Tag Archives: choughs chough wildwood Paradise Park Cornwall

Choughs inspecting their new nest box

Nest Cams 2024 Now Live!

The Operation Chough webcam is back!

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.

Click here for the live stream.

This year we have six breeding pairs. Five pairs in their seclusion aviaries, and one in our original aviary where we we first bred choughs in 1975!

We monitor all the nests and choose one to show, depending on the activity going on at any particular time.

Jen Riley from Wildwood in Kent meets a chough at Paradise Park, Cornwall.

Choughs on the way to Kent

Two Red-billed Choughs bred at Paradise Park have moved to Kent, a step forward in our partnership with the Wildwood Trust.

Jen Riley from Wildwood in Kent meets a chough at Paradise Park, Cornwall.

Jennifer Riley from the Wildwood Trust, Kent, meets a friendly Red-billed Chough at Paradise Park.

Jen came to Paradise Park to work with the Keepers for a few days, learning chough husbandry techniques – both for the friendly ones and the breeding birds.

While she was here she helped to move the pairs from the winter flocking aviary to their secluded breeding aviaries. The birds have started to carry twigs, and the popular chough nestcam will soon be in action so that their progress can be followed.

Meanwhile, at the Wildwood Trust, modifications have been made to accommodate the two choughs. They will live in a large mixed-species aviary, where platforms with rocks have been installed along with roosting boxes placed at suitable vantage points and paving slabs which can be moved giving extra opportunities to forage for grubs.