughs flew over to land behind me within 5 metres of where I stood.

Vicq and Wally flying to greet the keeper at Le Pulec. Photo by Liz Corry.

In a roll-call fashion I ticked off Ubé, Wally, Vicq, and Xaviour, i.e. the four foster chicks, from the list of missing choughs. Once they realised I had no food for them they re-joined the other two juveniles in the bay. By 10:50 I had to leave so I could put the supplemental feed out at Sorel. On arrival at Sorel twenty minutes later the entire flock greeted me, headed up by none other than Ubé, Wally, Vicq, and Xaviour!

Choughs foraging at Sorel. Photo by Liz Corry.

This demonstrates how well the birds have learnt to associate the aviary with food, how they can map out the land, and how they somehow know what time it is!

The older choughs have also been spending more time away from Sorel although they don’t seem to wander as far. Crabbé is still a favourite for them. They like flying around Plémont and have been seen at Les Landes, but in terms of foraging they prefer to stay within sight of Sorel.

Twenty-two choughs congregating on the roof of Crabbé Farm. The rest of the group were over on the west coast. Photo by Liz Corry.

The choughs at Crabbe tried their best to find food in the fields despite frost and formidable chickens. Photo by Liz Corry.

The choughs at Crabbé tried their best to find food in the fields despite frost and formidable chickens. Photo by Liz Corry.

Lee and Caûvette are still doing their thing over at Les Landes in the mornings. Inching far too close to peregrine territory for our liking. Especially now the juveniles are following their lead.

Seven choughs (yellow arrow) foraging on the cliffs by the Pinacle. Three had radio-transmitters attached making it a bit easier to locate and identify them. Photo by Liz Corry.

There is another pair, Bean and Kevin, who have started playing truant at the morning feed although not as frequent as yet to suspect anything. We may struggle in future weeks to identify individuals as some of the plastic rings are snapping off. Notably breeding males Dingle and Green have lost rings. Once the repair work on the aviary is completed, we should be able to trap birds inside once again allowing rings to be replaced before the breeding season kicks off.

Red has been missing her red leg ring for sometime. Now with the others losing theirs we need to catch her up to fit a new red ring. Photo by Liz Corry.

Bird flu precautions

With cases of bird flu being declared in France and the UK we are taking various precautions within the Zoo to minimise the threat to our collection in Jersey. For this reason staff working on the chough project are changing footwear when entering zoo grounds, a disinfection footbath and separate wellies are in use at Sorel aviary, and chough food is being prepared away from the Zoo Bird Kitchen to reduce any potential cross-contamination.

To date bird flu has not been recorded in the Channel Islands. However, the States Vet is asking Islanders to be cautious and follow recommendations including reporting dead birds to the States Veterinary Office. Click here for more information.

Ube and Wally checking themselves for bird flu. Photo by Liz Corry.

Free-falling for choughs!

Simon Inman, our current student placement on the chough project, is loving his time at Durrell so much that he is going to jump 10,000 feet from a plane!

Student Simon Inman is raising funds for the choughs and Durrell through a sponsored skydive.

That sentence might need re-wording, but essentially Simon is going to do a skydive in summer and would like to raise funds for the choughs at the same time. So if you would like to support the choughs, and Simon’s craziness, please click here to visit his JustGiving page and donate.

His fundraising target is £150 which will pay for camera equipment for the nest box in the display aviary at the Zoo. We hope to set up a wireless network to send live footage direct to a PC and our smartphones.

Last year, the pair in that aviary successfully reared two chicks for the first time. A third unfortunately died. We might have been able to save it if we could have observed nest activity in real time and intervened at the first sign of decline.

Any donations will be gratefully received.

Plus, if you all donate money it makes it harder for him to back out at 10, 000 feet in the air!

Chough report: December 2016

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Glyn Young

By Liz Corry

Winter 2015: Jersey’s re-established chough population takeover Crabbé shooting range.

Winter 2016: the choughs occupy former WW2 coastal artillery Battery Moltke.

Winter 2017?: Be afraid, be very afraid!

Or rejoice in the fact that the choughs are now becoming more at home in Jersey, expanding their range, and slightly less reliant on the aviary at Sorel.

The choughs were on the move again in December. Photo by Liz Corry.

Binoculars and patience needed at this site to ID the choughs. Photo by Liz Corry

Crabbé is even more appealing to the choughs this winter compared to 2015. A local farmer has moved sheep onto land by the shooting range. This area is halfway between Sorel and Les Landes (as the chough flies) making it a convenient rest stop if the weather isn’t at all brilliant for flying.

