I could hear the sound long before I actually saw the birds themselves - a constant chorus of "chow, chow" from the cliffs above the beach. Climbing up the path, I soon caught sight of an unmistakable silhouette: the raggedy black wings with their long fingertips, the loose, floppy flight, and as I got closer, that long, decurved, blood-red bill.

I was on Marloes beach, in southwest Wales, watching choughs. Like most birders, I have a soft spot for the rarest British member of the crow family. I was rewarded with excellent views as the birds stood precariously on the edge of the cliff, splaying their bright red feet to keep their balance. They were feeding ferociously, digging into the soft earth with sharp, pointed bills, and consuming dozens of leatherjackets, the larvae of the familiar crane fly.

Close up, I could see the subtle tones of their plumage: not black, as it usually appears from a distance, but bluish-purple in tone, each feather shining when it catches the light from a particular angle.

In flight, performing acrobatic forays from the clifftops, these are wonderful birds to watch. One after another they take to the air, hanging momentarily on updraughts of wind before turning with a flick of their wings, and soaring upwards into the clear blue sky, calling as they go.

After a while, that characteristic call begins to attach itself to this spectacular landscape. Like fish and chips, and cockles and mussels, the two just seem to go together - and a sound that seemed so unusual when I first heard it simply blends into the background. It is only when you stop to think for a moment, that the link between the chough's call and its unusual name becomes clear. English is a particularly flexible language, and the "ough" sound the most slippery of all. What is written as "chough", and nowadays pronounced "chuff" (to rhyme with rough), was originally said as "chow" (to rhyme with bough). Like other names in the crow family - jackdaw, rook, crow and raven for example - it is of course onomatopoeic.

This part of Britain is Celtic country, about as far from the home counties - geographically and spiritually - as you can get heading westwards without getting your feet wet in the Irish Sea. Choughs are birds of the Celtic fringe too: found along the western coasts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland - and now, it seems, Cornwall. For the "Cornish chough" has returned to breed in the county, much to the delight of proponents of Cornish independence and local birders alike. Its proud place on the Cornish coat of arms - alongside two other endangered species, the miner and the fisherman - finally makes sense.

Back in Pembrokeshire, choughs are common enough to be encountered on clifftops all around this beautiful coast. Perhaps they will eventually expand their range still further, and hop across the Bristol Channel to the Somerset coast near where I live. If so, I can guarantee a warm welcome for this comical, delightful and noisy bird.

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