A RECORD 161 young Choughs have fledged from nests around the Cornish coastline this summer – 32 more than the previous best of 129, set last year.

They were bred by 56 successful pairs, meaning that the average productivity of a Cornish Chough nest is almost three fledglings, suggesting the population is in robust health.

That wasn’t always the case though. Choughs died out in Cornwall in the 1970s, their now-familiar ‘chee-ow’ call falling silent until 2001 when three birds, thought to be from Ireland, landed at Lizard Point. Two became the pioneering breeding pair from which today’s success has stemmed.

Hilary Mitchell and Steve Ashby from Cornwall Birds (CBWPS), said: “It is hard to believe that the Cornish Chough population is now up to over around 400 birds, and with over 80 pairs on territory in 2026. Back in 1943 the situation was very different, and papers recently found by Steve Ashby at Trerice (owned by the National Trust) include notes by the famous Cornish birder Lt Col B H Ryves stating that ‘Years ago the Tintagel area was its greatest stronghold but this is no longer so. There is, however, some evidence that a pair may have bred lately near Bude. In the main it can be asserted that its range is now limited to the coast between the Gannel and a few miles northward of Port Isaac.”

Habitat loss was a key driver in the extinction of Choughs in Cornwall. This was turned around by conservationists, farmers and land owners working together to restore grazing on clifftops and coastal fields, to produce the short-cropped turf that allows Choughs easier access to the insects and their larvae that make up their diet.

The next chapter of the Cornish Chough story is in everyone’s hands, email sightings to [email protected]