As well as the nest cameras in chough aviaries here at Paradise Park in Cornwall, there is now an opportunity to see into wild chough nests in Ireland. This is a wonderful chance to compare the behaviours and timings of wild and captive breeding, and enhances our understanding of these clever corvids.
Wild chough in nest box in County Cork
The first camera is in a purpose-built chough nest box, similar to the nest boxes we use at Paradise Park. The birds have been using this box for a number of years, and we have been in contact with the barn’s owner to offer advice. The cameras have been installed under licence as part of the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) research project.
The camera was supplied by wildlifewindows.co.uk and was installed by Alan McCarthy (BirdWatch Ireland). Many thanks to the owners of the barn for permission to install the camera.
LIVE Irish Chough Nest | Clonakilty, Co. Cork
Chough nesting in an agricultural building in County Cork
The second nest is tucked up in the roof space of an agricultural building, and this nest has also been used by a pair of choughs for several years.
Spring has sprung – despite the almost continual rain in Cornwall – and birds everywhere are starting to carry twigs and nesting materials. Our breeding choughs have now been moved into secluded aviaries, and are happily building nests.
Operation Chough looks back on thirty-six years since its official launch on August 4th 1987. Here are some of our highlights, from first chicks in 1976 to releases in England in 2023.
Mike Reynolds & Robin Hanbury-Tenison
Paradise Park’s founder, Mike Reynolds, had been interested in restoring Red-billed Choughs to Cornwall since the park had opened in 1973. Working with Padstow Bird Gardens, there have been choughs at Paradise Park almost since day one. We bred our first chough chick in 1976, and funded a PhD on chough ecology by Dr Richard Meyer. We continued to expand our flock, which is now some fifty birds strong, and have donated dozens of choughs to our restoration partners.
2003 Trial Release
In August 2003 we released a small cohort of six choughs near Zennor. The birds were radio-tagged, which was quite a new technology at the time, and we continued to monitor their movements for several months. Unfortunately, four birds perished in differing circumstances over the next few weeks, but two birds eventually settled at Wicca. These birds were a breeding pair, and would almost certainly have bred the following year.
A pair of chattering choughs – Pic Ali Hales
The pair had an obvious territory, and we continued to watch their behaviour into the winter months. They were highly attuned to their environment, to the point of following the local herd of organic cows for cow-pats – but waiting for several days for insects to lay eggs, and larvae develop. Sadly, one day in December, we discovered one bird had been shot by a local man, The other bird was never seen again. A difficult end to a very promising trial.
2013 Jersey Release
We formed a partnership with Durrell Wildlfie Conservation Trust in 2010, and examined the possibility of a re-establishment of the Red-billed Chough on Jersey. This was part of a larger initiative to improve the coastal habitat of Jersey called “Birds on the Edge”
Liz Corry, Ali & Ray Hales at the release aviary
In Summer 2013, the first six birds were released from the purpose-built aviary on the Jersey coast. The monitoring team was lead by Liz Corry, who did a remarkable job in the next years, following the birds movements every day come rain, hail and sometimes sun. More birds were added to the group each year for five years.
A lot of the choughs had adopted a local coastal quarry. In 2015 one of the original pairs produced a chick in one of the huge quarry buildings – aptly called “Dusty”! The first chough chick hatched in the wild on Jersey in over one hundred years. Dusty has now produced his own young, and is still flying free over the Jersey cliffs.
Chough chick in quarry nest aged fourteen days – Pic Liz Corry
2023 Kent Release
In 2015 we began our planning our next phase of releases – this time on the coast of Kent near Dover. We have partnered up with Kent Wildlife Trust, Wildwood Trust, and other organisations, with the aim of putting the chough over the White Cliffs of Dover. The chough is well-known in the folk-lore of Kent, much as it is in Cornwall. Sadly, it has been absent for much longer – more than 200 years!
As with the Jersey re-establishment, it is hoped that the chough will act as a flagship species to promote further habitat restoration in the areas where it is introduced. Also, as with the Jersey releases, Liz Corry is leading the field work – hoping to repeat earlier success.
The initial birds were installed in the release aviary last year, but due to bad weather, the release was postponed until 2023. The first brief flights have already taken place, and we are hoping the choughs will begin to range further over the next months.
Laura Gardner on the chough release in Kent 2023
Director of Conservation at Wildwood Trust, Laura Gardner, says watching them soar into the sky was a huge moment for everyone involved:
“Releasing the choughs into the wild felt a bit like sending your child to nursery for the first time – a wonderful milestone but not without a certain level of anxiety! We need to make sure they have all the relevant skills they need so they can not only survive but thrive.“
Ten Red-billed Choughs, which are part of the well-established group at Paradise Park in Cornwall, are being released near Dover. This is part of a project with our partners Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust.
