By Regis Perdriat

Belle-Île, nine miles (15km) off the coast of the Gulf of Morbihan, is Brittany’s largest island and a popular place for visitors. Birds On The Edge correspondent Regis Perdriat took his family over to this beautiful island (pun fully intended) in May but wasn’t content with just relaxing on the island’s many beaches. Belle-Île has red-billed choughs.

At 32 miles² (84 kilometres²),  Belle-Île is smaller than Jersey (45.6 miles²) and, with a truly rugged coastline, it has far fewer residents, only 4,920 in the 2009 census. This human population may increase to a whopping 35,000 in summer – Jersey has nearly 107,000 residents. Anyway, plenty of nice chough-friendly coastline and although an important site for Brittany’s choughs there may sadly not be many these days. Maybe there are only around 20 birds; however, as Regis was able to confirm, they are breeding.