Tag Archives: Breeding season

Chough report – Second quarter

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Alderney
The pair of choughs seen in Alderney on 31st March continued to reside there into April. This news was shared by Alderney Bird Observatory (ABO). It’s great to know we have eyes and ears on the neighbouring islands, where choughs are concerned. Both female and hatched in 2023, these birds were identified as: Skomer (Black/Pink (L)) and Millport (Dark Blue/Pink (R)). Always observed together, they were also seen allopreening. Their spontaneous ‘girls trip’ to Alderney could have been to scout for some males, as unfortunately, the sex ratio in the flock has more females than males. Having failed in their endeavour, the pair returned to Jersey on 10th April.

Skomer and Millport are back from their week away in Alderney. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

The first of many
The first chick of the year was ringed on 1st May. This chick was from a new breeding pair, Alder & Angalsea, at a new nesting location. The male, Alder, hatched in 2022, and the female, Angalsea, in 2023. This young pair is rarely seen at the Sorel aviary during supplementary feeding times, so it was a big surprise when we received information on their success. The team set off, found the pair, their nest and chick! Although they only had one chick this year, we hope that in the coming years they will become more experienced and successful.

This year’s ring colour is: Brown. It will be coupled with three other individual identifier bands. The long-debated chough naming theme this year is: Biscuits, which turns out to be quite fitting as the biscuits brand McVitie’s is celebrating their 100th anniversary!

Hobnob showing off their new colour rings. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

New nest findings
The team has been working hard to find more chough nests across the island. With the help of Jersiaise ornithology members as well as Jersey residents, the team at Durrell has received more chough sightings, which in turn has helped narrow down the search for nest locations. This year, three new nests were located. The first nest was located in L’Etacq, which was breeding pair Alder and Angalsea’s nest. The second nest was found through word of mouth on social media. We contacted the landowners and they happily allowed us to monitor the nest, enabling us to establish the pair visiting were Portelet & Sallow. The third nest was also found in St Ouen and with landowners again giving us access, we concluded the third nest site belonged to Aspen & Jaune. 

Kevin displaying next to Wally, their partner. Photography by Charlotte Dean.

The nests found in St Ouen were unfortunately inaccessible without cherry pickers. The location of Sallow & Portelet’s nest was well hidden, but the landowners managed to send us regular nest updates, allowing us to know how many chicks to expect from them. Their nest contained four chicks!

Aspen & Jaunes nest could luckily be viewed from the ground, and they had two hungry chicks to feed. If any of the readers know of a chough nest site, please do not hesitate to email us at charlotte.dean@durrell.org as we’re eager to find out where all the choughs nest for future monitoring.

Two chicks at Aspen & Jaunes nest. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Ronez First walk around
Our first quarry walk around was on the 16th May – this is when we look around accessible chough nests to estimate chick ages so we can plan leg ringing sessions. The nests we could look into were Kevin & Wally, Dusty & Archirondel, and Iris & Sercq’s. Kevin & Wally had three chicks of ringing age; therefore, we ringed them on site. Dusty & Archirondel looked as though they had two chicks in their nest. Sercq & Iris had two much younger looking chicks than the other two pair’s nests we visited. Although we could only access three nests, we could hear chicks in other nests when walking around the site.

Two hungry chicks in Sercq & Iris’s nest. Photography by Tobias Cabarat.

Ronez ringing visit
The chough team visited Ronez again on the 25th May for the chough ringing visit. Our visit would not be possible without our collaboration with Ronez, as well as the generosity of 4Hire for allowing us the use of essential equipment to access nests free of charge. A total of seven nests were seen at the quarry this year, with six being accessible. Three of those nests required a cherry picker, and one required a scissor stair lift.

The first nest accessed was a new pairing; Percy & Remi. Percy & Remi had three hungry chicks in their nest, but unfortunately the weather was against us, so the chicks were left undisturbed. The second nest was another new pairing; Lee & Elm who had two chicks in their nest. The third nest was breeding pair Trevor & Noirmont, containing two chicks. The fourth nest investigated using the cherry picker was empty. The fifth nest was Dingle & Pyrrho’s, and this nest was accessed with a scissor lift.

