Higher and higher! Chough numbers continue to soar on the Cornish coast

                                                      

The Chough as depicted in John Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (published in 1873)

IT has been a bumper breeding season for Choughs on the Cornish coast.

A total of 161 young birds - 32 more than last year - have fledged from 56 successful pairs.

The 2025 figure was a record since numbers have been kept, so this year's tally beats it.  

The success marks a remarkable comeback since the species died out in the county in 1973.

The recovery is understood to have been triggered when three adventurous birds  from Ireland  arrived at Lizard Point in 2001, with two of them becoming the first breeding pair for almost three decades.

The turnaround is testament to a rnge of conservation inititiatives by the likes of the Cornish Chough Conservation Network, Cornwall Birds, the RSPB, the National Trust and Natural England.