Winter Woodlarks

I'm pretty certain that most woodlarks go undetected which is a pity of course. Apart from their distinctive song there is not much to draw the casual observer's attention unless they are viewed close up when the creamy supercilium can be seen extending round to the back of the head.
For anyone who is not sure what to look for: they are obviously lark-like in behaviour, usually in small flocks and often on the ground. They are distinctly smaller than skylarks and show a very short tail when they fly up, often silently. Usually they will settle again quickly but sometimes they will fly to an available tree.
I've seen a few small flocks recently including a dozen birds in the Bonnieure valley this afternoon and another ten near to my house. Also in the valley today was a flock of about fifty white wagtails feeding in a recently ploughed field. I was on my bike as usual and managed to clock up just over thirty species in a couple of hours, the most interesting of which (other than the woodlarks) was a single marsh tit near La Poterie.
The weather has been remarkably sunny and quite warm for the last three weeks or so but after the last flurry of autumn migration culminating in a substantial movement of cranes there has not been a great deal of note. Moreover, the unseasonal warmth has perhaps delayed the arrival of our winter visitors and I have yet to see redwing, fieldfare, brambling or siskin, and even lapwings have appeared in only small numbers.

Back 0n Line

To anyone out there who is still reading this blog.......

For some unknown reason (though this has happened before) I've been locked out of my blog by Google for the last couple of months and have not posted since early autumn.
Here we are now in the the build up to Xmas and all the cranes seem now to have passed over! ..but there is other stuff to report so, having just regained access, I'll trawl through my notes and do a catch-up in my next post.

Late Wheatears and Merlins

Summer has slid into autumn in a gentle,warm manner and the bird migration has been steady if not spectacular over the last week or two. After a hiatus of several days a few more wheatears turned up yesterday, five or six of them in fact. The first was in a ploughed field opposite my house but the others were scattered over familiar territory on the plains between Artenac and La Tâche. I've not seen any whinchats for several days though (but resident stonechats are very common). Other passerines were gathering on the plains too, most notably meadow pipits (about 70), skylarks and goldfinches. The tiny falcon, the merlin, usually moves in at this time of year to take advantage of this food supply and I've seen two individuals in the area.
Everywhere is of course far too dry for waders at the moment (one needs to visit the lakes of the Haute Charente for those) and there has no passage down here of note except for a few lapwing and golden plover.
Up to about a week ago swallows were still numerous and then they all seemed to disappear literally overnight... and then there were none for several days. The occasional straggler has in fact turned up since but the last one I saw was here at La Poterie three days ago.
Black redstarts and robins are very plentiful at the moment and many are singing, quite why they do so at this time of year is a bit of a mystery.
A few interesting non-migratory birds have recently shown themselves: a lesser spotted woodpecker at La Rochefoucauld, a marsh tit in the Braconne and a singing woodlark near Artenac. My hen harrier sightings have been limited to a couple of males and one female in the last week or so.

Autumn Migration

Ireland was predictably wet (although the seabirds were great) but Charente was even wetter on the day we arrived back with the first serious rain since June. Despite that, the village pond has completely dried up and our two mallards have sadly disappeared probably into the belly of Monsieur Reynard. A few moorhens are bravely hanging on but even they are vulnerable to predators which no longer have to deal with the water.
I've got back into my cycling routine after all those Irish breakfasts (to say nothing of the Guinness) and have caught up with the autumn migrants which are moving through. As there is no wetland nearby, the most productive areas have been on the open plains near the eoliens and the hedges around the bio farm near La Tâche.
Wheatears have been around in small numbers over the last week or so, as have whinchats, and the first meadow pipits have made an appearance. I flushed a small flock of yellow wagtails on one occasion and have come across several common redstarts and blackcaps on most days. Other warblers have been less frequent, I have seen just one whitethroat  and only a couple of willow warblers.
Swallows are still around in big numbers feeding over the harvested fields and robins are more plentiful than during the summer. Black redstarts are sometimes around in small groups and one bright male has inexplicably started singing in my garden as though it is spring.
The garden has been quite productive in fact; spotted and pied flycatchers have graced it over several days and firecrest and grey wagtail have put in appearances.
The most notable sighting of this week, though, have been two zitting cisticolas in the maize in the Tardoire valley and a male merlin hunting on the plains today.
It's still September so there's more to come.... and I note that a rare pallid harrier was seen in the east Charente earlier this week.