Toby & Charlotte pulling chicks from Lee & Elm’s nest. Photograph by Bethea Billington.

One chick was found in the high nest, however chick calls were heard close by while this chick was being ringed. The staff explored around the nest site and found three newly fledged chicks hiding under a cupboard!  The sixth and last nest investigated belonged to Sercq & Iris, and two chicks were noted.

The one chick that was in Dingle & Pyrrhos nest. Photograph by Bethea Billington.

Plemont pair
The pair at Plemont weren’t visited as much this breeding season due to the stairs to the beach being replaced. However, once access was granted again, we managed a few afternoon observations. We also had some helpful Jersey residents monitoring the nest in our absence. Minty & Reys four chicks were witnessed leaving their nest for the very first time on 5th June and brought all four fledglings to the aviary on 11th June.

Two of the four chicks seen at the Plemont pairs nest. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Table 1, number of chicks in each nest visited so far.

Breeding pair

Number of chicks in nest

Alder & Angalsea

1

Kevin & Wally

3

Percy & Remi

3

Lee & Elm

2

Trevor & Noirmont

2

Dingle & Pyrrho

4

Sercq & Iris

2

Dusty & Archirondel

2

Aspen & Jaune

2

Sallow & Portelet

4

Minty & Rey

4

Bo & Flieur

Unknown

Pinel & Vicq

Unknown

Sarnia & Pine

Unknown

Kent & Rougenez

Unknown

Oronsay & Manitou

Unknown

Feta & Manchego

Unknown

Total

29

First ‘choughlets’ at the aviary
On the 5th June, the first pair to bring chicks near the aviary was Dingle & Pyrrho. Though the flyover was brief, the team spotted them. The next pair were Kevin & Wally, with two of their three chicks on 10th June. Minty & Rey brought their four chicks on the 11th June, who looked to be quite a handful! Dusty & Archirondel brought two chicks on 13th June, with Lee & Elm bringing their two chicks a little later on 17th. On the 18th, Sercq & Iris brought one chick, Sallow & Portelet brought three chicks, and Trevor & Noirmont brought two. Aspen & Jaune were seen feeding two chicks at the aviary on 20th June. Percy & Remi brought 3 chicks to the aviary on 21st June. Alder & Angalsea brought their chick to the aviary on 22nd. Finally, on the 25th June, Bo & Flieur surprised us when they were seen feeding a chick!

‘Choughlets’ all in a row on the aviary. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Where have you seen the choughs?
April saw the most frequent sightings of choughs in St Ouen, which varied from inland sightings to observations along the coast. The highest number of choughs seen in a flock at St Ouen was seven in some horse fields along Mont Matthieu. The largest flock seen was 15 over Sorel. Choughs were however seen in many places around the island, including: Plemont, Corbiere, St Helier, Les Landes, Trinity, L’Etacq, Grosnez, Greve de Lecq, Grouville, Petit Port and St Catherine’s.

St Ouens seems to be the place to spot choughs lately. Choughs were seen most often during May – whether that be near the pond or further inland. The largest flock seen around the island was 23, flying over towards Ronez. Corbiere also saw 21 choughs. Apart from St Ouen, Ronez and Corbiere, the choughs were also spotted in various other places such as: Crabbe, Plemont, Les Landes, Grosnez, Le Pulec, Petit Port and White Rock.

Corbiere seemed to be the most popular place to see choughs in June. The three main places they were sighted were near the radio tower, in the Gorselands and La Rosiere quarry. The second most popular areas were Plemont and Les Landes. The largest flock was spotted in flight over Les Landes. However, the choughs were also seen in St John, St Ouens, St Mary’s, Grosnez, Greve de Lecq and Petit Port.

Parent and fledgling in flight over Grosnez. Photograph by Antony Morin.

Conservation Awards 2025
Durrell was invited to attend the 35th Jersey Conservation Awards anniversary as a potential candidate for a chance to win an award for conservation efforts across Jersey. This year’s event had several categories: School & youth group green award, Young conservationist of the year, People’s choice award, Best conservation project runner up and best conservation award. Each candidate entered gave a presentation on their projects. It was inspiring to hear about the fantastic conservation work that is on-going around the island. Durrell was lucky enough to receive the ‘Best conservation project award’ for the Red-Billed Chough Project.

