Choughs in Nanquidno Valley

Choughs are a regular feature now in the Land's End and Cape Cornwall area though pinning them down for photography is not so easy. I have never considered targeting Chough for photography as they are normally quite distant. On Sunday morning though, whilst papping the Yellow-browed, at least five Choughs circled round me calling all the time. They landed in the opposite field and fed on a dung heap at 75 yards distance, digging ferociously and calling all the time.

The Jackdaw shown on the lower left and a Magpie out of view tried to muscle in on the frenzy but couldn't get a look in. The flock of five stayed close together but a further three were seen together later in the morning.

All of the images were taken with the 600mm F/4 lens and 1.4x TC, on a Jobu gimbal head.

Chough at The Lizard, June 2008

The images below are of the original pair of Choughs which appeared on the Lizard in 2001. They have successfully raised over 25 young over the last eight years. I was lucky to capture these shots which show two of the young birds just emerging for the first time from the nest on this day. Four young in total left the nest. The image below was also a pure fluke in that I caught the two adults in synchronised preening, virtually level with me on the side of the cliff. This image was also published in the CBWPS newsletter.