Or if the birds simply want a peaceful getaway from the hubbub of the flock.

Yarila, one of the Paradise Park chicks, likes this area. She seems to prefer hanging out with a few of the older birds rather than the other youngsters. Luckily for us she still has her transmitter making it easier to follow her movements.

Yarila with the antennae of her tail-mounted transmitter visible. Photo by Liz Corry

The view from the farmhouse chimney at Crabbé also holds appeal as shown below by Lee and Caûvette.

Lee and Cauvette doing their best Dick Van Dyke impressions on top of the farmhouse chimney. Photo by Liz Corry.

However, as we learnt last month their favourite location away from Sorel is out west at Les Landes and down to the Battery Moltke. Lee and Caûvette continue to stay down at the racecourse until flying back to Sorel around 1pm to 2pm in time for the 3pm supplemental feed. The radio-tracked youngsters spend time in the same area, but fly back to Sorel for the 11am feed. We tend not to see the entire group at Les Landes at the same time. Generally 16 or so stay back at Devil’s Hole or Sorel. Although the public, through reports, have seen groups between 20 and 30 birds.

The choughs have been hanging out along the cliffs at Rouge Nez, St Ouen. Photo by Liz Corry

Inside the rifle targets at Les Landes. Photo by Liz Corry

Panoramic view of Rouge Nez to Les Maillots (left to right). Photo by Liz Corry.

A British nickname for a chough is the ‘sea crow’ which certainly applies in Jersey. Photo by Liz Corry.

Back at Sorel there has been very little to report over December. It has been a very mild winter to date. Less demanding for the choughs in terms of energy expenditure. They still get just as dirty getting stuck in to looking for insects in soil, sandy cliffs, and animal dung.

Choughs lack table manners when it comes to eating. Photo by Liz Corry.

They are still stealing the sheep pellet Ewen and Aaron put out for the Loaghtans. Apt timing as we have been looking into an alternative diet to provide at the aviary. After looking at nutritional values, potential palatability, and cost-effectiveness of various avian pelleted diets the vet and I chose to try Orlux Remiline pellet with the choughs in the Zoo. Since they are confined to their aviary and there are less of them than out at Sorel it made it easier to see if they ate the pellet and in a more controlled environment.

Bird Department keepers measured how much of the standard diet was being eaten over a period of five days. Then measured how much was being eaten when 50% of that diet was substituted with the pellet. As expected the birds initially preferred their original diet. No one likes change. They did, however, eat the pellet. In the New Year the choughs at Sorel will be introduced to the pellet and we will monitor how it goes. At a tenth of the cost of Orlux, I’m also going to investigate the sheep pellet!

Could sheep food be an alternative supplemental diet for the released choughs? Photo by Liz Corry

A few of the older birds are starting to lose their original colour rings. The material has become brittle and is snapping as evident from the pieces of one found in the aviary. The rings are designed for use on gulls and should, therefore, be fairly tolerant of cliff top conditions. At present everyone can still be identified by one means or another. Which meant when it came time for the annual audit on 31st December we could say with confidence that Jersey has 35 choughs living wild; 12 male, 23 female.

All 35 ‘wild’ choughs were accounted for on the annual animal audit day 2016. Photo by Liz Corry.

In other news…

One of our ex-students Paul Pestana returned from his travels in Asia. With a beaming smile on his face he sat us down to show us a very specific selection of holiday snaps. Whilst camping and hiking in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan he recognised an all too familiar sound. Choughs! Both red-billed choughs and alpine (yellow-billed) choughs were present. Below are a selection of photos he has kindly shared with us. It is hard to know which is more impressive his find or the scenery where he found them.

Red-billed chough in Tajikstan. Minus the mountain in the background, it felt very similar to watching choughs living in the quarry back in Jersey. Photo by Paul Pestana.

Red-billed chough in Tajikistan. Minus the mountain in the background, it felt very similar to watching choughs living in the quarry back in Jersey. Photo by Paul Pestana.

Lake Ala-Kol, Kyrgyzstan. Photo by Paul Pestana.

Alpine choughs in Kyrgyzstan. Photo by Paul Pestana.

Chough report: November 2016

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Glyn Young

By Liz Corry

With thirty-five choughs now flying around Jersey at their leisure, the field team certainly clocked up the mileage in November trying to keep track of them. Aside from navigating the green lanes of Jersey, the team also had to deal with servicing the aviary in gale force storms, juveniles losing their radio-transmitters, and uninvited house guests.

Post-release monitoring

Monitoring the choughs in November divided the team in two directions. Photo by Liz Corry.