Durrell Bird Team members accepting ‘The best conservation project’ 2025 for the Red-Billed Chough Project. Photograph by: Paul Wright.

Durrell’s Species Champion Award (DSCA)
Durrell’s education and chough team collaborated on a week-long event in June, where year 6 pupils of St John’s school took part in Durrell’s Species Champion Award (DSCA). The DSCA aimed to engage schools and local communities in wildlife conservation as well as to find better connections with nature. St John’s school chose the charismatic Red-billed Chough as their species champion and therefore were educated on the species through activities between 23rd – 27th June. The chough team gave a talk on the Red-billed Chough Project. During the week, the children learnt about ecosystems, chough diet, chough legends, created posters on the species, as well as taking a field trip to the Sorel aviary. They ended their week ‘championing’, by sharing what they had learnt with a reception class and their families.

Charlotte giving a talk on the chough project. Photograph by Alexandra Ward.

 

 

Chough report – First Quarter

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A new chough student
Bethea, our chough intern started in February, trained on all things choughs to enable them to service and monitor the Jersey chough population. This gives the rest of the team time to focus their efforts on other important tasks. Our intern has expressed interest in carrying out a research project on the chough population. We hope to gain valuable insights from the research carried out. Research may be on the horizon but there is still plenty of practical work to be done at the aviary. As it has been warming up, the grass has started to grow faster and therefore needs to be regularly cut to provide the choughs with somewhere to forage in the aviary. The team were recently trained in strimming equipment use and can now get to work.

Bethea hard at work strimming inside the aviary. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Where have you seen the choughs?
Where have Jersey residents spotted choughs in the past three months? In January, the largest flock sighted was 12, seen beside the pond at Simon and Sands Ltd, St Ouen. Most frequent chough sightings were in St Ouen, mostly groups of two to four. At Crabbe flock sizes were up to six. Plemont saw the usual pair. However, a flock of five has also been seen flying over Plemont.  A pair of choughs were also seen flying over aMaizin! Adventure Park and Les Monts Grantez.

Spring daffodils and hungry choughs. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

February brought us more chough sightings across the island. The most consistent sightings were from Crabbe where flock sizes were seen between two and six, two of which were foraging and identified as Iris & Sercq. The largest flock of 24 was spotted at Grosnez Ravon. A lone chough was heard over Trinity. On one very rainy morning, business owner Jason, at Simon and Sands Ltd, witnessed 12 choughs taking refuge under the eaves of their shed. It’s good to see they know where shelter is when they need it! Another popular place to see choughs is just down the road from Simon and Sands Ltd, at St Ouen’s Pond, where flock sizes of four and up to nine have been seen.

Twelve choughs under the eaves at Simon and Sands. Photograph by Jason Simon.

During March, the most frequent flocks were seen in Corbiere, ranging from two to the largest flock of eight. Several sightings over Crabbe, Les Landes, Grantez and St Ouen. Choughs have been seen flying over St Johns Village as well as being spotted foraging in various green lane fields. A pair has been spotted hanging around St Helier.

Iris and Sercq foraging at Crabbe. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

An exciting adventure
On 31 March, the team were notified of some very exciting news. Two choughs had been seen in Alderney! The last time choughs had been spotted in Alderney was in 1991, almost 35 years ago. The pair were first seen flying from Fort Albert but stopped briefly on the golf course before gaining an unwelcoming reception from the local corvid population. We are hoping that, if the choughs stay on Alderney for a short period of time, will be identified to them at an individual level. So, watch out for the next report to find out who went to Alderney.

Choughs carrying nesting material. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Breeding season is upon us
During February, we saw old flames reigniting and even a few new pairs forming. Many of the previous breeding pairs have begun to form closer bonds, spotted sitting close together, engaging in allopreening and flying as pairs. On the other hand, many males and females have been witnessed fighting, likely over potential mates. The team have been monitoring the choughs closely and, from observations, suspect there will be around 17 potential breeding pairs this year. It could be a busy breeding season! It wasn’t long before the choughs were witnessed collecting nesting material too, with the first sighting of this year on 1st March.

A chough collecting wool straight from the source. Photograph by Bethea Billington.