Tree Sparrows and Black Terns

Later this week we are off to Ireland for a wedding (and perhaps a much needed holiday as we have been inundated with visitors this summer.) I've been making the most of the remaining days of August to check out signs of the return migration and it's been quite rewarding.
 A few whinchats were moving through this week and I've seen several pied flycatchers in my garden and elsewhere. Also in the garden have been two bright willow warblers and several common and black redstarts.
I went further afield to the lakes of the high Charente today in an attempt to catch up on those migrants that need a stretch of water, a habitat that's in short supply closer to home, and watched eight marsh terns dipping in the lake at Chaban. Several of them were certainly black terns but others might have been whiskered; I hadn't taken my telescope with me and they never came closer than a hundred yards or so. I came across no waders other than common sandpiper but a good selection has been reported by Charente Nature mainly on the other lake at Lavaud. There were plenty of herons, a few cormorants and singles of little and great white egrets and great crested grebe.
The most interesting birds for me this week,though,were not migrants but some rather rare residents, tree sparrows. I came across at least three of them mixed in with several house sparrows and a few serins near La Rochette. These attractive birds are localised and possibly overlooked and the first I've seen in Charente for several years. Shortly before I saw them I had good views of a lesser spotted woodpecker, the second one for me this month.

Late Evening Birds

Dawn is always the best time for birding but despite its attractions it seems increasingly more difficult to get up with the larks. An extreme alternative on very hot days like today is to wait until an hour or so before sunset and then observe what the birds are doing.
In truth there was not a great deal of activity this evening as most birds had perhaps gone to roost but a cycle over the plains was rewarded by finding a group of five hoopoes feeding in a meadow. More precisely, four of them were while the fifth stayed apart and motionless on the ground. Perhaps he had already settled down for the night.
While watching them I heard the forlorn cry of a stone curlew and a scan of a nearby field revealed two individuals sitting quite still but in their case these crepuscular birds were doubtlessly waiting for near darkness before they began their feeding.
In fading light I passed by the bio farm and came across another motionless bird, this time a pied flycatcher perched on a dead branch. The insects he feeds on had probably settled down for the night and maybe he was already drifting into sleep.

White Storks

There were 101 of them and they were black and white but they were storks rather than dogs and they  
were standing in a field in Valence. They were first seen there on Tuesday evening and some were even sitting on roofs and telephone poles. By wednesday morning they had moved to another field closer to the church but when I last went to look late that afternoon they had moved on, presumably towards Spain. While I was photographing them I heard a stone curlew call several times but I was not able to locate him.
The storks show us that migration is under way. The swifts have already left of course and probably quite a few of the swallows as well although many of them are still to be seen gathering in flocks while house martins are now only occasionally glimpsed.
I'm still waiting for the first pied flycatchers of the return migration but there are plenty of the spotted variety to be found at the moment. An unexpected early individual was a female wheatear which I came across near Artenac last Saturday.
Other recent birds of note include an obliging sleek Cetti's warbler which allowed me to watch him by the footbridge at Le Moulin d'Oiseau for some minutes, kingfishers on both the Charente and the Son-Sonnette and several hoopoes but it's now difficult to find any red backed shrikes in their usual haunts.

