Cornish Chough

A day spent around Lizard Point -  glorious sunny weather for Easter Sunday.

I walked west, returned for lunch, and then walked east. The geology of the Lizard is unique, both in terms of Cornwall and the wider UK, the pebbles on the beach are incredibly varied.  The sea pinks are in flower, and lots of other plants which I have yet to identify. Three cornered leek - it might as well be called Cornish leek, it is everywhere in abundance in this county - cloaks the top of the cliffs. But it's the two exotic South African invasives - hottentot fig and purple dew plant -  which clothe the cliff sides and give them their distinctive orange hues. The National Trust is clearing these from most of the coast (it has to be done by hand), but it's an impossible task around the Point itself. 

I first saw two choughs mobbing a raven, and then others feeding in the meadows west of the Point. They are the bird featured on the Cornish coat of arms, but had disappeared from the County by the middle of the last century. Then in 2001 - when foot and ,mouth disease led to footpaths being closed - a small number returned to The Lizard, since when, with careful habitat management - they seem to have become established in Cornwall again. They are the most beautiful member of the crow family, with their red beaks and legs. Most of the time that beak is stuck in soil or a dunghill, they are not easy to photograph. I was luck with this one, surrounded by hottentot fig leaves.