Table 1. The seventeen potential breeding pairs.

Number

Breeding Pairs

1

Lee & Elm

2

Bo & Flieur

3

Percy & Remi

4

Kevin & Wally

5

Trevor & Noirmont

6

Dingle & Pyrrho

7

Dusty & Archirondel

8

Aspen & Jaune

9

Sallow & Portelet

10

Alder & Wally Jnr

11

Minty & Rey

12

Pinel & Vicq

13

Oronsay & Manitou

14

Sercq & Iris

15

Sarnia & Pine

16

Kent & Rougenez

17

Feta & Manchego

 

Chough Report – Third Quarter (July – September)

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Old to new pairs
A fairly big surprise to the team this year was Danny and Jaune both experiencing a successful breeding season; but separately! Danny and Jaune were always seen as a pair in previous years. Always arriving together at the aviary and seen flying and building nests in various places in Corbiere. However, this year, both choughs paired with a different bird in the flock. Danny paired with Pyrrho after the loss of Green and Jaune paired with Aspen after Danny re-paired. Danny and Jaune had been seen building nests as a pair for two consecutive years with no real success. It could be that the pair lacked maturity, or perhaps Danny & Jaune were never truly a pair; maybe they were just close friends after all!

Aspen & Jaune with two hungry chicks at Corbiere. Photograph by Julie Blampied.

Another first!
Another fantastic surprise this year was from another new pair Alder and Wally Jnr, who were seen with one chick on 13th July at the aviary. This is the very first breeding attempt for both of these birds. Both parents hatched in the wild, Wally Jnr in 2021 and Alder in 2022. The team have watched these two choughs grow closer over the past year; often observed arriving at the aviary together as well as allopreening. Over the course of the breeding season they were often absent at the aviary and so we had been hoping they were practicing their nesting abilities. When they showed up with a begging youngster in tow, we couldn’t have been happier! Since carrying out catch ups at the aviary to ring the remaining chicks they’ve become quite elusive, which isn’t surprising – who would want to be caught anyway!?

What the choughs think of all the catch ups. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

A plaque of gratitude
A plaque has been hung on the aviary to acknowledge our gratitude to the Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme for funding the chough project. Their funding has enabled us to replace the old holey netting and wooden aviary framework.

Our bright plaque to show our gratitude to the Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Breeding season summary
This year’s breeding season has been a huge success! We’ve had the greatest number of chicks hatched since the project began; a whopping 26 chicks from ten breeding pairs. Three of those pairs were first time breeders! Only six chicks of those chicks didn’t fledge, making our overall fledging success rate 77%. It’s safe to say that the aviary has been pretty chaotic this summer. All 20 ‘choughlets’ have been ringed and added to our chough ID list, which can be found on our website ‘Chough ID list’. Our current island population stands at 66 choughs! 12 of the original captive-released choughs and 54 wild-hatched choughs. So, if you enjoy walking around Jersey’s countryside and bird watching, be sure to report your sightings via this link: ‘Seen a chough? – Birds on the edge’.

Sakura, a chough from Minty & Rey’s clutch with their identifier rings attached. Black for the year and Cerise as their individual identifier. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.


Table 1, each breeding pairs fledgling success.

Breeding pair

Number of fledged chicks

Dingle & Red

0 – nest

Lee & Cauvette

2

Percy & Icho

2

Kevin & Wally

2

Trevor & Noirmont

2

Dusty & Archirondel

0

Danny & Pyrrho

2

Bo & Flieur

3

Minty & Rey

2

Pinel & Vicq

2

Aspen & Jaune

2

Sallow & Portelet

0

Alder & Wally Jnr

1

Total number of fledged chicks

20

Where have you seen the choughs?
During July, most of our chough sightings across the island have been in various places in Grosnez; with groups of up to five seen either near the castle, near the car park or along the cliffs. The second most popular area has been Corbiere; one group being a family group (Aspen, Jaune and their two choughlets) whose photograph can be seen above. Other sightings were seen across St Ouens, St Brelade and St Helier.

In August, the choughs were reported in Corbiere the most, once with a flock of 12. Second most popular sights were recorded from several areas in St Ouen, including Mont Matthieu, St Ouens pond and around the sea cliffs. Large groups were also seen flying over the cliff paths of Crabbe and Devils hole. On the other side of the island choughs had also been spotted. In Noirmont, a pair is regularly spotted by a local twitcher.

