Chuffed

Finally we reached Broadhaven where we were to stop our walk and return home. 

We had to admit that our hike had a couple of gaps in it, but one thing that made our happiness complete was the wildlife.

The Pembrokeshire coast didn't disappoint. The flowers were lush, the insects extraordinary and we even saw on the path (at different times ) a fox cub and an adder.  A very fond memory will be standing on the clifftop watching a seal colony including several playful pups. 

However, my favourite is always the birdlife. There was a nesting colony of guillemots, some fulmar, ravens and kestrels, and a peregrine which glided and then stooped on its prey. All around were stone chats, linnets, larks. 

Best of all, we lost count of the number of choughs. We have come to characterise them as 'fun' birds because of their cocky call 'keeaw' and their playful way of flying.  They are generally out and about in pairs and busily probe the short turf on the cliffs with their long red bills. 

All in all, despite my failure to walk the complete path, we were chuffed.

Chough drawn by me

Chuffed to Bits

I’m Cornish, raised on stories of Piskies, Buccas and Spriggans.  And of the Cornish chough - the almost mythical bird which appears on the Cornish coat of arms.

A small member of the crow family with a distinctive red bill and legs, the chough had become extinct in Cornwall due to loss of habitat.  When I was a child, the only choughs left in Cornwall were a couple of depressed specimens in a cage in Newquay Zoo.

However, just a few years ago, birds from Ireland or Wales colonised Kynance Cove, to the far West of Cornwall.

When in Cornwall, my priority is to spend time with my parents so getting to Kynance Cove slipped from one year’s to-do list to another’s.  I never would see a Cornish chough.

However, this year, so as not to expose my parents to any risk of Covid, Nigel and I booked holiday accommodation near Truro and, in between family visits, walked the coast.

On the very first day at Trevellas Cove (many miles from Kynance), a high pitched ‘Keeaugh, keeaugh’ made me look hard at a quartet of crows.  In fact only three were crows, the fourth bird, smaller and more delicate, was a chough.  I was beyond excited.  However, the crows were bullying this lone bird.   We visited Trevellas twice more, but saw no chough. 

Finally on the penultimate day, we walked a particularly rugged section of cliff path between Porthtowan and Portreath.  ‘Keeaugh, keeaugh’ first a pair, and later, a small group of choughs reminding me of porpoises as they flew away.  The choughs here were not being attacked by crows, and looked settled.

How did I feel about my first sightings of the legendary bird of Cornwall? 

Chuffed to bits of course.

(With thanks to Pascoe and Richard for the sophisticated pun)