We continue to radio-track the 2016 release cohort to find out how far they disperse and which areas in Jersey they favour. The youngsters tend to stay together which makes it easy to follow them.

Durrell’s parent-reared prodigy, Trevor, will occasionally favour hanging out with the sub-adult group which means he drops off our radar. He has been found with a group over at Les Landes from time to time. He may be going further afield.

One of our Bird Keepers, Kathryn Smith, spotted a small group flying over Gorselands on her day off. We know the sub-adults have flown over there in previous years and there was a report back in October of choughs at Beauport. Kathryn’s sighting was somewhat unusual since it was later in the day at a time when the group normally stay put at Sorel. Could this be the start of something new?

Sunrise search at Beauport. No choughs, but at least the view paid off. Photo by Liz Corry.

Reports of choughs on the south-west coast of Jersey this month kept the team on their toes. Photo by Liz Corry.

We don’t know if Trevor has made it over to the south of the Island. Now we may never know, unless we can see his leg rings since he has lost his radio transmitter. By the end of November, a total of four choughs had lost their transmitters out of the group of eleven; Trevor, Ubè, Duke, and Zennor. This is an unusually high number for us to lose within the first two months of use. In each case the middle tail feather, to which the transmitter is fitted, has become detached rather than the transmitter slipping its fastening.

Trevor has lost his radio-transmitter and is now only identifiable by his red and orange leg rings. Photo by Liz Corry.

We still have seven with transmitters and because they tend to stay in groups we have a fairly good record of where the other youngsters are. We get extra assistance with monitoring via the farmland bird transects carried out by volunteers across the island. The choughs have now been recorded on the transects at Crabbé, Les Landes, Les Creux, and of course Sorel.

Choughs flying over the Crabbé transect. Photo by Maddie Rusman.

Lee and Caûvette take up residency at Les Landes

Lee and Caûvette have been inseparable over the past year. Lee was imported from Paradise Park in 2015 and released a month later. At that point Caûvette, one of our hand-reared females, had already been flying around Jersey for a year. She played it cool, eventually falling for his charm and now they go everywhere together. Next year, at the ages of two and three-years-old, they should begin to show an interest in breeding.

They may well have already started planning ahead. Their absence at the morning feed was noted several times this month and has now become the norm. They always show up for the afternoon feed and stay around to roost out at Sorel. By sunrise they are gone (unless its horrible weather and then they can’t be bothered to travel anywhere and who can blame them).

Radio-tracking choughs (?) at Les Landes. Photo by Bea Detnon.

“I said they look like slender crows, not cows!” – Liz. Photo by Bea Detnon

They spend their mornings at Les Landes either pilfering the race course or gleaning the cliffs for insects. In between feeding they like to hang out on one of the many concrete structures dotted along the cliff tops, remnants of the German occupation during World War II. Gun turrets, bunkers, and look-out towers to name a few. Hated by some Jersey residents, loved by the choughs.

WW2 German observation tower sits on the cliff top at Les Landes constructed during the occupation. Photo by Liz Corry.

The rest of the flock visit the area, but not as regularly and there always seems to be a slight division between the pair and the others whilst feeding. As an unsuspecting springer spaniel out for a walk can attest for. Lee, closely followed by Caûvette, appeared out of nowhere, flew towards the dog, and landed within two metres shouting at the confused animal. Suddenly six other choughs flew up from the cliffs behind and it became clear that Lee’s disapproval was not at the dog’s presence, but the other choughs in his patch.

It will be interesting to see if the pair continue to visit Les Landes throughout winter. We would like to attach a radio-transmitter to Lee prior to the breeding season to get a clearer idea of what they get up to. However, that means we need him to return to the aviary for the morning feed so we can catch him. Leaving it until the afternoon feed is not practical whilst roosting time is so close together. That certainly isn’t happening anytime soon.

Lee has taken a liking to the headland at Les Landes. Photo by Liz Corry.

The release aviary suffered minor damage in Storm Angus. Photo by Liz Corry.

Storm Angus

The aviary took a battering from Storm Angus towards the end of November. Fortunately most of the damage was cosmetic.

A side panel blew off and the signposts cracked under pressure. The timber support running down the middle of the poly-tunnel snapped and needs replacing. A couple of the hinges on the hatches have been bent out of shape which means we cannot close them. We discovered this the hard way when we tried to catch up one of the birds to fit a radio-transmitter.

The framework on the poly-tunnel has a noticeable lean to it now as well. Although after surviving three winters I’m not sure all the blame can be put on Angus. Hopefully, we can address these issues before there is any serious damage.

