Operation Chough

Note: Please send any sightings of Choughs in the South West to info@chough.org
Chough Sightings in the South West

The red-billed Chough is the symbol of Cornwall, pictured on its Coat of Arms and included in legends, but sadly it died out in the wild here in the 1970’s - until in 2001 three birds returned to Cornwall’s cliffs!

Over the years a single bird was occasionally seen, but rarely stayed long. No one really knows where they came from, maybe Wales, Ireland or even Brittany, where they still live. At Paradise Park we wanted to do all we could to help this unique member of the crow family return to Cornwall and started our ‘Operation Chough’ project. We funded research which showed that it disappeared because of changed agricultural practices, pesticides and trapping. Landowners and farmers have worked to make the habitat better for Choughs (and other wildlife too), and now the birds themselves have proved that they can again thrive in Cornwall.

In 2004 we raised three chicks using a new method based on feeding "wild" food. This remarkable success has given the project a fresh impetus. We now believe that in the space of three years we may have a small flock of birds ready for another release. Click here for more.

Our project hopes to secure the future of the Chough in Cornwall, and to achieve this in 2003 we released birds at a historic site for the species in West Cornwall. Click here for more.

In 2002 the first wild Cornish Chough chicks in fifty years were hatched, and in 2003 another two have fledged successfully. This year the wild birds raised four young.