Choughs - Ignorance isn't bliss

Choughs - Written by Katie Lloyd

The saying "ignorance is bliss" comes from the suggestion that you can know too much. This is often true; sometimes when you know too much, life can lose a bit of its magic; but this wasn't one of those times.

So when the woman said to me "What, those crows?" and pointed an accusing finger at the birds who were chattering away to each other and bouncing to and thro, I smiled and think I actually let out a brief sigh. "They're Choughs, you see. Although they are part of the crow family they're not actually crows. See that long red beak..."

You don't have to be an ornithologist to be able to name a few of the crow family, and most people could name you the majority. There's your everyday carrion crow, you're fairytale rooks and ravens, and yes, that other one from up north - the hooded crow. Some might not even realise that the magpie and jay are also part of the family, and then many have never even heard of, never mind seen the Chough, pronounced "Chuff".

You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry
After the woman had shuffled her way back up the valley path towards the car park at the end of a successful day's sunbathing, a quote I had once stumbled across came to mind: "You can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry. Most people do." American author Norman Juster once declared this of society and as I stood admiring these most charismatic of birds, I wondered whether it was a similar experience that had prompted his words.

Choughjs on the Weld coast. Copyright Wildlife Extra.

Looking around at the figures below - families, surfers, couples, all of them preoccupied in their whole day of sun and sea - none of them seemed to show any perception of the charming bird in their midst.

But then if everyone was completely and utterly aware of this fantastic coastal bird, it would probably take away some of the pleasure for the few of us that are able to spy a chough and inwardly gasp as if you'd just seen a unicorn. In some respects knowing that you're one of the very few whom actually know what they're looking at adds to the whole intimacy of the experience. It would be great to think that everyone that walked down that stunning valley path towards the small and pretty Mewslade Bay would stop and say "Wow! Choughs!" But when there's just you and possibly no one else that is aware of the choughs it makes you feel quite special; as though you and the choughs are sharing a most cherished secret. And I suppose I quite liked it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a chough expert. I hadn't gone to the Gower Peninsula looking or expecting to see choughs; I had simply gone for a walk with my binoculars. I was following the path through the valley of the headlands which opened out to the beach ahead and it was there that I first heard the ‘chee-ow' and saw my first chough. Five of them actually. No hang on, eight! I gasped, looking around for someone who was equally amazed when the woman walking past stopped to see what all the fuss was about. "Choughs!" I said.

So should everyone know of this charismatic coastal bird? Being a naturalist I think it's especially valuable for a society to get to know their native wildlife but it is quite understandable if this certain species had escaped your knowledge.

The chough (Pyrrhocorax Pyrrhocorax), or red-billed chough, is a British coastal bird which, during the last century, experienced large-scale decline. Populations of choughs are so few and so small that choughs have never really been put in the spotlight when it comes to British coastal birds, or even just British birds, for that matter. In fact No description of the bird is complete without a note of their rarity and isolated distribution.

Whilst from afar, the Chough's shiny, black plumage indicates its place in the crow family, the closer you get the more the startlingly red the legs and down-curved bill become, suggesting you are looking at a far more unusual bird. If you are lucky enough to catch sight of Choughs you will most probably also get chance to witness their mastery in flight; broad fingered wings enable them to dive and swoop with the most confident agility. Furthermore, there's no doubt you will get to observe them chattering away to each other in their animated banter.

Classic chough habitat in West Wales. Copyright Wildlife Extra

Choughs natural habitat is rocky coastal cliffs and headlands where they seek short, grazed grasses from which to find insects and small invertebrates, their main food source. The headland I found them upon was a perfect chough home; kept short by frequent sheep grazing, the headland also gave way to the occasional rocky crag and inlet of a narrow cave, and it is shady shelters like these which choughs choose as a roost and nest.

A decline in the natural roosts and nests of the Chough may also have a hand in their dramatic decline. With an increase in fields for grazing cattle, British cliff tops have become increasingly wild and overgrown leaving choughs with a lack of habitat.

450 Breeding pairs in the UK
So with only around 450 breeding pairs around the British Isles where is it that you can see these rare and special birds? Firstly you'll have to travel to the west where all of the current Chough populations reside. The southern coast of the Gower Peninsula, South Wales was where I was fortunate enough to first see them but you may have more of a certainty if you head to the coastline of southern Cornwall, the outer Hebrides - in particular Islay - or the small island of the Calf of Man. RSPB reserves at South Stack in Anglesey and Loch Gruinart in Islay provide great viewing spots where you may be fortunate to catch choughs close-up.

Conservation efforts have proved extremely successful in recent times as choughs have returned to former habitats in ever-growing numbers. An increase in attention to agri-environmentalism has seen landowners and farmers settle conflicting concerns and dedicate increased areas of land to nature conservation rather than to agriculture, giving chough populations the room to grow and spread.

Operation Chough'
The project ‘Operation Chough' in Cornwall is responsible for bringing together conservation organisations and local communities in an effort to enhance the species' current conservation status. These projects also provide a basis for the chough to have some of the limelight in local areas. With each successful story not only do we increase the stability of the chough but we enlighten one or two people - or maybe more - of the existence of this striking bird.

And that is what our conservation efforts are about: attempting to increase the chough population of Britain whilst decreasing the blissfull ignorance of some of the population.