Friends with benefits

Friends with benefits – a small flock of sheep has been moved into the aviary field. Photo by Liz Corry.

Whilst we complain about the onset of winter, the shepherd out at Sorel has already turned his thoughts to spring and preparations for next year’s lambing season. A select group of ewes were moved off the cliff tops into the aviary field to join one very excited ram.

A ram and his ewes moved into the aviary field this month Photo by Liz Corry.

They are provided with lots of extra food whilst confined to the field. To our surprise the choughs have taken a liking to some of the sheep’s food. A bit cheeky since they have their own.

The choughs stealing food put out for the sheep. Photo by Liz Corry.

Uninvited house guest(s)

Over the years the release aviary has been of interest to a number of species other than the choughs. As soon as the aviary was built, the local kestrels started perching on the roof to scope out the fields and hedgerows. Stonechats, robins, and magpies have all benefited from the supplemental feed. Magpies being the only bird species to venture inside the aviary with the choughs to dine.

The aviary structure itself and spillage from supplemental feed makes it attractive to rodents, typically mice and shrews. Feral ferrets have also shown an interest, luckily from the outside only.

Over the past three years we have found the odd owl pellet now and then on the shelving outside the aviary. Last month we started getting pellets on a daily basis INSIDE the aviary! Now we know why.

It took a week of recording before we got a glimpse of a barn owl. A few days later this video showing a second owl stunned us all. Two barn owls have been using the aviary to hunt and eat. The owls only visit at night. The choughs don’t appear to mind sharing. Probably because they are asleep at the time. We have at least a dozen birds who choose to roost in the aviary and they haven’t changed their behaviour with the presence of the owls.

VIP visitor

At the start of November we welcomed Paradise Park keeper Logan Ody to the island. Logan spent the first week attending the Avian Egg Incubation workshop held at the Durrell Training Academy and run by staff from Los Angeles Zoo and Durrell. This workshop is designed to equip the participant with the necessary skills to artificially incubate a wide range of avian species increasing captive breeding success. Skills which have been put into full use on the chough project over the past four years.

When the five day workshop finished, Logan joined the Bird Department to see behind the scenes then headed out to Sorel to spend his last two days with the choughs. Some of which Logan helped rear back at Paradise Park and could now see flying around Jersey. His enthusiasm for the project had a huge impact on staff. His penchant for wearing shorts on a cliff top in a blustery November was less contagious. Maybe its a Cornish thing?

Paradise Park keeper, Logan Oddy (right) learning how to radio-track choughs with Durrell student Bea Detnon (left). Photo by Liz Corry

Chough report: October 2016

Posted on November 15, 2016 by Glyn Young

By Liz Corry

On 3rd October the choughs inside the release aviary were given access outside to join the free-living flock. Chick S is still missing presumed dead so the radio-tracking study will focus on the eleven remaining captive-bred juveniles of 2016. This includes Trevor, Durrell’s parent-reared male, already at liberty with the older birds. However, our primary concern during the first week of the October release was ‘simply’ making sure the six Paradise Park birds survived.

Table 1: The identities of the radio-tracked choughs for the 2016 release.

The four foster chicks knew what to expect due to their summer outing shortly after fledging. The six birds from Paradise Park had to take a leap of faith. For a few it was obvious that the situation was overwhelming. The physical stress of flying outside of the aviary parameters started to show quite quickly.

Earl took to the air after a period of contemplation on the outer shelf. His flight was quite laboured compared to the birds with several months flying experience. He flew continuously making several loops high above the aviary and started flying open-mouthed implying shortness of breath. When he finally landed back at the aviary it took him several minutes to compose himself, standing on the shelf, mouth wide open, before venturing back inside to feed.

One of the females, Yarila, acted in a similar fashion. She flew non-stop for almost an hour flapping back and forth between Sorel Farm and Mourier Valley whilst the other 34 choughs paid her no attention. Almost certainly peregrine fodder, fortunately for her they were occupied elsewhere. Yarila is the name of a Russian deity symbolising spring (and an anagram of Ali and Ray). Fingers crossed she makes it through to the spring if she keeps up antics like that.

Earl returned to the aviary after his first flight looking visibly stressed. After taking several minutes to compose himself he went back inside to feed. Photo by Liz Corry.

Earl (on the rock) returned to the aviary after his first flight looking visibly stressed. After taking several minutes to compose himself he went back inside to feed. Photo by Liz Corry.

The foster chicks also appeared to have had a hectic first half hour. Hopefully more out of excitement than stress. Very quickly they settled back into life outside the aviary, foraging together or joining the adults in flight around Sorel. They chose to roost back at the aviary which helped calm the nerves of the tracking team.

