Tag Archives: Conservation

Chough report – Second quarter

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Alderney
The pair of choughs seen in Alderney on 31st March continued to reside there into April. This news was shared by Alderney Bird Observatory (ABO). It’s great to know we have eyes and ears on the neighbouring islands, where choughs are concerned. Both female and hatched in 2023, these birds were identified as: Skomer (Black/Pink (L)) and Millport (Dark Blue/Pink (R)). Always observed together, they were also seen allopreening. Their spontaneous ‘girls trip’ to Alderney could have been to scout for some males, as unfortunately, the sex ratio in the flock has more females than males. Having failed in their endeavour, the pair returned to Jersey on 10th April.

Skomer and Millport are back from their week away in Alderney. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

The first of many
The first chick of the year was ringed on 1st May. This chick was from a new breeding pair, Alder & Angalsea, at a new nesting location. The male, Alder, hatched in 2022, and the female, Angalsea, in 2023. This young pair is rarely seen at the Sorel aviary during supplementary feeding times, so it was a big surprise when we received information on their success. The team set off, found the pair, their nest and chick! Although they only had one chick this year, we hope that in the coming years they will become more experienced and successful.

This year’s ring colour is: Brown. It will be coupled with three other individual identifier bands. The long-debated chough naming theme this year is: Biscuits, which turns out to be quite fitting as the biscuits brand McVitie’s is celebrating their 100th anniversary!

Hobnob showing off their new colour rings. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

New nest findings
The team has been working hard to find more chough nests across the island. With the help of Jersiaise ornithology members as well as Jersey residents, the team at Durrell has received more chough sightings, which in turn has helped narrow down the search for nest locations. This year, three new nests were located. The first nest was located in L’Etacq, which was breeding pair Alder and Angalsea’s nest. The second nest was found through word of mouth on social media. We contacted the landowners and they happily allowed us to monitor the nest, enabling us to establish the pair visiting were Portelet & Sallow. The third nest was also found in St Ouen and with landowners again giving us access, we concluded the third nest site belonged to Aspen & Jaune. 

Kevin displaying next to Wally, their partner. Photography by Charlotte Dean.

The nests found in St Ouen were unfortunately inaccessible without cherry pickers. The location of Sallow & Portelet’s nest was well hidden, but the landowners managed to send us regular nest updates, allowing us to know how many chicks to expect from them. Their nest contained four chicks!

Aspen & Jaunes nest could luckily be viewed from the ground, and they had two hungry chicks to feed. If any of the readers know of a chough nest site, please do not hesitate to email us at charlotte.dean@durrell.org as we’re eager to find out where all the choughs nest for future monitoring.

Two chicks at Aspen & Jaunes nest. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Ronez First walk around
Our first quarry walk around was on the 16th May – this is when we look around accessible chough nests to estimate chick ages so we can plan leg ringing sessions. The nests we could look into were Kevin & Wally, Dusty & Archirondel, and Iris & Sercq’s. Kevin & Wally had three chicks of ringing age; therefore, we ringed them on site. Dusty & Archirondel looked as though they had two chicks in their nest. Sercq & Iris had two much younger looking chicks than the other two pair’s nests we visited. Although we could only access three nests, we could hear chicks in other nests when walking around the site.

Two hungry chicks in Sercq & Iris’s nest. Photography by Tobias Cabarat.

Ronez ringing visit
The chough team visited Ronez again on the 25th May for the chough ringing visit. Our visit would not be possible without our collaboration with Ronez, as well as the generosity of 4Hire for allowing us the use of essential equipment to access nests free of charge. A total of seven nests were seen at the quarry this year, with six being accessible. Three of those nests required a cherry picker, and one required a scissor stair lift.

The first nest accessed was a new pairing; Percy & Remi. Percy & Remi had three hungry chicks in their nest, but unfortunately the weather was against us, so the chicks were left undisturbed. The second nest was another new pairing; Lee & Elm who had two chicks in their nest. The third nest was breeding pair Trevor & Noirmont, containing two chicks. The fourth nest investigated using the cherry picker was empty. The fifth nest was Dingle & Pyrrho’s, and this nest was accessed with a scissor lift.

