Cornish Choughs put on a show for Newquay birdwatching group

Eleven pairs of binoculars swung towards the same patch of sky above Towan Head, and every one of them was fixed on Cornwall’s most famous bird.

Eleven birdwatchers, twenty-one species

The group gathered at Newquay for a Birdwatching at Towan Head fieldtrip, another outing full of sunshine for a season that has given Cornwall plenty of it. The event was organised by Rowena Castillo-Nicholls, founder and chair of Connect with Nature, Group Leader of the RSPB Kernow Local Group, and Publicity Officer of Cornwall Birds. Rob Nicholls led the fieldtrip itself, guiding the group across the headland’s cliffs and coves.

By the end of the walk the tally stood at twenty one species, a solid morning’s count for one stretch of coast. But one bird in particular had the group’s full attention.

📷Cornish Chough

The Choughs steal the show

The Cornish Choughs gave the group a proper show. With their glossy black feathers and unmistakable red legs and curved red bills, the pair put on their famous acrobatic flight display, tumbling and riding the cliff-top air currents above Towan Head while the group watched. The chough is Cornwall’s emblem bird, and sightings like this are exactly why groups like this one keep coming back to the same clifftops.

📷Carrion Crow

Corvids, coffee and biscuits

Choughs belong to the crow family, and Towan Head offered up plenty of their less flamboyant cousins too. Carrion crows and jackdaws worked the grass and rock alongside the group’s target species, giving everyone a chance to compare the corvid family side by side. Once the walk was done, the group headed back to the car park for tea, coffee and biscuits, and the kind of chat that follows a good morning’s birdwatching.

📷Jackdaw

Up to the headland, then on to Porth Reservoir

Some of the group carried on up to the headland itself once the coffee cups were empty. But the day was not done there. A side trip took the group on to Porth Reservoir, where the list kept growing.

📷Starling

A bonus twenty-five species at Porth Reservoir

The reservoir added a further twenty five species to the day’s total, on top of the twenty one already logged at Towan Head. Between the clifftop and the reservoir, it was a day that delivered on every front, sunshine, acrobatics, and a species count most birdwatchers would be glad of.

📷The birdwatching group at Towan Head, Newquay: Rob Cockings, Rowena Castillo-Nicholls, Rob Nicholls, Demelza Wiskers, Gill Tembo, Rebecca Neal and Bob Neal