Chough Welfare and Coastal Cliff Grazing Habitats

The chough is a charismatic red-billed corvid confined to coastal cliffs and upland grasslands in western Britain and Ireland, with its welfare depending on the continuation of traditional extensive grazing that maintains its specialist ant and invertebrate food supply.

Key Facts

UK chough numbers are around 400 pairs, concentrated in Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man, and Ireland
Their red bill and legs and acrobatic flight make choughs unmistakable among British corvids
Choughs probe short coastal turf and cliff tops for ants, beetles, and other invertebrates using their curved bill
The species is sensitive to agricultural intensification that replaces short-grazed turf with rank grassland
Choughs require cliff faces with suitable nest crevices within foraging distance of appropriate grassland

Welfare Considerations

Chough welfare depends on the continuation of extensive livestock grazing that maintains the short turf structure in which invertebrate prey is accessible. Abandonment of traditional grazing or replacement by intensive management eliminates the food supply. The small and isolated nature of the UK population makes individual breeding failures disproportionately significant. Disturbance at nest sites on coastal cliffs by climbers and walkers during the breeding season is a direct welfare threat.

What You Can Do

Support RSPB Chough Recovery Project in Wales and other key sites
Advocate for agri-environment support for traditional extensive grazing on coastal grasslands
Avoid coastal cliff climbing at known chough nesting sites from February through July
Contribute chough sightings to county bird recorders and RSPB monitoring schemes
Back traditional hill farming systems that maintain the livestock grazing on which choughs depend