Press Releases - September/October 2007
Item 5

No. 2007/09/72
September 2007

Welsh Chough invades England

A colourful Chough has been brightening up Heysham Power Station in Lancashire recently. With its striped and coloured rings, ED80133 is the most well travelled Welsh Chough we know of.

The unique combination of coloured rings on this Chough meant that the British Trust for Ornithology knew it was a male bird ringed in the nest on Anglesey in May 2007, and by September it had traveled over 130km to the power station. This is only the second ringed Chough to be reported in northern England: the first was a bird ringed in northwest Wales in 1975 that was found dead the following spring on a Liverpool rubbish tip.

During the spring of 2007 a small group of colour-ringed Choughs were recorded advancing along the coast of South Wales through Glamorgan. The group, which amazingly were all siblings, then crossed the Bristol Channel and were seen in north Somerset before continuing down to north Devon.

How do we know so much about these birds? Jewellery! All of these birds were colour-ringed as part of a long-term project on the species in Wales. The project co-ordinators (Tony Cross, Bob Haycock and Adrienne Stratford) commented, “Since the project began in 1989, we’ve ringed over 3,500 birds, so this really is an amazing record. Your typical Chough will only travel 30-40 km, so it was a big surprise to hear of this bird in Lancs!”

Unique combinations of rings identify birds as individuals, allowing their individual histories to be followed. Mark Grantham, Population Biologist at the BTO, commented, “A very wide range of birds are colour-ringed, not only Choughs, and anyone can contribute to our knowledge of the movements of these birds by keeping an eye out for any with coloured rings and reporting them to us at www.ring.ac.”

Anyone seeing a colour-ringed bird should report it via www.ring.ac

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Notes for Editors

1. Chough is the rarest member of the crow family that breeds in Britain, with an estimated population of 475 pairs. The breeding population is confined to the west of the country with the highest number found in Wales. Approximately 300 birds are ringed each year.
2. Heysham Power Station is participating in the BTO/British Energy Business Bird Challenge. The competition run by the BTO aims to find the best business sites in the UK for Birds, Conservation and Community involvement. It recognises the sensitive management of industrial landholdings across the country, which is reflected in the diversity and remarkable number of bird species using these sites. The 2008 Challenge is being sponsored by British Energy. For further information please see www.bto.org/challenge/index.htm
3. Bird ringing in Britain and Ireland is organised and co-ordinated by the BTO. The BTO also host the EURING databank which holds ring recovery data gathered by bird ringing schemes throughout Europe, for further information please see, www.bto.org/ringing/index.htm. Part of the BTO Ringing Scheme is funded by a partnership of the BTO and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (on behalf of Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales, and also on behalf of the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland). The scheme also receives support from Duchas the Heritage Service – National Parks and Wildlife (Ireland). The volunteer ringers give freely of their time and expertise and also provide a substantial part of the Scheme’s funding.
4. The BTO is the UK’s leading bird research organisation. Over thirty thousand birdwatchers contribute to the BTO’s surveys. They collect information that forms the basis of conservation action in the UK. The BTO maintains a staff of 80 at its offices in Norfolk and Stirling, who analyse and publicise the results of project work. The BTO’s investigations are funded by government, industry and conservation organisations.
5. An image of this bird is available for use in association with this press release. Please contact to request an electronic version. Please quote reference number 2007/09/72
6. Bird Information. For lots of facts and figures about Choughs go to www.bto.org/birdfacts
7. The BTO has an ISDN line available for radio interviews.

For further information please contact:

Mark Grantham on 01842 750050 or email:

Paul Stancliffe on 01842 750050 or email: (during office hours)
or mobile 07845 900559 (any time)