Hobby

It's taken a long time this summer to see my first hobby so I watched the one that was hunting swallows near the bio farm for some time. It was the swallows' alarm calls which alerted me to his presence and it was fascinating to see how the intended victims quickly became the aggressor by ganging up to see him off. A few moments later I witnessed swallows adopting a simlar tactic by flying close to a family of red backed shrikes to disturb them from their hunting perches.
Thursday gave the garden some very welcome rain after the hot spell and today (Saturday) the birds seem much more active. As I write this in the early morning sunshine several families are busy flitting from shrub to tree and occasionally sitting on the lawn. The largest group is of blackcaps but there are also blue and great tits, robins, melodious warblers, greenfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches, blackbirds, sparrows, starlings and firecrest. The young moorhens are also chugging about on the pond.
Away from the garden, the Orioles seem to have finally stopped singing but I did hear a stone curlew calling on the plains last week. A pair of kingfishers brightened up the river near Lichère and there are plenty of red backed shrikes and stonechats about but many habitats appear to be rather quiet which is typical of much of August.

Hot, Hot Hot!

It wasn't too long ago that I was having a quiet moan about the delayed summer but this week has brought heat with a vengeance, 40C being reached yesterday. Rather than taking shelter from the temperature, the golden orioles seem to be welcoming it and one male has been singing away near to my house for over a week now. The clear notes carry a long distance and this bird can often be heard from half a kilometre away. Despite this, because he often sings from the very top of the trees, I can usually pick his bright yellow and black out with binoculars.
Another species which relishes the conditions is the black kite. Large numbers of these birds are taking advantage of the frantic harvesting which is taking place at present as they patrol the stubble fields looking for casualties of the combines. I saw over a dozen yesterday as I drove a couple of visitors to Limoges airport and I arrived at a friend's BBQ in the evening to be told that I had just missed the spectacle of about forty raptors, mainly black kites sharing a thermal.
On the side of my house the young kestrels are now viewing the world from their nesting hole and elsewhere in the garden family groups of finches, blackbirds, tits and sparrows are being taught to start looking after themselves. The local blackcap and chiffchaff are still singing but the whitethroat has curiously gone quiet; perhaps it's too hot for him.

Early July

The sun (and the heat) is back this week. This of course is a good thing (as they say in '1066 and All That') but it can make birding more difficult unless you make a very early start. I've had a minor op recently which means that I can't do my usual local bike rides until the end of this month with the consequence that I've spent more time in my garden. Twenty seven species made an appearance yesterday, the most interesting being spotted flycatcher, firecrest, whitethroat and melodious warbler all of which I have seen on several occasions during the last few weeks so I assume that they are breeding around the property. As with last year, the buildings and garden have also provided nesting sites for several other species including kestrel, black redstart, goldfinch, chaffinch, greenfinch, house sparrow, starling, wood pigeon, blackbird, blue tit and great tit.
Stone curlews obviously don't nest in my garden but I heard one calling from a nearby field late yesterday evening, and perhaps a little owl is nesting nearby as one making a bit of a noise in the garden during the early hours.
I have managed a couple of trips to the forest this week but can report nothing of special interest other than black woodpecker. ( I forgot to take any precautions when walking through an area of long grass while wearing shorts and found no fewer than four tics on my legs when I got home... So beware!)
The pair of red backed shrikes were still showing near the bio farm this week and I have caught a glimpse of the occasional golden oriole but several of our summer visitors such as hoopoes seem to be very unobliging (I blame the sun).

As a PS, I recommend the Charente Nature website as a source of info about local birds. It's in French of course but it is updated daily and allows you to upload your own sightings as well as being to access those of others. It's free, you just need to register.

Short-toed Eagle

The very cool and wet weather has literally put a dampener on the birding seen with little that is unusual to report but I had the pleasure of watching my first short-toed eagle of 2016 circling over the house this afternoon. The bird was high yet nevertheless obviously hunting; it frequently hovered in a slow flapping manner and lowered its legs as it remained in view for about five minutes.
Other than that, the most interesting observations have been of several red backed shrikes including a solitary female in a new location for me. A few nightingales are still singing despite the abysmal weather but things may generally cheer up next week when the forecast is for much warmer and drier days.