September brought the most consistent sightings of two choughs at Noirmont. However, the place seen with the largest flocking number of choughs were in Corbiere with 16; closely followed by 12 spotted over Petit port. The choughs were also seen across St Ouen, Crabbe, Les Landes, Greve de Lecq, Overdale and St Helier.

Our chough student (Phillip), gaining some hands-on experience with the choughs. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

 

Chough report – Second Quarter (April – June)

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Brand new netting
Last year, the Government of Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme provided funds for us to purchase new netting for the Sorel enclosure. Durrell’s Site Services team were tasked with erecting it before the fledging season and did a sterling job; not only replacing the netting but also some of the inner wooden framework. In just over a week, they managed to replace the lot! The last job left is to replace the front wooden framework and hatches at the end of the flight, and this will be done after the summer.

Aviary construction in process by Durrell’s Site Services team (Ben and Kieran). Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Plemont pair
The pair of choughs which nest at Plemont (Minty & Rey) were visited by the team on 22nd April. Rey (the female) was sat on the nest, so we knew from first glimpses that she was already likely to be incubating. When Minty arrived at the nest, she shuffled to the side allowing Minty to feed something other than her! This was a great indicator that they had chicks in the nest. Our next visit was not until early May. We had received some reports from Jersey residents about a pair of choughs chasing and/or mobbing ravens at Plemont and did not fill the team with confidence. Last year, when they were seen chasing off other birds – they had lost their chicks, likely due to predation. On our next visit to the nest, the team witnessed the pair chasing a raven in flight along the beach! Shortly after, they were then both seen going to the nest, where they were greeted by five noisy chicks of approximately 10 days old! With this many chicks to feed, they will be a very busy pair this year!

Minty standing over his five hungry chicks! Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

New feeder stands
One of our outer feeding stands fell apart in one of last year’s storms. With other stands beginning to show the test of time, the Durrell Site Services team kindly made new ones. While they were reconstructing the aviary framework and fitting the new netting, they brought the new feeding stands to the aviary to be used where necessary. The first stand to be erected was the outermost stand which stands in one of the sheep fields; thankfully no sheep were in this field while the stand was being dug in. Once the stand was up, the choughs spent no time flying over to check it out!

It was not long before the choughs came to investigate the new stand. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Initial Ronez quarry visit
Before the initial visit to the quarry, the team did not know what to expect regarding breeding pairs and nest locations. Generally, the choughs will nest in the same spot every year. However, since the passing of Green & Chickay, the breeding pairs this year have had a ‘jig around’. Green’s previous partner (Pyrrho) has paired up with Danny and Chickay’s partner Dusty has paired up with Archirondel. The team were not sure if these new pairings would find a new nesting place as a pair or if they would continue using their previously used nesting spots. From our limited observations, we found that both nest locations remained active this year.

So why do we carry out a quarry walk around? It gives the team the opportunity to look at accessible nests to gauge when chicks will need to be ringed at the nest. When going for the quarry walk around on the16th May, five healthy and hungry chicks were seen in two nests – all the other nests were inaccessible without hiring equipment.

What else did we see on our initial quarry visit? Well, Red & Dingle’s nesting spot had a lovely nest in the nest box, although there were no signs of any other activity apart from a lot of footprints in the dust around the inner building. Kevin & Wally were seen to have three chicks in their nest, and they were judged to be approximately 10 days old. Trevor & Noirmont had two chicks at least a week ahead from Kevin & Wally’s nest. We also glanced into Dusty & Archirondel’s as well as Lee & Cauvette’s nests. Both had built nests however it was unclear whether they had anything inside. Judging by the approximate ages of the chicks we had seen and our own observations, we selected an appropriate date to ring chicks.

Kevin and Wally’s chicks at the initial quarry walking visit. Photograph by Tobias Carabet.

