LookWild: The efforts to protect an iconic bird of Eryri
-
Date posted: 29/09/2025
-
Time to read: 4 mins
The chough (pronounced ‘Chuff’), or ‘Brân Goesgoch’ (meaning ‘red-legged crow’ in Welsh), is the rarest member of the crow – or corvid – family in the UK and can be found nesting on high, coastal cliffs, in quarries and abandoned buildings. Adult choughs have a large wingspan of around 80cm and can live for up to 24 years.
The chough is an very social bird that keeps in constant contact with its companions. You can often hear its unique call “cheee-ow, cheee-ow” as you walk on the uplands of the Carneddau, in the northern part of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park.
A part of the landscape
Choughs have often been considered part of the cultural landscape of Eryri. Another name for the bird in Welsh is ‘Brân Arthur’. Legend has it that the soul of King Arthur departed this world in the form of a chough, with its red legs and bill signifying Arthur’s violent and bloody end.
In the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, quarry workers in Bethesda and Penmaenmawr often kept choughs as pets. During this time, choughs were incredibly popular cage birds and exhibition curators would routinely visit quarrying areas across the country.
The chough is the rarest breeding crow in the UK and it has been identified as a priority species by the Welsh Government. Almost 30% of the UK’s chough population can be found in North-West Wales, with the Carneddau upland pastures offering a vital feeding habitat.
A chough’s diet mainly consists of soil, ground and dung-dwelling invertebrates, but the birds can also be found eating seeds and sometimes berries. In winter, choughs will often head to the coastline to feed on sand dunes and beaches when food can be harder to find on pasture.
Threats and protection efforts
One of the main threats facing these birds is the loss of suitable habitat at traditional foraging sites.
With the help of volunteers, our scrub vegetation clearance project is creating more open feeding grounds for the chough at key locations across the Carneddau.
We are also tracking the chough population to better understand their ecology and habitat usage through the year. This information is important as it will inform future conservation plans for the species. But more people are needed to help identify these birds on the Carneddau uplands as better records of this species will help to inform future conservation plans.
Local people can help to identify and monitor the Chough and the dung-dwelling invertebrates. Volunteers and members of the public can help us collect further data on Chough numbers and their feeding behaviours by joining us on seasonal counts and emailing their Chough sighting data to this email address.
Contractors are also monitoring chough numbers by using GPS tags to map their activity across the Carneddau. Through our webcam installations at nesting sites, the live feed is being used to raise awareness of this rare and fascinating bird – a true icon of Eryri.
It’s not every day you get to see one of our National Parks in biscuit form on @britishbakeoff!
Last night, The Great British Bake Off contestant @itsdoctoryan created a beautiful biscuit mosaic inspired by the Broads National Park, perfectly capturing the view at St Benet’s Mill, Thurne.
And it wasn’t just a feast for the eyes as the mosaic was made using treacle and ginger, honey and lemon, cocoa and malted milk, and pistachio biscuits.
Two great things combined: a beautiful National Park view and delicious biscuits. What could be better than that? 💚
Photo: Channel 4
#GBBO #BakeOff #NorfolkBroads @broadsnationalpark
You’ve likely heard of one - but what does it actually do?
Our 15 Parks wouldn’t be able to function without the authorities working behind the scenes to keep them running.
And each authority relies on people. People within the community, volunteers, staff and members. People that run businesses, or partner as organisations. People that are skilled and knowledgeable in a variety of areas from wildlife to accessibility.
Our National Parks are full of people and action, and it’s the Authorities that bring them all together.
💚
#NationalParksUK #NationalParkAuthorities
The Yorkshire Dales has one of the highest concentrations of caves and caverns of any of our 15 National Parks - a whole landscape hiding beneath the ground.
Our National Parks don’t just protect and preserve the landscapes we see every day. They also help care for historic and unique places discovered by our ancestors, like Ingleborough Cave and Gaping Gill, both of which were shrouded in myth and legend until they were explored by Victorians in the 1800s.