Spotted Flycatcher

I saw the sun this evening ; it was a remarkable sight as it seems to have been absent for a couple of weeks. And it didn't rain today! but nevertheless the Bonnieure is over its banks in several places, a spectacle that doesn't appear even in some winters.
The small wood at the side of my garden is usually busy with birds: a firecrest sings from there everyday and must have a nest, and a family of recently fledged wrens were rather noisy today but it was a normally silent bird which drew my attention this afternoon, a spotted flycatcher. I always enjoy the understated plumage of this species in the same way that I like to watch dunnocks. They are one of the later summer migrants and their fondness for quiet woodlands and their unobtrusive nature makes them easily overlooked.
A short cycle ride turned up 30 something species including tree pipit, black kite, golden oriole and an obliging nightingale which allowed me to watch him singing out in the open for a minute or so.
Let's hope the sun shines again tomorrow.

Late May

It's been a pretty wet May with some storms and hail thrown in so the birding highlights have been rather intermittent but here's a brief round-up.
A reed warbler has been singing on the Son-sonette in the same patch of reeds as the last few years so there is probably a breeding pair. I have also heard Cetti's down there but have seen nothing of the black woodpecker since my last report.
The Fôret de Belaire has been reasonably productive with plenty of singing species including garden warbler, golden oriole, cuckoo, bullfinch, treecreeper, melodious warbler, Bonelli's warbler, nightjar and firecrest but there have been no wood warblers to date.
I have seen a pair of stonecurlew on the plains on several occasions but their regular field was being fertilised yesterday so they were absent.
Red backed shrikes have settled into several of the breeding sites in which I located them last year and black kites have appeared regularly but I've yet to come across honey buzzard, hobby or Montague's harrier (or quail for that matter).
A trip to the lakes of the high Charente turned up several common sandpipers and great crested grebes but I did not see any of the terns which have been reported there.
Nesting birds have been busy around the garden and house: kestrel, black redstart, blackbird, mistle thrush, firecrest, house sparrow, starling, wood pigeon, goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch, and tits though none of the latter have used the nest boxes. ( And curiously a pair of hares have been dashing around the lawn.)
The cherries are late ripening but the birds are stealing them already.

Nightjar and Garden Warbler

I have not posted for a week or so partly because I popped down to Spain for a few days and partly because the wet weather on my return has not been too conducive to birding. Plenty of rain was still falling today but I managed to avoid the showers this morning and had a walk in the Forêt de Belaire after first checking out the plains near the eoliens.
It was only 11C at 8.30 pm so I watched a solitary stone curlew from the comfort of the car (and with the heated seat fully on as the car hadn't yet warmed up). It was DH Lawrence who said that you never see a bird which feels sorry for itself, and the stone curlew certainly appeared more stoical than me.
Shortly afterwards I passed by the bio farm and heard a red backed shrike calling from a hedge that had been used for nesting last year but I saw neither him nor the yellowhammer which was singing nearby.
The forest was wet underfoot but everything was green and springlike. On the warbler front, lots of chiffchaffs were singing along with a few blackcaps and whitethroats but it was little time before I tracked down the repetitive trill of the Bonelli's warblers. There was no sound of wood warblers but the disappointment was mitigated by hearing and then briefly watching a garden warbler, the first for me this year (and very possibly the last as they are none too common).
Short-toed treecreepers were surprisingly common, however, and some were carrying insects back to their young. Occasionally a nuthatch called and for a few moments I watched a bright male redstart.
Although a male bullfinch was calling in the same area that I saw him last time, I could not catch sight of him before he finally moved further away. The noisiest birds by far were the cuckoos and orioles and I occasionally caught flashes of them without really trying.
I had heard my first nightjar of the Spring from a wood behind my house yesterday evening but a louder and closer bird briefly churred as I returned to where I had parked my vehicle. I will make an evening to that location soon.