Two of the foster chicks, Wally and Ube, quickly settled back into their old ways having already experienced life outside the aviary for two months back in summer. Photo by Liz Corry.

Trevor (red over orange leg ring) foraging alongside one of the older birds. Photo by Liz Corry.

Dingle, seen here preening his partner Red, demonstrating just how interested the older choughs were in the new additions to the flock. Photo by Liz Corry.

Duke and Earl are two males from Paradise Park and very important for the future of the wild population. No surprises then that these two deviated from the plan. After recuperating in the aviary, Earl took flight again following a group leaving the aviary towards the quarry. Radio signals suggested he was with the group flying around the quarry which put the tracking team at ease and allowed the focus to shift to Duke who had wandered off to the cliffs.

Student Simon ready and waiting with the tracking gear in case the released choughs disappear out of sight. Photo by Liz Corry.

The radio signal for Duke suggested he was part of a trio hanging around the top of Sorel Point. As the team crept closer with binoculars primed, the choughs took flight and dropped behind the point. Half an hour before sunset Duke reappeared, alone, on the cliff-top near the aviary. We know from previous releases, that if the bird is not at the aviary as the sun is setting on their first night out they start to panic. They look for an alternative roost site within their immediate vicinity which might not be appropriate, but it is the only option they see. Duke had settled in an area where we have a nest box secured on the cliff face. When his signal disappeared at sunset we had to hope he had found the box and was sheltering at the back.

Sunrise from Le Marionneux. Photo by Liz Corry.

Returning at sunrise we found that Duke‘s signal was coming from the same area. We tried to scour the area as best as possible, bearing in mind sections of shear cliff and thick vegetation physically blocking areas and the cliff structure bouncing/blocking radio waves. We started to fear the worse after two hours of the signal behaving as if the bird (or transmitter) was stationary. Suddenly a chough flew up out of nowhere, called, then disappeared. Was this Duke or one of the others who had been foraging nearby? At 10:30 the student went off to prepare the dishes for the morning feed at the aviary. Much to everyone’s surprise Duke was at the aviary flanked by the other Paradise Park chicks. He didn’t seem quite at ease, but must have been as relieved to be back as were we.

At the same time as searching for Duke we had to find out what had happened to Earl. His signal was still at the quarry despite all the other quarry roosting choughs dispersing at dawn. Trevor and sixteen other choughs had entirely vanished. No sign of them at Devils Hole or Crabbé. The three breeding pairs and their chicks were foraging with the newbies at Sorel. Earl was alone. As with Duke his signal was not changing location but it was behaving as if he was moving. Possibly short flights back and forth. Yet not a single chough in sight. The good news was that he had gone to the side of the quarry where others have in the past and we can get supplemental food to them (via a catapult). The bad news was that it was also the same place where Ronez perished last year.

As the sun was setting 24 hours after Earl had first arrived at the quarry, a large group of choughs flew into the quarry. They started foraging for food in the same area where Earl‘s signal was coming from. A total of 27 choughs were there including the foster chicks. He had to be in that group. Surely this meant he would roost with either the quarry group or follow the foster chicks when they headed back to the aviary to roost.

Earl spent his first day outside of the aviary alone on the east side of the quarry. Photo by Liz Corry.

A group of twenty-seven choughs including Earl foraging in the quarry shortly before roost. Photo by Liz Corry.

Nope. Day 2 began like groundhog day. Earl alone in the quarry, Trevor and a large group off travelling the Island, and the remainder at the aviary. The major difference was at 9am when suddenly Earl appeared, sat on a rock. Jumping into action, chough food was catapulted over the fence towards Earl. Initially he seemed oblivious, then noticed the food and started eating.

Earl made an appearance after a day of hiding in the quarry. Photo by Liz Corry.

Staff managed to catapult in food for Earl to boost his energy levels. Photo by Liz Corry.

We paid him another two visits making sure he kept his energy levels up throughout the day. Then at 3pm a group of 19 choughs flew in from the direction of the quarry and landed at the aviary. One of which was Earl. Unfamiliar with the concept of walking on netting he edged his way slowly across the roof to re-join the Paradise Park chicks.

Earl cautiously walking across the netting for the first time to get back into the safety of the aviary. Photo by Liz Corry.

The rest of the first week outside was relatively uneventful. The newbies stayed around Sorel along with the breeding pairs with occasional visits to the quarry or Devil’s Hole. It was Trevor and other choughs who caused fun and games for the tracking team. We knew the older birds had been visiting other areas along the north coast thanks to a couple of public sightings. Once we started radio-tracking again from dawn until dusk it was evident the visits were common place.

