Chough castle sightings invoke King Arthur legend

Choughs have been spotted for the first time in decades at a heritage site where they have a special significance due to their connection to the legend of King Arthur.

English Heritage said the distinctive red-billed birds have been spotted at Tintagel Castle, the site of King Arthur's conception, according to Cornish legend.

King Arthur's soul was said to live on in the form of a chough and when they disappeared from the county in the mid-20th Century it was was seen as a bad omen - the bird is a key symbol of Cornwall.

Sightings and numbers of choughs have been steadily increasing and spreading to new parts of Cornwall since a breeding pair arrived near the Lizard in 2021.

Win Scutt, English Heritage curator, said: "People have told stories for centuries about choughs at Tintagel, so to see them here again, at a place so bound up with the legend of Arthur, feels extraordinary."

"It's a rare moment where nature and myth seem to meet," he added

In Arthurian legend it was said King Arthur did not die but instead departed to the mystical island of Avalon or that he lies in an enchanted sleep, waiting for the moment Britain most needs him, the charity said.

In Cornish tradition he was also imagined as resting within the landscape itself, ready to re-emerge when needed.

Since the successful re-emergence of choughs in Cornwall and following significant conservation efforts, more than 100 choughlets were born in 2023, 2024 and 2025, according the RSPB.

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