How the Lizard went from one lone chough pair to 26 chicks

Stand on a Lizard clifftop for long enough and you will hear them before you see them, a sharp “chee-ow” carried on the wind. A decade ago that call was rare enough to stop birdwatchers in their tracks. This year it belongs to a growing crowd.

A record season on the peninsula

The Lizard is now one of the best places in the country to watch the Cornish chough raise a family. Eight nests across the peninsula have fledged 26 chicks this year, 11 more than last year, making it the most productive breeding season the area has had.

“Never did I foresee” this many nests

Peter Hall has been part of the National Trust‘s chough monitoring effort on the Lizard since 2016, when the whole patch held a single breeding pair. This year he found himself watching five nest sites at once.

“Never did I foresee a time when I would be monitoring five nest sites in my patch, and certainly not having 16 choughlets fledge from those sites,” Peter said. “The past two winters we have been blessed with chatterings in excess of 20 chough around the Lizard. A far cry from the solitary single pair we had when I started as part of the then nest protection team in 2016. Long may the successful return of this iconic Cornish bird delight myself and others for many years to come.”

Why the chough disappeared, and what brought it back

Habitat loss was the key driver behind the chough’s disappearance from Cornwall in the first place. The birds feed almost entirely on the insects and grubs found in short, grazed turf, and as clifftop grazing declined, so did the ground they needed to find a meal.

Reintroducing grazing on clifftops and in coastal fields has turned that around, giving choughs easier access to the bugs and grubs that make up their diet and, in turn, giving pairs like Peter’s five sites a reason to stay and breed.

The volunteers keeping watch

Habitat is only half the story. Volunteers have provided round-the-clock protection of nest sites across the county, and in 2026 they have monitored more than 70 breeding attempts in Cornwall as a whole, not just on the Lizard. That level of vigilance, kept up year after year, is what has let a single pair become a chattering flock.

Seen a chough? Cornwall Birds want to know

Cornwall Birds wants to hear about sightings anywhere in the county. If you are lucky enough to spot choughs in your garden, they are especially keen to know, and want details of what the birds were eating while they were there, so the team can work out how common that behaviour is.

Sightings can be reported to Cornwall Birds by email at [email protected].

📷Credit: National Trust