Choughs in the flocking aviary at Paradise Park in Cornwall. Pic Ali Hales
A large aviary is home to the initial cohort of young birds, with the soft release being undertaken by Liz Corry of Wildwood Trust. Liz has been part of the team to re-establish the species on Jersey in The Channel Islands. There is now a population of over forty birds living and breeding in the wild on Jersey.
The species has been absent from Kent for 200 years so this is an exciting time for us at Paradise Park. Director Alison Hales said “It will be wonderful to see these fabulous birds flying over the white cliffs of Dover soon.”
The White Cliffs near Dover – home for choughs. Pic Ali Hales
More young birds bred at Paradise Park will be making the journey from Cornwall to Kent as releases will continue for a minimum of five years. The Red-billed Chough is a sedentary species so returning them to Kent will, in future, help to join up the isolated populations in the UK.
Four chough chicks at Paradise Park, Cornwall, destined to be released in Kent. Pic Ray Hales
We are working to create further partnerships, with the aim of future releases along the South coast of England and help join up the isolated UK populations of this sedentary species.
Many thanks to everyone who has visited Paradise Park and supported our Chough project. Donations welcome here.
This year has been our most successful chough breeding season, thanks to a combination of an increased number of aviaries, and the long hours of constant monitoring. As always, there was a mixture of highs and lows.
The five new purpose-built chough breeding aviaries were finished on time, and the breeding pairs were put in place on Valentine’s Day as planned. This year we had eight pairs of choughs set up in seclusion aviaries, with another pair in our original chough aviary in the main park (first used in 1976). The remaining birds of our flock stayed in the large poyltunnel flight aviaries – where one pair was also successful, and raised a single chick.
Chough chick looking out from its nest box in the polytunnel aviary – Pic Ali Hales
The nest box cameras once again proved invaluable, giving us an insight into the normally unseen inside of a chough’s nest. Red-billed Choughs are well known as being an intelligent member of the crow family, and the vocalisations and behaviours continued to delight viewers.
Some of the behaviour was baffling – a male bird removing chicks as soon as they hatched, or another removing eggs. Other behaviour was quite touching. The clip below shows a female laying an egg, while the male waits patiently at the edge of the nest.
Chough laying an egg in nest box as male waits nearby
Three of the pairs started building nests immediately, and nests were quickly filling up with eggs. At this point, the weather suddenly changed back to winter mode, and the remaining pairs seemed to stall. At the end of March we had the interesting situation of eggs in nests, other nests being built, and some not even started!
The total number of eggs laid this year was forty one – a number we could only have imagined a few years ago. One pair did lay two clutches, which is highly unusual. (However, the male had already thrown out the first four eggs.) This pair eventually laid seven eggs, and produced just one chick.
As the birds had staggered their laying times, we had the benefit of being able to concentrate on any supplementary feeding, chick weighing, health monitoring and nest manipulation.
Chough chicks ready to be weighed while Alison distracts adult birds – Pic R Hales
In mid May Liz Corry & Laura Gardner from the Wildwood Trust came down to take four chicks for the upcoming release in Kent. The four birds were about a week old, and were taken to be creche reared with other chicks, as a large family group. This meant the chicks, while steady around people, would be much less likely to become imprinted on their adopted human parents. It would also make the chicks suitable for very early training for the release later this year.
Four week-old chicks ready to move to Kent – Pic R Hales
The final figures – forty one eggs, twenty two hatched, and twelve fledged. The number of eggs laid has been slightly skewed by the pair which laid seven eggs to produce one chick. Almost all of the eggs when checked were fertile, which is a good indication of the health of our flock – now approaching some fifty birds.
Chough chick learning that food is not always availble from mum & dad – Pic Ali Hales
The chough breeding season is now in full swing, with all of our paired birds building nests, and most laying clutches of eggs.
Twenty choughs eggs!
Three pairs laid eggs very early, and we now have chicks in two of these nests. Sadly, the two chicks in the third nest were ejected by the male. He has been paired before (last year), and his partner produced eggs, but they did not hatch. It would seem he understands the process up to the point of hatching, but has yet to get to grips with chick feeding. The male was removed, but the remaining eggs did not hatch.
Another nest laid four eggs and then the female dutifully removed them almost immediately after! We thought that their season was over, but the female has now started a second clutch. This is quite a rare occurrence in choughs, and time will tell if these eggs are fertile.
Chough egg being removed from nest
Two nests now have two chicks each – nest 302 in the new seclusion aviaries, and nest 29S which is in the main park. The chicks in 302 hatched on the 23rd & 24th of April, and both are progressing well. Chough chicks weigh 10-12 grams when they hatch, and we will be weighing them regularly as part of our monitoring.
Two chough chicks aged 1 & 2 days
The nest 29S is the aviary in which we first bred choughs way back in 1979. It does not have the service hatch which we have added to our seclusion aviaries, but we have been able to install a camera, which unfortunately has stopped working! This means we are relying on nest observations from keeping staff listening for feeding calls and looking for egg shells. Happily, we have confirmed two chicks, as Curator David Woolcock’s phone picture shows. These two are between 8 – 10 days old.