There’s so much more to our National Parks than meets the eye and sometimes, quite literally beneath the surface 👀
#YorkshireDales #GapingGill #Ingleborough
A week on from National Parks UK’s Big Volunteer Weekend, we’re still celebrating the people who make a difference across our National Parks.
Last weekend, hundreds of people came together across all 15 National Parks to give their time, share their skills and support our landscapes.
But volunteering in our National Parks doesn’t happen just one weekend a year. All year round, volunteers play an incredible variety of roles – from leading guided walks and supporting education, to conservation, planting and caring for our landscapes.
Every volunteer makes a valuable contribution to protecting our natural and cultural heritage. We simply couldn’t do what we do without you. 💚
So, to all our volunteers: thank you for your time, energy, enthusiasm and everything you bring to our National Parks.
If you know someone who volunteers in a National Park, help us spread the thanks by sharing this post. 🌿
#Volunteers #NationalParks #NationalParksUK
Mae’r Bele yn un o famaliaid prinnaf Cymru, ond mae eu niferoedd yn tyfu yn raddol. Mae hynny’n newyddion da i’n coetiroedd ac i’r Parciau Cenedlaethol, sy’n darparu rhai o’r cynefinoedd pwysicaf ar gyfer bywyd gwyllt ledled Cymru a Phrydain.
Ym Mannau Brycheiniog, mae’r prosiect adfer wedi gosod blychau nythu yn y coed, ac mae gwaith monitro wedi nodi presenoldeb y Bele, gan gynnwys grwpiau teuluol. Mae’r ffilm arbennig hon yn dangos un ohonynt ar waith. 🐾
Mae’n atgof hyfryd o’r hyn sy’n bosibl pan ddaw coetiroedd iach a gwaith cadwraeth arbenigol at ei gilydd i roi’r gofod sydd ei angen ar rywogaethau prin i wella.
Pine Martens are one of Wales’ rarest mammals, but they’re slowly making a comeback. That’s good news for our woodlands, and for National Parks, which provide some of the most important habitats for wildlife across Wales and Britain.
In Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons), the recovery project has installed treetop den boxes, with monitoring identifying pine martens, including family groups. This special footage shows one in action. 🐾
It’s a lovely reminder of what can happen when healthy woodlands and specialist conservation work come together to give rare species the space they need to recover.
#BreconBeacons #BannauBrycheiniog #PineMartins #Wales
It’s the Autumn Equinox 🍂
Our National Parks are always changing in time with the rhythm of nature, but this becomes particularly noticeable when autumn arrives.
Deer begin to rut, spiders’ cobwebs glisten in the fresh light, fungi become more prominent, and leaves begin to change colour.
What changes have you noticed so far? 🧡
#Autumn #AutumnEquinox #NationalParks
“You look after the National Park not for yourself, but for people who are coming, the ones who are following you.”
These are the words of Ron Wood, who has been volunteering for the Lake District National Park for over 60 years. His story reflects the vital role volunteering plays across our National Parks: keeping them thriving, communities invested, and people connected to and caring for our landscapes.
Over the decades, Ron’s incredible journey has seen him remain steadfast in his commitment through droughts, hand, foot and mouth disease, and the ever-changing rhythms of nature. Through it all, one thing has remained constant: his dedication to looking after the environment for those who come after him.
You can read Ron`s full story by clicking the link in our bio or learn more about volunteering at nationalparks.uk/volunteering 🔗
📸Photos by @lakedistrictnpa
#LakeDistrict #Volunteering #NationalParks
A quiet autumn transformation is beginning to take place. 🍁
Bracken gradually fades to burnt oranges. Mist sweeps across the horizon. Grasses brown and trees begin their annual shaking of leaves.
Our National Parks are never still. They are constantly changing and transforming with the seasons - a living rhythm of growth, decay, colour and renewal.
These four photographs perfectly capture our Parks on the cusp of autumn 📸
1. Dartmoor @ryanbrowningphotography
2. Lake District @jonny.gios
3. New Forest @acornsandscapes
4. Northumberland @calbrownphoto
#Autumn #NationalParksUK