For the record and for those who might want to wander from Charente, the brief Pyrenean visit gave me a few new birds for 2016 including griffon and Egyptian vultures, wrynecks, blue rock thrush, rock sparrow, dipper, crag martin, scops owl, pied flycatcher, chough, raven and booted eagle

Bonelli's Warblers and Black Woodpecker

There is still a cool northerly breeze but the sun has been mainly out during the last few days so the thermometer is showing the upper 30's when it's not in the shade.
I went for a longish walk rather than a bike ride on Wednesday and I finally caught up with Bonelli's warblers in the woods near Goise. Their short trill is very distinctive and is invaluable in tracking them down as they prefer to forage in the canopy. Once located,though, they are quite obliging as they don't tend to move far.
Cetti's warblers have an even more distinctive song and two different individuals were making their loud noise (hardly a warble) from the damp vegetation near the Son-sonette; along with chiffs, blackcaps, whitethroats and melodious they brought the day's warbler species total to six but the reed warblers were not yet present at their usual location, I hope they arrive soon.
A big surprise on the other bank of the river, near Valence, was a black woodpecker. I first heard him call from a group of tall pines before he flew across in front of me towards the poplar plantation from where he eventually started to drum loudly. This impressive species seems to be coming much more common as I have seen several already this year.
Rather more difficult to find nowadays are the stone curlews. One was present in the on the plains near the turbines although I could not locate his partner who I had seen earlier in the week. My farming neighbour described this species to me and asked me to identify it as he had seen one close to his tractor in a different field. He was not aware that it was a rare migrant species or that it nested on the ground.
The species count for the whole walk was 46.

Golden Oriole

Despite the northerly wind it's been very warm in the sunshine and perhaps this is what has made the Orioles burst into song over the last couple of days. Another familiar addition to the summer visitor list was the turtle dove which I heard purring on the edge of the Braconne Forest this morning. Not far from it I watched a black woodpecker fly over, issuing a strange flight call that I've not heard before.
I called in at Fougère on the way to the forest  and found a late Greenshank feeding in the tiny bit of flood water which remains.
A visit to Le Forêt de Belaire yesterday was delightful except for the near absence of birds and it was a similar story in the Braconne today so I'm still looking for my first Bonelli's warbler of the Spring.
In the garden the blackbirds' eggs have hatched and the starlings are also feeding young. The redstarts seem to have abandoned building a rather ridiculously precarious nest on top of a beam as most of the material they took up there almost immediately fell down. I hope they find somewhere else to breed.

Black Stork and Swifts

Without my checking back I think it was last Spring when I came across a rare black stork near Fougère. Very surprisingly on Thursday and Friday an individual was sitting in exactly the same spot and very likely was the same bird which was following the same migration route as last year. A black kite was also present.
My first two swifts of the year flew over Saint Angeau as I passed through.

Woodchat Shrike, Whinchat, Melodious Warbler

Wednesday was warm but overcast and that may have encouraged some migrants to drop in rather than fly over as it turned out to be a good morning's birding. I haven't seen a woodchat shrike for a couple of years and so the perfect specimen which was sat atop a hedge near the bio farm was a great surprise. Perhaps there is something about this hedge which shrikes like as its where the red backed shrikes traditionally nest.
He was very confiding and after watching him for some ten minutes I left him in peace. The location held othe birds too; my second melodious warbler of the day (and spring) was busy in a nearby tree as was a singing willow warbler.
The rape fields are places to find whinchats during autumn in my experience but at least five migrants were taking advantage of them near La Tâche today and all sitting prettily on top as they always seem to do.

Willow Warblers

The last few days have been on the damp and dull side to say the least but I managed to dodge the showers this morning and visited the Son-sonette near Ventouse. Willow warblers were singing and I saw at least four birds in the space of five minutes; I suspect there were many more. These were the first that I have heard this year so it is likely that there was an influx last night. The other four warbler species which were around on this short trip were Cetti's, chiffchaff,  blackcap and whitethroats. Nightingales were singing everywhere, a few cuckoos were calling and a female hen harrier was hunting near Lairiere. On the way back a female wheatear was obligingly sat on a post at Bois Bernadette as I cycled by.

