A pair of choughs have produced a nest of chicks in the west of Cornwall for the first time in 150 years.

The brood nested at a secret site on National Trust land in West Penwith, the trust said.

The news has prompted delight among conservationists who have been working hard to boost numbers of the bird.

Jon Brookes, National Trust manager for West Penwith said: "We are thrilled with this new development in our ongoing efforts to encourage the natural re-colonisation of the chough to Cornwall.

"A new pair breeding in the west of the county is great news and their success is down to the local farmers and the RSPB volunteers who put in all the time and effort into safeguarding the nests from disturbance."

The only other known breeding pair in England are on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall.

Jon Brookes, National Trust manager for West Penwith: "We are thrilled with this new development in our ongoing efforts to encourage the natural re-colonisation of the chough to Cornwall."

Claire Mucklow, who manages the Cornwall Chough Project, added: "Each year we hope the Lizard pair will breed again and so far they have not disappointed us.

"They are model parents and continue to produce strong healthy chicks."

The chough is a member of the crow family with a red beak and legs, and an excitable, high-pitched 'chi-ow' call from which it gets its name.

It is extremely acrobatic and its tumbling display flights make a truly impressive sight.

The chough is included in the county's coat of arms alongside the miner and the fisherman, reflecting the bird's importance in Cornish culture.

It also appears regularly in Cornish legend and it is said that King Arthur was transformed into a chough when he died, the red feet and beak representing his violent, bloody end.

The chough was once widespread around the coasts of Britain but has declined since the early nineteenth century, with only about 300 pairs left, mainly in Wales, the Isle of Man and western Scotland, although a larger population is present in Ireland.

A decline in suitable feeding habitat is thought to be the main reason for the loss of the chough from England, with many of the well-grazed pastures that were once common along the coast ploughed up for arable crops or overgrown with scrub.

Cornwall was once a stronghold for Choughs, they last nested in the county in 1952, long after they had been lost from the rest of England.

As the chough declined, so it became an increasingly prized target for egg collectors and trophy hunters.

Conservation organisations hoping to see the chough back in Cornwall have been working together for a number of years to secure more and better quality chough habitat.

It prefers short well-grazed coastal pastures and eats ground-dwelling invertebrates such as ants, beetle larvae and spiders.

Its rather untidy nest is built largely of sticks and usually well concealed within a crack in the cliff-face or deep inside a cave.

The article Choughs breeding success in west Cornwall originally appeared on 999 Westcountry