CHOUGH

4th February 2024

Photo Credit: AGAMI (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

The crow, the sland’rous cuckoo, nor

The boding raven, nor the chough hoar,

Nor chatt’ring pie

May on our birdhouse perch or sing,

Or with them any discord bring,

But from it fly.

SONG: Two Noble Kinsmen, Act 1, Scene 1

CHOUGH (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)

Shakespeare includes Choughs in several works and in several contexts from the live birds flying round the cliffs of Kent in King Lear to Autolycus’ potential victims in A Winter’s Tale.

Coughs have a rich cultural heritage in Britain. They became associated with the heraldry of the martyr Thomas a Beckett. The tradition was that a crow stepped in the martyrs blood and this gave the Chough its distinctive red legs and beak. Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell, ill-fated advisors to Henry VIII used the Chough in their heraldry.

Choughs are small, fast flying members of the Crow family. They are now found mainly in the west of the UK, although there are several reintroduction programmes in areas such as Kent and Sussex.

More Information

BTO: Chough

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Kent Wildlife Trust: Chough Reintroduction

Operation Chough: Visit Site

RSPB: Chough

Sussex Wildlife Trust: Chough Reintroduction

Tredynas Days, Simon Lavery: More on choughs