Yesterday I had a look at Fougère but there were no waders present, just three little egrets paddling in one of the few remaining pools. Several tree pipits were in the tree tops though and a male wheatear was on the Lairiere plains close to where one stone curlew was doing its usual imitation of a statue.

Male Wheatears and Stone Curlews

I came across my first male wheatears of the year on Tuesday, three of them in fact, in a ploughed field on the plains. Two females were also there.
The stone curlews were close by and although they stayed very still as always, their greyish plumage did not camouflage them very well against the dark earth background or the local creamy stones.
Today's bike ride turned up over forty species but no new arrivals. The floods at Fougère have now virtually disappeared but a little egret was taking advantage of the little water that remains.

Bullfinch, Common Redstart and Tree Pipit

The last two days have seen temperatures in the low 20's but with some strong winds, heavy showers and even storms and hail at times. Nevertheless migrant birds continue to arrive and my first tree pipits of the year were singing in the Bonnieure valley. Another first was a male common redstart in all of his far from common finery.

Nightingales are also singing in many locations and I had the relatively rare pleasure of actually seeing one do so today as they are usually so well concealed.

Sunday's strong winds helped direct me to the shelter of Le Forêt de Belaire and my reward was not only a black woodpecker feeding mainly on the ground but also a superb male bullfinch. I've not checked back. But I think it's a few years since I've seen this Charente resident. Chiffchaffs and firecrests were plentiful there and a cuckoo was calling.

Of note among our regular birds is the stunning male hawfinch which is still visiting my feeders and the hen harriers of both sexes which have been a daily sight throughout the month.

Wheatear,Nightingale and Whitethroat

Very remarkably, my first Charente wheatear of the Spring turned up in my garden and even more curiously she has hung around the house for the last two days. She won't stay of course as these are not her breeding grounds but I was very pleased that she popped in.

The second wheatear which I came across some twenty four hours later was also a female but this time in the more predictable location  of a ploughed field. Usually the first wheatear arrivals are males but I'm sure a few will turn up during the next week or so.

While checking for any wetland birds at Fougère (there were just a few green sandpipers) I heard a nightingale singing from a nearby garden. Despite being a very early arrival it was already performing most of its full repertoire... except for the 'jug-jug-jug' bit.

The whitethroats,which were also singing,were at the Bandiat and there were at least two of them. Nothing else of note was there though except for a little grebe, a hoopoe and half a dozen mallards.

A female black redstart turned up at the house today presumably to team up with the male who has been here for over a week now. Also in the garden was a mistle thrush which after collecting some grubs flew off into our little wood where I assume he is nesting. He has been remarkably secretive for such a big bird.

Hoopoes and Waders

There is little left of the flooded area around Fougère despite the substantial rain which my quarter-full wheelbarrow tells me fell during my UK trip. Nevertheless, passage waders are making use of it and there were 22 green sandpipers, 2 greenshanks and 3 little ringed plovers there today.
Hoopoes and cuckoos were calling and I noticed that swallows on the wires in our village and house martins circling around their regular nesting haunts in Saint Angeau. Several serins were also in song including one in my garden.

Stone Curlews, Cuckoos...and a Yellowhammer

I was visiting the UK last week so I'm not up to speed with what's been happening here but a cuckoo was calling close to the house as I arrived home this afternoon and a couple of stone curlews were standing in a field near Romefort just before I turned onto the D27.
I did manage a bike ride around the plains around 7pm hoping a wheatear might be about especially as I had seen my first of this Spring in Gloucestershire a couple of days ago. Alas, there were none to be seen but a male hen harrier and a high flying merlin were some compensation.
Yellowhammers are not really Spring migrants but the few that we have hereabouts seem to disappear  in the winter months. I saw several in England last week and so was pleased to see the bright yellow head of a male bird in his usual nesting place near Lairière as I returned from my short cycle tour.

Marsh Harrier and Martins

Spring migration is gaining pace although in a rather stuttering fashion. For instance, Monday was a good day at The Bandiat with house martins and a few sand martins joining the many swallows yet none of these species were present there yesterday. Nevertheless, everyday brings something of interest.

