As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday 7 July 2016

Choughs away! Record number of rare birds thrive in Cornwall

By WMNHFinch | Posted: July 06, 2016

Choughs can begin to breed at two years old but this season one-year-old birds have successfully reared young, an extremely rare event barely documented before. RSPB field officer Nicola Shanks said: "I hope that everyone, the volunteers who help monitor the choughs, the farmers who work to provide crucial habitat for them, and the Cornish communities that support 'their' choughs are as proud as I am."

Twenty-three newly fledged choughs have taken to the skies of Cornwall, making this year the most successful since the bird made a surprise re-appearance 15 years ago. Twelve pairs attempted to breed this year – itself a recent record – and eight of those pairs successfully reared young. In all there are now some 54 choughs flying above the Duchy. And choughs are once again breeding in the Roseland area, probably the first time they have done so since the 1820s.

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