What we do at Ronez
Two members of the Durrell chough field team, a licensed ringer, and this year, a PhD student studying the choughs, all attended Ronez quarry on 25th May to ring the ‘choughlets’ at the nests. Quarry manager, Tobias Carabet gave up his time to enable us access to the nests around the site using a hired cherry picker. The chough team are given a special license to disturb, handle and ring the choughs in Jersey. This allowed us to examine the chicks in the hand, gather morphometric information and put identifying rings on their legs. For 2024, the chicks are being named after cheeses. Their year colour ring will be black, and another colour above will be their individual identifying ring. After being processed, they were placed back into their nests, to be fed by their impatiently waiting parents. The team carry out this task every breeding season and the breeding pairs are used to ‘what is happening’ when we arrive.

How the chough beaks are measured. Photograph by Harriet Whitford.

What we saw at Ronez
While the majority of chicks were around 20 days old, we had a few pairs who were a few weeks behind! A total of 12 chicks were seen at the quarry this year, only nine of which were ringed as three were too young. There were two nests which were not accessed in the quarry: those belonging to Dusty & Archirondel and Danny & Pyrrhos. To date, we are uncertain as to whether either pair have produced offspring. Red & Dingle’s nest was beautifully made much like every year, however, there was nothing inside! Dingle has also been seen spending a lot of time with Iris, so this might be a new pairing in the making.

Charlotte and Tobias accessing nests in the cherry picker. Photograph by Harriet Whitford.

Breeding pair Lee & Cauvette had three chicks this year – one of which was smaller than all the others. This did not surprise us as we had recently sent our Veterinary Department a faecal sample after Lee was looking a bit ropey a few days before our ringing event. The faecal result suggested coccidia. Coccidia is parasitic and affects the gastrointestinal tract where it reproduces; it is then excreted and spread through faeces. Choughs generally carry a low level of coccidia in their system, but it can be heightened during breeding season when stress levels are higher. Lee has since perked up and we are hopeful that all three chicks will survive. Percy & Icho had two chicks who were the oldest chicks seen on our ringing visit. The larger of the two weighed in at 285g! Kevin & Wally had only two chicks in the nest which surprised us as there had originally been three. The larger chick weighed in at 275g, but the other chick weighed only 225g! Bo & Flieur had three of the youngest chicks and due to their small size, processing was limited. Trevor & Noir had two chicks in their nest, both approximately 25 days old. All in all, a successful ringing visit.

PhD student (Sam) assisting the Durrell chough field team (Charlotte & Harriet) at Ronez. Photograph by Cris Sellares.

Plemont pair
It is very clear to see from the team’s observations at Plemont that this pair started their season at least a week ahead of the oldest chicks we saw at the quarry. Throughout the weeks of observations, we did unfortunately find one of the chicks deceased directly below their nest missing a head! The chick was taken for a post-mortem as it looked quite fresh and upon so, was acknowledged to have died from impact. It is likely that it was pushed out the nest and scavenged by a predator after its fall. Thankfully all four of the remaining chicks still looked happy and healthy, and at least two of the chicks were seen fledging by 1st June.

Plemont chicks almost fully grown and getting harder for adults to feed & fend off! Photograph by Paul Pestana.

Table 1, A list of breeding pairs, where they nest and the number of chicks we’ve seen at the end of May.

Nest location Breeding Pair Number of chicks
Ronez Quarry Dingle & Red 0
Ronez Quarry Lee & Cauvette 3
Ronez Quarry Percy & Icho 2
Ronez Quarry Kevin & Wally 2
Ronez Quarry Trevor & Noirmont 2
Ronez Quarry Dusty & Archirondel Unk – inaccessible
Ronez Quarry Danny & Pyrrho Unk – inaccessible
Ronez Quarry Bo & Flieur 3
Plemont Minty & Rey 5
Unknown Pinel & Vicq Unk
Corbiere Aspen & Jaune Unk – Young pair
Unknown Sallow & Portelet Unk – Young pair
Unknown Alder & Wally Jnr Unk – Young pair
Total number of chicks known at end of May = 17

 

New and young pairings
New breeding pairs Dusty & Archirondel, Danny & Pyrrho and Vicq & Pinel’s nesting knowledge is still unknown to the team. Excitingly though, all three pairs have indicated nesting and incubating behaviour from our observations so we will patiently wait for chicks to arrive at the aviary! We have three suspected younger pairs in the flock (Aspen & Jaune, Sallow & Portelet and Alder and Wally Jnr) which have been seen arriving together for the supplementary feed every day prior to the breeding season. All three of these pairs consist of males from last year’s wild hatches (2023), which means they might not be sexually mature; it can take between 1-3 years for choughs to reach maturity. However, younger males that pair with older females have been known to produce chicks in the past therefore these three new pairs could have breeding potential this year. We will keep a watchful eye over these pairs but it’s already evident by observations that at least one or two of the pairs could be incubating. The team will ‘watch this space’ in the hope for a fruitful breeding season.