Toby & Charlotte pulling chicks from Lee & Elm’s nest. Photograph by Bethea Billington.

One chick was found in the high nest, however chick calls were heard close by while this chick was being ringed. The staff explored around the nest site and found three newly fledged chicks hiding under a cupboard!  The sixth and last nest investigated belonged to Sercq & Iris, and two chicks were noted.

The one chick that was in Dingle & Pyrrhos nest. Photograph by Bethea Billington.

Plemont pair
The pair at Plemont weren’t visited as much this breeding season due to the stairs to the beach being replaced. However, once access was granted again, we managed a few afternoon observations. We also had some helpful Jersey residents monitoring the nest in our absence. Minty & Reys four chicks were witnessed leaving their nest for the very first time on 5th June and brought all four fledglings to the aviary on 11th June.

Two of the four chicks seen at the Plemont pairs nest. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Table 1, number of chicks in each nest visited so far.

Breeding pair

Number of chicks in nest

Alder & Angalsea

1

Kevin & Wally

3

Percy & Remi

3

Lee & Elm

2

Trevor & Noirmont

2

Dingle & Pyrrho

4

Sercq & Iris

2

Dusty & Archirondel

2

Aspen & Jaune

2

Sallow & Portelet

4

Minty & Rey

4

Bo & Flieur

Unknown

Pinel & Vicq

Unknown

Sarnia & Pine

Unknown

Kent & Rougenez

Unknown

Oronsay & Manitou

Unknown

Feta & Manchego

Unknown

Total

29

First ‘choughlets’ at the aviary
On the 5th June, the first pair to bring chicks near the aviary was Dingle & Pyrrho. Though the flyover was brief, the team spotted them. The next pair were Kevin & Wally, with two of their three chicks on 10th June. Minty & Rey brought their four chicks on the 11th June, who looked to be quite a handful! Dusty & Archirondel brought two chicks on 13th June, with Lee & Elm bringing their two chicks a little later on 17th. On the 18th, Sercq & Iris brought one chick, Sallow & Portelet brought three chicks, and Trevor & Noirmont brought two. Aspen & Jaune were seen feeding two chicks at the aviary on 20th June. Percy & Remi brought 3 chicks to the aviary on 21st June. Alder & Angalsea brought their chick to the aviary on 22nd. Finally, on the 25th June, Bo & Flieur surprised us when they were seen feeding a chick!

‘Choughlets’ all in a row on the aviary. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Where have you seen the choughs?
April saw the most frequent sightings of choughs in St Ouen, which varied from inland sightings to observations along the coast. The highest number of choughs seen in a flock at St Ouen was seven in some horse fields along Mont Matthieu. The largest flock seen was 15 over Sorel. Choughs were however seen in many places around the island, including: Plemont, Corbiere, St Helier, Les Landes, Trinity, L’Etacq, Grosnez, Greve de Lecq, Grouville, Petit Port and St Catherine’s.

St Ouens seems to be the place to spot choughs lately. Choughs were seen most often during May – whether that be near the pond or further inland. The largest flock seen around the island was 23, flying over towards Ronez. Corbiere also saw 21 choughs. Apart from St Ouen, Ronez and Corbiere, the choughs were also spotted in various other places such as: Crabbe, Plemont, Les Landes, Grosnez, Le Pulec, Petit Port and White Rock.

Corbiere seemed to be the most popular place to see choughs in June. The three main places they were sighted were near the radio tower, in the Gorselands and La Rosiere quarry. The second most popular areas were Plemont and Les Landes. The largest flock was spotted in flight over Les Landes. However, the choughs were also seen in St John, St Ouens, St Mary’s, Grosnez, Greve de Lecq and Petit Port.

Parent and fledgling in flight over Grosnez. Photograph by Antony Morin.

