Those of us who volunteer at Llechwedd Slate Caverns and all the staff there, are feeling that odd mixture of sadness, pride and slight anxiety today - our babies have finally left the cavern!
They were careering around the ledges like kids on a picnic last week and on Saturday they had disappeared. However on Sunday, faced with the sort of downpour that only Snowdonia can produce, they crept back inside! Today the weather was improving and they were off again!
They will still be around the huge quarry/ cavern complex that comprises Llechwedd being taught how to feed themselves and as summer progresses they will be seen further and further afield probably ending up over the other side of the Moelwyn Hills in the Croesor Valley. We will get the occasional report of a sighting - they are individually identifiable by the coloured rings that were put on them some weeks ago.
We are so pleased that our parent birds have raised all four of their chicks this year - up to now we have only ever had three survive. This is a really great "Date with Nature" site and we hope to be back next year - do try to come! Choughs are quite simply brilliant birds! Noisy, active, intelligent and playful as only corvids can be.
Three cheers for the Llechwedd Choughs!!
Jenni
God gave us two ears and one mouth for a very good reason!
That's fantastic Jenny. Chough.are the only corvid in wales, that I don't see often, I must keep my eye open for this next year
Congratulations :)
It's both what you do and the way that you do it!
You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren. William Henry Hudson (1841 - 1922)
Hi mpiekp,
Yeh! we all feel as if we did it ourselves!!
Apart from seeing the live feeds from our cameras while the birds are in the cavern you can get superb views of Choughs at South Stack and at the very end of the Lleyn overlooking Bardsey Island. If you are lucky you can also see them on the Great Orme at Llandudno and in the Croesor area in Autumn and Winter. To get fantastic views of them playing in the air, South Stack is definitely best.
Of course there are other places in South Wales but I don't know them so well.
Do try to come up and see them!
I would love to come up, in winter you get lapland bunting too. Which we very rarely get down south.
Did you see country tracks yesterday, Iolo was talking up those very places as the best for good chough views in the UK, now there's an endorsement. Also I think the viewing in the breeding season is later more accessible.
Yes, I did see Iolo. He is very fond of Choughs, as he is of BoPs and he supports us in our rescue and rehabilitation work at the sanctuary, bless him!
Let me know if you are making a trip to north Wales!