Even before the sun had risen over the horizon a group had set off to find breakfast at Les Landes. They visited the race course at Les Landes last autumn. This time round there are more of them and the consistency of their visits is fairly promising. They are expanding their range and who can blame them with managed grassland potentially rich in invertebrates thanks to the dung produced from the resident cows in the middle of the track and the visiting horses.

Sunrise at Les Landes where the choughs were having breakfast. Photo by Liz Corry.

Choughs foraging in the middle of the race track which just happens to double up as cattle pasture. Photo by Liz Corry.

The track at Les Landes proving popular with the choughs out of the horse racing season. Photo by Liz Corry.

It is a difficult area to keep track of exactly how many choughs are present. It may look flat, but there are plenty of dips, dents, and barriers to visibility. The most challenging being when they land in amongst the heather as you can see below.

Can you spot the TWO choughs in amongst the heather at Les Landes. Photo by Liz Corry.

Public sightings of choughs

Other areas regularly visited by the choughs this month have been Crabbé shooting range, L’Etacq just south of the race course and the Model Aircraft Field. There is a prize up for grabs to the first person to get a photo of a chough taking off from that runway! They have also been seen flying over Plémont to get to or from Les Landes. No one has yet reported seeing a chough feeding at Plémont. The habitat restoration work carried out at Plémont by the National Trust for Jersey should make it more attractive to the choughs over the next few years. If not sooner.

We are starting to collect a few intriguing sightings in areas where we wouldn’t typically expect to see the choughs, but not impossible considering the size of the Island. They tend to be a single bird flying overhead, making it impossible to identify the individual. It also means we cannot be certain if they are using that area or just flying over en route to another location. Either way we are urging Islanders to keep an eye out in St Lawrence and Trinity!

Transmitter tales

Of course it doesn’t help matters when the birds you are tracking drop their radio-transmitters. After only two weeks Zennor lost her radio-transmitter. It dropped close to the aviary with the feather still attached. The quill was damaged. This could be an indication of why the feather came out before their natural moult. Equally the damage could have occurred after it dropped by feet (or hooves!) unknowingly trampling the feather.

Zennor tends to stay close to the other juveniles which means her movements should be relatively easy to follow. Hopefully this is a one off and the others stay attached until the birds moult naturally in May/June.

Patience is a virtue

We finally succeeded in trapping the sick wild chick, PP003, in the aviary towards the end of the month. Her condition had not worsened, but it certainly wasn’t improving. After an injection of wormer and visual inspection by Durrell’s vet nurse she was released and re-joined the group. We have noticed a considerable improvement and will continue to monitor in case a second dose of wormer is required.

PP003 the sick wild chick pictured here with her sibling was caught up this month and treated for syngamus. Photo by Liz Corry

Daylight savings

The end of British Summertime saw a shift in daylight hours and has meant that the supplemental feed in the afternoon has been brought forward to 15:00 from 30th October. Our roost checks will now occur daily at a more amenable time as sunset becomes earlier and earlier.

And relax!

With the choughs successfully released and settling down into their new lives in the wild it was time for a day off. What better way of relaxing than taking a boat trip with Jersey Seafaris to see….the choughs.

To be fair, the two hour trip along the north coast from St Catherine’s Breakwater to L’Île Agois promised sea caves and dolphins and nothing (strictly) to do with choughs.

That being said it did provide a unique opportunity to scour the coastline thinking about future breeding sites when competition in the quarry forces new pairs to look elsewhere.

There are plenty of caves and crevices along the north coast, but many are cut off at high tide. Devil’s Hole has always looked appealing and resembles may of the Cornish breeding sites. On this particular day the choughs were flying high above Sorel Point, but they frequently visit Devils Hole. The boat trip does not go as far round as Les Landes and Plémont. Even if it did, we would have run out of time that day. A pod of dolphins complete with baby, kept crew and passengers engaged a lot longer than anyone anticipated both there and back.

Sorel Point as viewed from the sea. Photo by Liz Corry.

The entrance to the blow hole at Devil’s Hole can only be accessed by kayak at low tide (and calm seas). Photo by Liz Corry.

Dolphins are a fairly common sight along the north coast of Jersey. Photo by Liz Corry.

It is well worth hopping on board a Jersey Seafaris excursion and seeing the Island from a completely different perspective. It becomes clear, very quickly, why it is important to protect Jersey’s natural heritage on both land and sea.

Below is a video of the trip filmed by Mark Errington. You won’t be able to ‘play spot the choughs’, but there is a split second cameo by yours truly.