Conservation Awards 2025
Durrell was invited to attend the 35th Jersey Conservation Awards anniversary as a potential candidate for a chance to win an award for conservation efforts across Jersey. This year’s event had several categories: School & youth group green award, Young conservationist of the year, People’s choice award, Best conservation project runner up and best conservation award. Each candidate entered gave a presentation on their projects. It was inspiring to hear about the fantastic conservation work that is on-going around the island. Durrell was lucky enough to receive the ‘Best conservation project award’ for the Red-Billed Chough Project.

Durrell Bird Team members accepting ‘The best conservation project’ 2025 for the Red-Billed Chough Project. Photograph by: Paul Wright.

Durrell’s Species Champion Award (DSCA)
Durrell’s education and chough team collaborated on a week-long event in June, where year 6 pupils of St John’s school took part in Durrell’s Species Champion Award (DSCA). The DSCA aimed to engage schools and local communities in wildlife conservation as well as to find better connections with nature. St John’s school chose the charismatic Red-billed Chough as their species champion and therefore were educated on the species through activities between 23rd – 27th June. The chough team gave a talk on the Red-billed Chough Project. During the week, the children learnt about ecosystems, chough diet, chough legends, created posters on the species, as well as taking a field trip to the Sorel aviary. They ended their week ‘championing’, by sharing what they had learnt with a reception class and their families.

Charlotte giving a talk on the chough project. Photograph by Alexandra Ward.

 

 

Chough Report – Third Quarter (July – September)

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Old to new pairs
A fairly big surprise to the team this year was Danny and Jaune both experiencing a successful breeding season; but separately! Danny and Jaune were always seen as a pair in previous years. Always arriving together at the aviary and seen flying and building nests in various places in Corbiere. However, this year, both choughs paired with a different bird in the flock. Danny paired with Pyrrho after the loss of Green and Jaune paired with Aspen after Danny re-paired. Danny and Jaune had been seen building nests as a pair for two consecutive years with no real success. It could be that the pair lacked maturity, or perhaps Danny & Jaune were never truly a pair; maybe they were just close friends after all!

Aspen & Jaune with two hungry chicks at Corbiere. Photograph by Julie Blampied.

Another first!
Another fantastic surprise this year was from another new pair Alder and Wally Jnr, who were seen with one chick on 13th July at the aviary. This is the very first breeding attempt for both of these birds. Both parents hatched in the wild, Wally Jnr in 2021 and Alder in 2022. The team have watched these two choughs grow closer over the past year; often observed arriving at the aviary together as well as allopreening. Over the course of the breeding season they were often absent at the aviary and so we had been hoping they were practicing their nesting abilities. When they showed up with a begging youngster in tow, we couldn’t have been happier! Since carrying out catch ups at the aviary to ring the remaining chicks they’ve become quite elusive, which isn’t surprising – who would want to be caught anyway!?

What the choughs think of all the catch ups. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

A plaque of gratitude
A plaque has been hung on the aviary to acknowledge our gratitude to the Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme for funding the chough project. Their funding has enabled us to replace the old holey netting and wooden aviary framework.

Our bright plaque to show our gratitude to the Jersey Country Enhancement Scheme. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

Breeding season summary
This year’s breeding season has been a huge success! We’ve had the greatest number of chicks hatched since the project began; a whopping 26 chicks from ten breeding pairs. Three of those pairs were first time breeders! Only six chicks of those chicks didn’t fledge, making our overall fledging success rate 77%. It’s safe to say that the aviary has been pretty chaotic this summer. All 20 ‘choughlets’ have been ringed and added to our chough ID list, which can be found on our website ‘Chough ID list’. Our current island population stands at 66 choughs! 12 of the original captive-released choughs and 54 wild-hatched choughs. So, if you enjoy walking around Jersey’s countryside and bird watching, be sure to report your sightings via this link: ‘Seen a chough? – Birds on the edge’.