Danny & Pyrrho’s family portrait. Photography by Charlotte Dean.

An impatient wait
June arrived and the chough team seemed to be waiting impatiently for the first batch of chicks to arrive at the aviary. We knew they had left their nests but there was no sign of them at Sorel. Minty & Rey were the first to bring two of their healthy chicks to the aviary. Arriving on12th June, this was the latest we have seen chicks arrive in a few years! The second pair to arrive were Danny & Pyrrho on 21st June, with two chicks. This is the very first breeding attempt for this pair and we are delighted they have been successful! They were closely followed by Kevin & Wally with two on the 22nd. Much to our surprise, Percy & Icho brought their two chicks later (24th June); this pair had one of the oldest chicks on the quarry ringing visit. Trevor & Noirmont brought two chicks to the aviary on 25th. Lee & Cauvette as well as Vicq & Pinel both brought two chicks to the aviary on the 26th. And lastly, Bo and Flieur arrived on 29th with two of their chicks. So that’s 16 chicks seen at the aviary so far! It’s safe to say that the supplementary feed has become a bit noisier!

A glimpse into the chick chaos at the aviary. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

 

Chough report – June 2023

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By Charlotte Dean

Our sincere apologies for the delays in circulating monthly reports. We hope to start catching up.

Wild weather
It’s that season again when the chough team make arrangements with Ronez Quarry to access the chough nests for the first nest checks and chick ringing. Unfortunately, the weather this year was not in our favour. As the quarry is an unsheltered area along the north coast, there is no easy or safe way to access high nests in winds above F4. Most of June had this level of wind so the team and quarry staff agreed it wasn’t worth the risk. However, we could at least access some of the nests on foot. The pairs we managed to access this way were those of Kevin & Wally, which had three very noisy chicks inside, and Bo & Flieur whose nest surprised us with four chicks! The chicks were ringed with our year colour for 2023 which was Pink and will be accompanied with another coloured ring for easy identification in the field. The chicks were also blood sexed, weighed and measured before being placed back into their respective nests. Without access to the other nests the team can at least acknowledge that there are currently seven chicks in two nests so far; but as there is plenty of activity in other well-known nests, we’re sure we’ll have more chicks.

Quarry updates
The quarry also witnessed a few unsuccessful fledging events this year due to the adverse weather; practically a whole month of high winds. One chick was found dead beneath a nest site for pair Green & Pyrrho. We believe that it could have died from the impact after falling from the nest, it was not, however, of fledging age and, therefore, we assume it’s death may have been caused by some sibling rivalry for space in the nest. Later, fledglings emerging from Kevin & Wally’s nest were also found on the ground near their nest site. Both were initially going to be collected by quarry staff to be assessed for cause of death by the Durrell veterinary team. However, one chick had already been predated by then. We were thankful to know that at least one chick from Kevin & Wally had also been seen by quarry staff wing-begging at its parents from the staircase just outside their nest site, looking active and healthy. Since Kevin & Wally’s chick emerged from their nest, the quarry staff have contacted us about other chicks that have been seen around the quarry as well; we can safely say that the quarry is starting to get more noisy than usual!

Plémont pair
The Plémont pair, Minty & Rey had been seen feeding chicks in their cave nest at a few days old at the end of May, which was very exciting news for our truly wild pair. Both Minty & Rey had both been seen at the Sorel Aviary every day since then. To the team, this seemed like a big issue. This could indicate that Minty & Rey were not finding enough food from foraging around their nesting area and, therefore, were coming to the aviary for food. When spending long periods of time at the aviary as a pair, they were leaving their newly hatched chicks in a nest unprotected. The chough team visited their nest the week after and were faced with silence. It was assumed that while they were still coming to the aviary for food, their chicks were predated in their absence. It has been a great shame to witness the silence from within their nest again this year. We are hopeful that they will find a new and successful place next breeding season. 