Visitors to Sorel

Durrell and the National Trust were proud to host Maggie Walker from the Audubon Society and her sister Jane Kramer on 5th and 6th October. Maggie and Jane visited Durrell’s Wildlife Park and the choughs before getting a guided tour of the National Trust conservation fields and other areas of their work.

Chough report: September 2016

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Glyn Young

by Liz Corry

The six imported birds from Paradise Park, together with Durrell’s four foster chicks, begrudgingly completed their quarantine period this month. The foster chicks took an instant dislike to the latex gloves and quarantine footwear staff had to adorn which resulted in abject horror any time staff came near.

After a week of meet and greet between the half-inch mesh divide we mixed the Durrell four with the ‘newbies’. It was all very amicable and a lot of relief expressed amongst the newbies who took the opportunity to stretch their wings in the poly-tunnel. Having spent a week under cover they could also bathe in sunlight/shower in the rain/blow-dry in the crosswinds. Their frustration at being locked in the aviary was still apparent each time the free-living group returned to the aviary.

The quarantine group in the aviary paid a lot of attention to the free-living choughs. Often because they had no choice in the matter. Photo by Bea Detnon.

Weekly faecal screening showed that both groups had various levels of nematodes present in their faeces. Quarantine conditions were not going to eliminate Syngamus (gapeworm) from the group. They arrived with it and the outside group already had it prevalent in the population. However, to ensure that the group have the best chance of survival post-release we will worm the birds prior to release. In the meantime all staff could do was monitor the birds’ physical condition, try and minimise stress, and maintain hygiene standards.

A couple of this year’s wild-hatched chicks continued to have respiratory issues this month due to Syngamus. It is a lot harder now to trap the free-living group inside the aviary. The older birds (i.e. with more experience) have learnt to become more vigilant around staff if they see them near the release hatches. We did manage to lure in one of the wild chicks and treat with ivomec. He was quite thin and a lower weight than expected for a healthy bird his age. He was released straight away and has shown great improvement since. The other chick, from a different clutch, is still at large. She is sneezing and struggles with breathing if stressed. Easy to identify at the aviary at least. We will continue to monitor her and attempt to treat her when possible.

Wild chick (PP003) with parent back in July before she started showing signs of a Syngamus infection. Photo by Liz Corry.

A potential opportunity to worm the individuals with clinical signs of Syngamus arose when we caught the 2016 captive-bred chicks to attach radio-transmitters for post-release monitoring. The group we released in July were not fitted with transmitters because the manufacturers were still processing the order. This meant we now had all 10 locked inside to fit and the two parent-reared Durrell chicks to lure in from outside.

Sadly, the day the radio transmitters arrived in the post was the same day one of the parent-reared chicks went missing. Chick S has not been seen since 18th September. He is the only chough to go missing in that time which adds to the suspicion that he has met an untimely end rather than flown away from Sorel. His disappearance is a significant loss to the group as a male and as Durrell’s first parent-reared chick.

One of Durrell’s parent-reared chicks is missing presumed dead after two months of being released into the wild. Photo by Bea Detnon.

We still had another eleven birds to catch up and attach transmitters to so work began with the inside group.

A radio-transmitter being fitted to the central tail feathers. The cardboard is used to keep the other feathers away from the glue. Photo by Liz Corry.

We teamed up with Durrell’s Vet Department to try and get as many birds as possible processed in one morning. With two people fitting the transmitters the entire group was done before lunchtime. Well we did start at 9am and had already given Chick X her gear a few days earlier.

With the bird in the hand it also gave the Vet an opportunity to check it over pre-release and for leg rings to be adjusted accordingly. The newbies had arrived with striped rings to distinguish between individuals. Some of the colours had proven difficult to read in the aviary. Once flying free it could only get worse so these were changed in-line with our ringing scheme.

Of course the one really obvious ring (green and white striped) turned out to be the only one that had broken and needed replacing. She now has the privilege of being the only Jersey chough with two red and white striped rings.

One of the Paradise Park choughs developed a swelling on one of their digits since moving into the release aviary. Photo by Liz Corry.

The Vet was happy with the condition of the birds taking into account the family of nematodes the choughs are harbouring at Sorel.

One individual presented with a swollen toe-pad evoking scary thoughts of bumblefoot.

The bird has not appeared to be in discomfort whilst being in the aviary or when we had her in the hand. We will continue to monitor this, but it terms of release she was given the all clear.

The last bird to be fitted with a transmitter was Chick T, the parent-reared Durrell chough living outside. With a bit of patience this was achieved a couple of days after the vet visit.