Sakura, a chough from Minty & Rey’s clutch with their identifier rings attached. Black for the year and Cerise as their individual identifier. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.


Table 1, each breeding pairs fledgling success.

Breeding pair

Number of fledged chicks

Dingle & Red

0 – nest

Lee & Cauvette

2

Percy & Icho

2

Kevin & Wally

2

Trevor & Noirmont

2

Dusty & Archirondel

0

Danny & Pyrrho

2

Bo & Flieur

3

Minty & Rey

2

Pinel & Vicq

2

Aspen & Jaune

2

Sallow & Portelet

0

Alder & Wally Jnr

1

Total number of fledged chicks

20

Where have you seen the choughs?
During July, most of our chough sightings across the island have been in various places in Grosnez; with groups of up to five seen either near the castle, near the car park or along the cliffs. The second most popular area has been Corbiere; one group being a family group (Aspen, Jaune and their two choughlets) whose photograph can be seen above. Other sightings were seen across St Ouens, St Brelade and St Helier.

In August, the choughs were reported in Corbiere the most, once with a flock of 12. Second most popular sights were recorded from several areas in St Ouen, including Mont Matthieu, St Ouens pond and around the sea cliffs. Large groups were also seen flying over the cliff paths of Crabbe and Devils hole. On the other side of the island choughs had also been spotted. In Noirmont, a pair is regularly spotted by a local twitcher.

September brought the most consistent sightings of two choughs at Noirmont. However, the place seen with the largest flocking number of choughs were in Corbiere with 16; closely followed by 12 spotted over Petit port. The choughs were also seen across St Ouen, Crabbe, Les Landes, Greve de Lecq, Overdale and St Helier.

Our chough student (Phillip), gaining some hands-on experience with the choughs. Photograph by Charlotte Dean.

 

A Shire for Jersey’s puffins

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By Cristina Sellarés

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit puffin. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit puffin-hole, and that means comfort.”

And so the story begins for the puffins, I mean the hobbits, according to J.R.R. Tolkien, of course. I could be forgiven for hoping that J.R.R.Tolkien was inspired by puffins when he devised the short, wobbly, round-bellied, food-loving, funny-looking creatures that live in a hole in the ground, which he named hobbits. Even his own fictional etymology traces the word to ‘holbytla’, which he created by combining the two real Old English words ‘hol’ (hole) and ‘bytland’ (to build) – a name that would be not completely unfit for the puffins either.

Like hobbits, Atlantic puffins build their homes underground, digging holes using their bills and powerful claws, to create a tunnel that leads to a larger inner chamber for the nest. And also like hobbits, puffins like their home comforts and line their nests with soft grasses and feathers, to keep the egg and later the chick safe and warm. They are very tidy too, and manage to keep the chick clean by using a toilet chamber located in a bend before the main room.

And finally, like hobbits again, they do not like unexpected visitors, defending their burrows from envious neighbours, fighting food thieves like gulls, and avoiding, however they can, attacks from invasive predators such as rats, cats and ferrets.

Knowing all this, Birds On The Edge has been trying to improve the homes and breeding grounds of our Jersey puffins, especially in view of he precarious state of the population – down to four pairs from more than a hundred in the space of a century. Sadly, this follows the trend of many other puffin colonies around the world, which have declined or collapsed due to causes ranging from loss of habitat, predation from invasive species and human-caused disturbance, amongst others.

Over the last year we have been monitoring the puffins and other seabirds in their breeding cliffs of the north coast, studying the potential predators in the area and noting the presence of people for leisure and commercial purposes too.

We have also built and installed puffin nest-boxes in some cliffs in the north coast, so that they can be used as artificial burrows by prospecting new pairs. Our breeding puffins, all four pairs of them, already go back to the same burrow each year, so with the boxes we are hoping to attract new pairs recruiting into Jersey’s population, especially ones who were born here and are ready to settle (puffins take 5-6 years to be mature).

