PRESS RELEASE - 18th February 2003

Female choughs offered by Paradise Park

See also Operation Chough Pages. Click Here
See also: Paradise Park’s review of options for the chough in Cornwall. Click here

Paradise Park has offered three female choughs to join the three young males successfully fledged from their nest on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall.

The first chicks to have been bred in the wild in Cornwall for nearly 50 years have thrived, and these young birds will soon reach the age when they are fully independent of their parents. This is a vital stage for the delicate recovery of the species. The young males will naturally be looking for potential mates, but at present they would have to leave Cornwall to find them. However, Paradise Park has three suitable females which could be released to join the group and perhaps secure the future of Cornwall’s choughs.Unfortunately, the birds have been turned down by English Nature.

Giving the chicks a reason to stay

However, chough expert Dr Richard Meyer believes that the young males need a reason to stay in the area. As a founder member of Operation Chough established at Paradise Park in 1974, he has been working for many years towards the re-establishment of the chough in Cornwall. His research into the reasons for its decline started with a five year study of the birds in Wales and former chough sites in Cornwall.

He has believed for some time that the habitat was perfect for choughs and is delighted that it has been proved able to sustain them, even through the winter months.

He says about the chough in Cornwall ‘As excited as we all are about this auspicious event, we really should not run away with the idea that the Chough is back for good. With no enrichment of the gene pool you have nothing approaching a viable population.’ 

Fit females from Paradise Park

The three females are currently living in a huge outdoor aviary where they are encouraged to dig for food as the wild birds do. They have undergone blood tests which prove that not only are they fit and free from parasites and diseases, but also that their DNA profiles are identical to the last living birds in Cornwall. (Paradise Park has funded extensive DNA testing on specimens at Truro Museum.)

The four national organisations which are members of the Cornwall Chough Project have encouraged restoration of the necessary habitat (which might be described as ‘bare earth with cowpats near cliffs’), and are monitoring the wild birds. We believe they should take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the three young males already living free in Cornwall and accept Paradise Park’s offer.

Paradise Park would like to hear what the people of Cornwall think about their proposal to release more choughs to hopefully pair up with those in the wild.

Contacts:

David Woolcock (Curator) - david@paradisepark.org.uk
Alison Hales (Director) - ali@paradisepark.org.uk
Paradise Park, Hayle, Cornwall Phone: 01736 753365

Paradise Park Wildlife Sanctuary, Hayle Cornwall TR27 4HB, UK
www.paradisepark.org.uk