We had managed to trap two other birds in at the same time and had hoped to change a faded plastic ring on one of them. However, the weather was not in our favour so use of hand-nets in the wind and misty rain restricted us to our primary objective. Chick T was very compliant and was fitted with a transmitter in record time. He has now been officially named Trevor. A nod to Trevor Smith who works on Durrell’s Site Services team. He helped build the aviary and continues to help when major repair work is needed.

Chick T was the last of the 2016 captive-bred chicks to be fitted with a radio transmitter. Photo by Liz Corry.

The only concern we had with Trevor (the chough that is) was the presence of stress lines in his central tail feathers. These occur as the feather is growing at times when, for various reasons, the nutrients required for growth were not assimilated correctly. It is often associated with caged birds living in poor conditions, but can also be when healthy birds have a change in diet. For Trevor it might be related to the move from the aviary at Durrell to the aviary at Sorel where the diet is slightly different and the bird has access to a wider variety of insects.

Stress bars in the central tail feathers of a captive-bred chough. Photo by Liz Corry.

Trevor was released straight away to re-join the outside group who had been waiting around the aviary for the morning supplemental food. The free-living group have been getting on with life at Sorel relatively incident free. They appear to be finding more food in the wild, possibly related to the change in weather no longer desiccating insect larvae. There have been a few fights around the supplemental food bowls. With 25 birds and more to add soon, competition at feed times is to be expected. To address this we are looking to switch the ceramic dishes for specially designed chough troughs.

The checkout assistant may have questioned why I needed six end caps for one length of guttering, but I left the DIY store content with my purchase and proceeded to make three new feeders. The choughs seem happy enough as now several birds can feed at the same time (or several feed whilst one walks down the middle).

Newly installed ‘chough trough’ at Sorel to help reduce competition. Photo by Liz Corry.

The group has been observed using the area around the dirt-bike track a lot more for feeding as well as trips over to Devil’s Hole. They may well be going beyond that as we are not surveying them continuously. We had a report of a bird with an unusual call around the grounds of a house at the top of Waterwork’s Valley. The owner suspected it was a chough, but had no visual sighting. I also received a report of a single chough flying over a house at Victoria Village in the early morning.

Lee, Cauvette and Pyrrho have switched back to roosting at the aviary using the external roost boxes. Photo by Liz Corry.

Whilst each report had an element of doubt to it we can’t deny that the choughs will do things to surprise you and throw your own knowledge into doubt. Roost checks towards the end of the month revealed that three of the older birds have ditched their roost site in the quarry in favour of the external boxes at the aviary. Lee and Caûvette followed closely by Pyrrho return to the aviary at sunset.

There was a confused wild chick one evening who had become separated from the quarry group. After ‘discussions’ with the group locked inside he flew off towards the quarry calling all the way.

A wild chick separated from his roost group shortly before sunset looked for alternative accommodation at the aviary, but was turned away. Photo by Liz Corry.

The roost checks also revealed another interesting sight at Sorel….

If you look hard enough at the photo of the three older choughs returning to the aviary (Lee, Caûvette and Pyrrho above) and, to be fair, use a certain amount of imagination, you will see a kestrel perched in the hawthorn tree. There are several kestrels around Sorel and an ongoing love/hate relationship with the choughs. The aviary provides a useful vantage point for hunting and attracts a lot of rodents (i.e. food). Of late the bond between chough and kestrel seems to have strengthened. This month they have been seen preening next to each other, sharing the same perch at the front of the aviary, and, more amusingly, flying together on the cliff face.

Lee and a few other choughs were observed hanging out with a kestrel on the cliffs flying in unison from rock to rock. Photo by Liz Corry.

We don’t know if it is the same kestrel each time, but there does appear to be one chough in particular who crops up in all the photos of these events; Lee. There is evidence of choughs associating with kestrels in other countries. Normally related to breeding territories and the benefit kestrels provide by deterring other bird of prey species which predate choughs. A lot more clinical and less anthropomorphic than our observations imply.

And finally….

The International Air show at the start of the month meant that once again the red-billed choughs ‘joined in’ with the Red Arrows display. Although this could only be appreciated from Sorel and photographic evidence is poor. A few of the planes used the north coast to turn around and re-group. Unlike last year the Red Arrows did not fly over the aviary much to the delight of the choughs locked inside. Those outside were making the most of the air currents along the cliff tops and put on an impressive display.

The Red Arrows in Jersey viewed from the release aviary at Sorel. Photo by Liz Corry.

The Red-billed choughs flying in Jersey (Red Arrows just out of frame to the right). Photo by Liz Corry.

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