As for the boxes themselves, there have been various designs, all following the concept of a tunnel leading to a main chamber. We have stuck to this, building a closed box with a roof, which is completely buried. The access to the chamber is via a 1m-long pipe which is buried too, so that the entrance from outside looks like a hole in the ground. The box is almost one metre long and has a small partition near the entrance, to create the illusion of the toilet chamber, should they like to use it for this purpose. As finishing touches to the installation we packed a layer of mud and soil against the back wall, to give the puffins the chance to dig a bit if they wanted to, without going too far, and for the same reason the boxes have no floor, but a good layer of soil so that the puffins can shift the ground about and decorate their nest as they please.

Digging and burying the boxes in the cliffs wasn’t an easy task; Geomarine sent their “rope team” to assist the rangers of the National Trust and Natural Environment for the job. The team successfully installed some of the boxes in an otherwise inaccessible slope, which was deemed suitable for the artificial burrows.

With the breeding season upon us and our puffin pairs due to arrive anytime now, we will be keeping a close eye on the seas around Plémont, hoping to see the faithful locals come back to their usual spots, and even better to see new pairs flying into the cliffs, their purpose-built homes waiting for them.

The boxes might be a bit too small for a hobbit, but we hope our puffins will approve of their very own Puffin Shire.

 

Highlights from the 5th International Chough Conference

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By Liz Corry

The 5th International Chough Conference was held in Segovia, Spain from the 3rd to 5th October. Held at the Palacio Episcopal building adjoined to Casa de Espiritualidad San Frutos. A very religious affair! And very inclusive events with delegates from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France and all around the UK. And Jersey!

There were two days of talks focused on red-billed choughs and yellow-billed (Alpine) choughs and a field trip to Hoces del Duratón Natural Park on the final day. Being the chough geeks that we are, the evenings were spent staking out chough roosts in ‘downtown’ Segovia. More on that later.

Question time after each set of talks.

Segovian chouvas

Segovia is a 25 minute train journey north of Madrid and famous for it’s gothic cathedral, roman aqueduct, and Disney-esque Alcázar Palace. It also happens to be home to a large population of red-billed choughs.

A census carried out this year by José González del Barrio and his team recorded 123 choughs roosting in the city. They seem to have a penchant for architectural masterpieces; its not hard to see why. The cathedral is home to half the population with the alcazar and churches accommodating another 30%.

Segovia Cathedral is home to half of the city’s red-billed choughs. Photo by Liz Corry.

It stands to reason that they also have a considerable number of nest sites in Segovia. José’s team recorded 94 nests this year ranging from natural caves to guttering in the cathedral. Bell towers seem to be a particular favourite.

It is not unusual for Spanish choughs to nest in man-made structures, but researchers have noticed an increase in numbers of birds switching from natural mountain caves or crevices to these urban sites.

Just outside of the city (1-3km) there are cereal crops, fallow fields, and grazing cattle and sheep on land they refer to as ‘wasteland’ i.e. can’t grow commercial crops. These provide foraging sites for the choughs (and jackdaws). This is probably why the urban areas are more appealing to raise young rather than up in the mountains where temperatures fall below zero.

However, there is a rather unappealing element to urban living. I’m not referring to the flea-riddled stray cats that prowl the cathedral like a gang of hooded youth. Although cats and rats do predate the birds and eggs. 

Cathedral cats prowl the chough territories but don’t be fooled, its hiding a flick knife somewhere. Photo by Liz Corry

The problem is Segovia’s human inhabitants and their dislike of pigeons. Pigeons roost and nest in the same places as choughs. So when someone puts up a deterrent to stop pigeons pooping on an historic monument, it also stops the choughs. Nine nests failed this year due to human disturbance. The worse cases seeing chicks and/or adults blocked in and starving to death. 

Blocking off building access to combat pigeon problems can be fatal to choughs.

This behaviour is largely due to a lack of awareness over choughs in general. One reason why organisers selected Segovia to host the conference. Our presence in the city (especially on the roost visits) gives the choughs some ‘air time’.  We also had local government officials sit in on the talks. Hopefully public attitudes will change towards choughs. The real challenge will be how to pigeon-proof a structure whilst still giving access to a similar sized species.