Two chough chicks approximately 8 – 10 days old. Picture D Woolcock
These two chicks are very well developed, with the tiniest of wing feathers just starting to appear. The two remaining eggs are unlikely to hatch.
As the end of April approaches we now have four chicks, with a further twenty-one eggs being incubated in the other nests…
…and we have a nest in one of the polytunnel aviaries which has an egg (with more to come).
All of our nine pairs of breeding choughs are now building nests. Some are more advanced than others, and we have one pair which delighted us with an early egg (or two).
These two clips show some of the remarkable behaviour of choughs in their domestic environment. We have seen similar behaviour in the past, and it gives an insight into a small world possibly never seen in the wild.
In the first clip, the male arrives as he knows the female is about to lay her second egg. She laid a first egg two days before, but his actions are likely to be motivated by her behaviour rather than timing.
Male chough in the “waiting room”
The egg is laid. The female inspects the new egg, and hops out of the nest to feed. Shortly afterwards, the male goes in to the nest box and casts an eye over the two eggs.
Female lays, and male inpsects later
Later the same day, we decided to adjust the angle of the camera to give a better view. We can do this using a hatch at the back of the nest box. This gave an opportunity to take this picture of the inside of the chough’s nest. Ali is in the background, distracting the birds, which are sitting on top of the nest box, leaving a few treats for later.
Two chough eggs. Picture R Hales
Over the next week, it is hoped this pair will lay more eggs. The normal clutch size for choughs is five. We have two eggs in another nest, with many more on the way.
We have a live stream of one of our nine nests can be seen here.
This year we have nine pairs of choughs set up in breeding aviaries at Paradise Park. Five pairs are in the new purpose-built set of seclusion aviaries, three are in the original seclusions, and one pair is in a public display aviary.
We still have twenty-four other choughs in the two large polytunnel flight aviaries – and it may be that birds in these aviaries will also make breeding attempts.
Choughs inspecting their new nest box
The birds make some remarkable sounds while they are checking the inside of their boxes for possible flaws and parasites. Once both birds are content with the suitability of the box, nest building will begin in earnest.
We bring in bags and bags of twigs, which have to be disinfected with a fogging machine due to the possible risk of avian influenza. This process will be repeated with the mosses and lichens at a later stage.
The chicks produced this year will become part of the project to re-establish the Red-billed Chough in Kent and Southern England.
To celebrate the 35th birthday we thought we would take a look back in time…
Red-billed Chough at Paradise Park
In 1987 Operation Chough was officially launched. Much work with Red-billed Choughs had been done at Paradise Park and the Tropical Bird Gardens, Padstow (now closed), before this time. Paradise Park’s founder, Mike Reynolds, became very interested in choughs and the first birds came to the Park in 1973. They were captive bred and originally from Welsh stock. This date was very sadly also the time when the last wild birds from the original Cornish population disappeared after decades of decline.
Much of the early work at Paradise Park involved developing breeding methods and improving aviary and nest box designs. Although we preferred to have parent-reared chicks, this also involved hand-rearing some, which proved to be extremely difficult, but some successes were achieved.
Chough chick getting a health check
Nest boxes were fitted with inspection hatches and cameras to monitor eggs and chicks – this proved to be invaluable.
Parent Chough feeding chicks on nest camera
Chough chick being fed and weighed by Ray Hales
We produced a ‘Red-billed chough captive management and husbandry manual’ and a version of this was published in Zoo Biology with lead author Dr Malcolm Burgess.
Back in 1987 we sponsored a five year long study by Richard Meyer on the feasibility of the re-establishment of the chough in Cornwall. As well as researching historic sites in Cornwall, he used chough populations in Wales for much of his research.
A trial release of captive-bred birds took place in 2003 on the north coast of Cornwall.
In 2010 we developed a partnership with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey, where Red-billed Choughs had been extinct for over a hundred years.
Initially two pairs bred at Paradise Park had been flown to Jersey for the breeding and release project, and by 2013 a total of eleven birds.
First Class flight to Jersey
Birds bred at Paradise Park and at Jersey Zoo were released over 6 years. Within 2 years they had bred in the wild and now there are 43 birds, about half of them hatched in the wild.
Two released choughs enjoying the Jersey breeze
Our focus now is on establishing new release projects in southern England. We are working with partners in Kent (choughs used to live along the white cliffs of Dover), also the Isle of Wight and Hampshire coast. In the long term these have the potential to spread along the coast, join up and re-establish the chough in parts of England where it has been missing for two hundred years.
Spring has sprung and birds everywhere are starting to carry twigs and nesting materials at the start of a new season. Our breeding choughs have now been moved into secluded aviaries, and are happily building nests.
This year we have six breeding pairs. Our choughs are in great demand as there are exciting new developments for chough conservation underway. This could lead to releases, along with habitat restoration projects, in the UK in the next few years.
We monitor all the nests and choose one to show, depending on the activity going on at any particular time.