First choughlet at the aviary
The wait is finally over, the team finally heard the calls of a hungry chick at the aviary. The first pair whose fledged chicks came to the aviary this year were, perhaps unsurprisingly, Kevin & Wally on 15th June. And it wasn’t long before the other pairs started to bring their chicks too. Green & Pyrrho and Percy & Icho both brought two chicks a few days later. Dusty & Chickay, Bo & Flieur and Lee & Caûvette brought chicks at the very end of the month. Dusty & Chickay and Bo & Flieur both brought two chicks and Lee & Caûvette brought the one. Trevor & Noirmont’s nest was looked at in our Ronez Quarry visit but their chicks were a lot younger than the other breeding pairs’ – we expect them to arrive early next month.

 

Celebrating a record-breaking year for Cornish choughs

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From Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society (CBWPS) with particular thanks to Hilary Mitchell. Photos are by Lynn Colliver and CBWPS

Celebrations this summer as the population of chough in Kernow (Cornwall) is finally bouncing back after over two decades of conservation efforts. Every year their numbers have grown, but this year has been exceptional. They are now well on their way to becoming a healthy and resilient population.  

In 2021, 23 pairs of Cornish chough bred successfully, raising a record breaking 66 young. A huge achievement for a bird once extinct in Kernow, but even greater against a backdrop of decreasing chough populations elsewhere in the UK. Not all the young will survive to adulthood and raise families themselves, but the higher the number of fledglings that survive each year the more robust the birds become against extinction in the future. 

Recolonisation has expanded in 2021 with several more pairs between Godrevy and Newquay. The furthest north remains Padstow with no choughs beyond the Camel Estuary. As far as we know…. This year also saw some co-parenting with two males (brothers) paired with the same female, the trio going on to fledge three chicks. The county’s oldest males (aged 15 and 16) also bred successfully again, raising four chicks each. Two 12-year old females also reared young (one with the 15-year old male). 

It has taken decades of close partnership work to get Kernow’s choughs back to this positive result. From the conservation expertise of the RSPB; to the passion of Kernow’s nature-friendly farmers and land managers who have brought back grazing to the cliffs; the vital funding for this land management from Natural England; the collaboration of conservation organisations like The National Trust; and the dedication of volunteers who monitor the birds to make this a conservation success story.   

The National Trust manage key areas of Cornwall’s coastline, which the chough call home and now manage a team of volunteers that monitor the chough on their land. Kate Evans, National Trust Senior Visitor Experience Officer, said: “We are thrilled to see numbers of Cornish chough increase year on year. It’s with thanks to the passionate volunteers who give their time and who are dedicated to monitoring choughs, that we are able to build a picture of this growing chough population”. 

The return of the chough to Kernow has been no small feat. It has only been achievable through close partnership work and the support of an amazing team of volunteers. The growing success of the Cornish chough is also testament to the hard work of nature-friendly farmers and landowners who provide the right homes for Kernow’s choughs to survive and thrive.  

Jenny Parker, RSPB Cornwall Reserves Warden, said: “We want to thank everyone involved in surveying and providing the conditions for chough to flourish.  Our volunteers play a pivotal role locating and verifying chough nest sites every spring and all around the Cornish coast, this information is then relayed to landowners, who with our help and guidance can help chough thrive.”  

Nicola Shanks, RSPB volunteer, added: “It has taken a while, but finally the tide has turned for chough in Kernow. With continued good land management and the protection of safe nest and roost spots, it will ensure their future here and their spread up the coast into Devon and beyond”. 

However, the next chapter of the Cornish chough’s story is in all of our hands – if you see chough in Cornwall please email your sightings to our newest partner the Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society (CBWPS) at: choughs@cbwps.org.uk.  

Hilary Mitchell, CBWPS volunteer, said: “We couldn’t do it without all the people that report their sightings to us, thanks to each and every one of them”.  

CBWPS will continue to play a key role collating chough records and informing all partners of their whereabouts as we move into a new chapter of the Cornish Choughs remarkable recovery.