City life or country living?

Despite the perils of city living, the choughs have been switching their country cliff-side dwellings for urban development over the last 10-15 year in central Spain. Guillermo Blanco presented data that showed the number of cliff nesting pairs had dropped by 180 pairs over a twenty-eight year period. Switching limestone or clay cliffs for farm buildings and human dwellings.

Jesús Zúñiga had a similar tale to tell in the Sierra Nevada National Park of southern Spain. The chough population has declined by 60% compared to data collected in 1980-1984. This also coincides with an increased use of buildings for roost and nesting.

Choughs in central Spain are switching from cliffs for buildings when it comes to nesting and roosting.

Some choice of nest sites may look familiar to Birds On The Edge readers. Others are a little more suited to the pages of Homes & Gardens magazine.

Kitchen corvids

Affordable homes

Many of the buildings the birds are choosing to nest in are abandoned and nowhere near as intricate as the cathedral and churches of Segovia. Ledges and boxes have been erected by conservationists to support nest construction. They are seeing some amazing results.

As eluded to earlier, predators are more of a problem in these areas. Cats, rats, pine marten and genets. A team from Sociedad de Ciencias Aranzadi have come up with a genius idea – “ugly nests” (patent pending). They have used reclaimed materials such as water containers (too slippery for the mammals to grip) and installed them so they are out of reach from predatory paws.

Installation of artificial nests built with recycled materials.

Wild chough chicks reared in reclaimed artificial nests.

The team were so proud of their ugly nests that we were treated to a demonstration of how easy it is to make one (we had the priest on standby if it all went wrong). We even had an auction with the winning bidder becoming the proud owner of a bespoke ugly nest!

Practical demonstration of how to make a chough nest-box from a water container.

Food availability for choughs

The main reason for the ‘cultural shift’ in Spanish choughs has been the change in agriculture surrounding the limestone cliffs and gorges. Irrigation of the land for maize and fruit growing instead of traditional dry cultivation means a reduction in suitable foraging habitat for the birds.

Places like Segovia on the other hand have livestock grazing within a kilometre of the city walls. This is perfect foraging habitat for choughs (and several hundred jackdaw).

Cattle grazing outside Segovia’s train station provides perfect foraging habitat for choughs and jackdaws.

We know dung is a favourite food source for UK choughs. Gillian Gilbert (RSPB) explained how the Scottish birds particularly like to rummage through dung between July and October in search of invertebrates. In the 1980s, choughs were finding lots of beetles from the Aphodius family. Nowadays, Aphodius numbers have declined and the choughs are more reliant on species of Geotrupes beetles. So what is the problem? Well Geotrupes are soil-boring dung beetles, they drag the dung down into the ground, whereas Aphodius live in the dung. The birds have to work more to probe soil compared to dung which means Geotrupes have less nutritional value.

Eric Bignal feeding choughs in Islay as part of their conservation management.

Food availability (or lack thereof) was a common theme across all countries. In the UK, the Islay choughs began receiving supplemental food eight years ago when researchers noticed a population crash. This extra food, provided by farmers and chough-champions Eric and Sue Bignal, is crucial during the months of September and October. 

In the past few years, several of the Cornish birds have been visiting garden bird feeders to score some free food. This may be more opportunistic than essential for survival, but certainly something researchers should keep an eye on in case things change. 

Yellow-billed (or Alpine) choughs are known to be opportunistic feeders. Mention choughs to anyone who skis in the Alps and they will probably regale tales of over-friendly, black birds hanging around their restaurant table. Alpine choughs have a broader diet then their cousins.  In winter, as temperatures drop they start to forage on juniper berries, seeds, and après-ski leftovers.

