Aren't birds brilliant > Sites > Choughs at Llechwedd Slate Caverns

This season's highlights

The team of volunteers and RSPB Cymru staff waited with baited breath as the camera was switched on.

As expected, an empty nest. 10 April, it seems, is a bit too early for any major nesting activity from our pair of choughs.

The birds attended the nest site periodically for the first couple of weeks and we were able to see that at least one of them was new for 2008! The male had rings on - the birds in 2007 were un-ringed. Since chough are faithful to their nest site year on year, we can safely assume that the female is the same bird and that her partner from the last few years has perished.

Checking our records we found that the new male was quite an old bird from a 1996 nest site near Beddgelert (chough generally live for up to ten years), and that this is his third Blaenau Ffestiniog nest site.

Despite this change in partner, the pair had a very successful season albeit running a little behind last years schedule. Ten days later than in 2007, four eggs arrived and a further eleven days later we witnessed the first sign of a tiny beak. Over the course of five more days we saw the balding heads of all four chicks stretching up out of the nest as their parents brought in a mix of gooey insects.

Sadly, four became three quite early on - a repeat of 2007 - but the surviving three put on a superb spectacle for visitors.

Once they were strong enough, our Chough Officer, Adrienne Stratford, climbed up to the nest to ring them. The information gained from ringing choughs has helped us to monitor where they go once they fledge.

By the first week in July, all three had fledged and were only using the nest site for night roosting. By 18 July we had closed this Abb! and reluctantly came away from the kind hospitality of Llechwedd Slate Caverns.

Becky Clews, People Engagement Manager, RSPB Cymru

Chough standing on groundGet fantastic views of a pair of nesting choughs that have made the cavern their home for the last nine years.

Choughs at Llechwedd Slate Caverns

19 April to 18 July

Video linkRefreshments availableToilets

Join us at the famous Llechwedd Slate Caverns to see a pair of nesting choughs – the rarest member of the crow family.

With live CCTV footage of the nest showing at the visitor centre, see these fantastic birds in their natural environment.

Learn more about choughs in Wales and their liking for nesting in disused mine-shafts, quarries and caverns from Wales' industrial past, and find out more about the lives of the miners and the conditions they had to work in.

Step on board the Miners Tramway and, if you're lucky, watch the glossy black adults fly in and out of the cavern with food for their noisy chicks.

Entry to the visitor centre, café and shop, and to view the nestcam is free. There is a charge for taking a Deep Mine and Miners Tramway tour. RSPB members get £1 off the tramway train ride.

Opening times

Llechwedd Slate Caverns are open every day except Christmas day between 10 am-6 pm. Our webcam can be viewed 10 am-4.30 pm.

Facilities

Unfortunately, there is no disabled access on the trains.

Refreshments are available from a number of places, including the Victorian Confectionary Shop, The Miners' Arms pub serving a full lunch during the summer months, a café serving hot meals and light snacks and a retail shop.

How to get there

By road
Llechwedd Slate Caverns are situated on the A470 between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Dolwyddelan, only 3/4mile from Blaenau.

By rail
Blaenau Ffestiniog train station is approximately 3/4mile from Llechwedd Slate Caverns.

Why not make a day of it?

The Ffestiniog/Welsh Highland Railway runs from Porthmadog to Blaenau Ffestiniog on a 13½ mile journey through the picturesque Welsh valleys.

The beautiful Italianate village of Portmeirion, scene of the cult TV series The Prisoner, is approximately 20mins away by car or go to Minffordd Station which is on both the Cambrian Coast line and the Ffestiniog SteamRailway lines.

Our Aren't birds brilliant! Glaslyn Osprey Project is just 12 miles away at Pont Croesor.

This is a partnership project with Llechwedd Slate Caverns.