Alpine choughs foraging. Spain 2014. Photo by Glyn Young

Cristina Vallino, University of Turin, has undertaken a novel approach to observing the feeding behaviour of these birds around ski resorts. Using the free-access public webcams from ski-resorts in three different Alpine countries she has clocked up 13,704 recordings and analysed flock size, stay time, food intake, vigilance distance and flushing distance. She then combined this with genetic studies of the diet to determine variation in diet. Her concerns for the Alpine chough are the long term effects of eating leftovers. Will this ‘fast food’ be effecting their health?

Frequent flyers

Conservation of European choughs can be a little tricky compared to the UK because the birds can travel long distances. For example, in some years individuals roosting in Segovia may nest in Madrid. Subsequent juvenile dispersal from those nests plays an important role in range expansion. Not just moving within country but between countries too.

Personally speaking, the two most anticipated conference presentations focused on the first use of solar-powered GPS tags on choughs. One on an Alpine chough in Aragon, Spain, the other on red-billed chough in central Spain.

Both studies used transmitters built by a Lithuania company, Ornitrack. The tags transmit data using the 3G mobile network. So as long as you have coverage you can receive data anywhere in the world…roaming charges apply. No joke – just ask the Russians!

Solar-powered GPS tag on a red-billed chough.

The tag is solar-powered which explains the bulky size; the panel needs to be above the feathers in order to charge. The weight of the tag requires harness attachment rather than just gluing on to the body. Juan Manual Pérez-Garcia and his team fitted harnesses to six birds this summer and had some interesting results.

One bird covered a distance of 173km in two days. Another flew 85km on its first flight (in under 3 hrs) then took another 15km journey before settling down for 12 days. Sadly it was then predated by a booted eagle. They know this because an accelerometer fitted in the tag gives an activity pattern. You can detect feeding events, roosting events, and sadly the shaking around and eventual immobility from a predation event. And then the carrying off to the nest to feed the eagle chicks event!

Data from the GPS can provide information on whether the bird is in flight or at rest. Or caught by a booted eagle!

These studies are in their infancy stage. A lot of work is needed looking at the welfare implications of tag attachment. Cost is a small hurdle to overcome considering each tag is about £1,200 plus a data transfer fee. There is definite potential and something we are keen to explore in Jersey.

Future prospects for choughs

The scope of work and tireless dedication evident from everyone in the room (any associates that could not be there in person) is promising for the future of choughs. Whilst classed as least concern, due to their global range, the species appears to be in decline. By sharing data, collaborating on research, and undertaking well-planned translocations or re-introductions we will hopefully halt any further decline. In the process, as several talks showed, this can have a far wider impact for global biodiversity because species restoration works in partnership with habitat restoration.

Helmut Magdefrau put forward their proposal to re-introduce choughs to Slovenia.

And finally

There was far too much to cover in one post. I will end with a photo gallery of chough sightings in Segovia and a couple of videos. All of which may help you plan your 2020 holidays!

La Palma island wildlife recovery centre: choughs often end up at the centre after collisions with power lines or collisions with cats mouths.

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  • The view from my B&B window!
  • Despite the loud call they can be hard to spot
  • Peek-a-boo
  • Building conservation practices often spell trouble for choughs
  • Our first night was spent watching the Cathedral choughs come home to roost
  • A bit of a twist on overflow guttering
  • Going to roost
  • One last fly around before bed
  • Which way to Madrid?
  • Its behind you!
  • Choughs will use overflow pipes to access buildings
  • “I’m not paying the entrance fee!”
  • Gothic architecture provides the perfect perch for choughs
  • One of many access point used by choughs in the cathedral
  • Iglesia San Martin is one of several chough abodes in Segovia
  • Our second night of roost checks took us to the Roman aqueduct
  • The impressive Roman aqueduct is home to choughs, pigeons, and jackdaws
  • Spot the chough?
  • Most visitors are oblivious to the choughs flying between cathedral and balconies
  • I’d pay good money to live in that apartment.
  • Storks also nest in Segovia
  • Black vultures are one of several birds of prey in the area
  • Downtown Segovia