A marsh harrier was an unexpected bonus at The Bandiat on Monday and the place was full of chiffchaffs. Among the manny migrating white wagtails was my first yellow wagtail of the year and also a couple of black redstarts. The only wader there though was a green sandpiper.

A few blackcaps have now appeared and there were three black redstarts around the house yesterday.
The Tardoire at Fougere is rather quiet with nothing to report yesterday except for about six hundred lapwings. The gulls seem to have moved on.

The garden birds are still devouring the sunflower seeds and brambling, siskin and hawfinch continue to attend.

Today is another sunny one with a slight frosty start so let's see what turns up.

Osprey

A decision to have a look around the Charente valley near Luxé turned up trumps when a migrating osprey met my arrival. It spent around fifteen minutes gliding and hovering over the river close to he new railway line before it drifted upstream, never making an attempt to drop down for a fish but frequently extending its legs.

On the flooded overspill the only wader around was a green sandpiper but while I was watching it a kingfisher flew across. Water pipits were flitting about in numbers while chiffchaffs were in every bush and also feeding on the ground. The only other passerine migrants were three swallows and a singing blackcap.As I returned to the car a black kite passed overhead making me think that the Charente's valley like so many others acts as a flight path for migrating birds.

As planned yesterday, I visited the Tardoire but saw no sociable plover among the hundreds of lapwings. One great white egret was feeding with a dozen grey herons but little else was there of note except a single redshank and five shovelers.

The big bright hawfinch was again at the garden feeders and a few brambling and siskins accompanied the commoner finches.

Swallows and Black Kites

After the sunshine of Saturday it was a cool and damp start to Sunday so I took the car rather than the bike to see if anything had turned up at The Bandiat. There was only a male shoveler on the rapidly shrinking lake but over fifty swallows were chasing insects and sometimes settling in the trees. Chiffchaffs were plentiful.

I met a french birdwatcher there (an extremely rare event in Charente) who told me that a sociable plover had been seen at Fougère. This even rarer event is one that I need to investigate tomorrow. I had in fact been there earlier and seen nothing more than lapwings, shovelers, a great white egret and half a dozen golden plovers..... but you never know.

A drive over the Lairiere plains turned up my first black kite of the year and his presence upset a female hen harrier which tried to see him off. It was surprising to see how small she looked in comparison. I saw a second black kite in the afternoon near the lakes of high Charente.

On the sunny Saturday which I mentioned there were a couple of snipe at Fougère and two great white egrets, while at my feeders the brambling count had risen to five.

Mid March Update

Two consecutive sunny days and Migration has intensified a little but there has been no big influx of waders or wildfowl yet. At Fougére the shoveler numbers continue to vary with up to five males and three females and there are still between 500 and 1000 lapwings but the golden plovers seem to have moved on. No other waders were present over the last few days. Yesterday 36 cranes were resting/feeding in the flooded field there and another 50 circling above Saint Angeau had possible recently left the site. Black headed gulls still number over 50.

At The Bandiat there were also a couple of shovelers and a great white egret was flying overhead. The only wader present was a green sandpiper, the first of this migratory species to turn up this year.

I heard several blackcaps singing as I cycled homeward.

The garden feeders continue to be interesting as no fewer than six species of finch were together there yesterday, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, hawfinch(1), siskin (3), and brambling (3). Also present in the garden were firecrest, chiffchaff, blackbird, song thrush, blue tit, great tit, house sparrow, starling, kestrel and moorhen. The sparrows and starlings are busy collecting nesting material.

Meadow pipits and white wagtails are still common migrants in the fields and many buzzards are pairing up and soaring,

BIG Hawfinch

For a few moments when I looked out onto one of the bird feeders this morning I thought that a green woodpecker was hanging there but then I realised that I was watching quite the largest male hawfinch that I have ever come across. In fact his brilliant Spring plumage as well as his proportions brought to mind some of the parakeets that I saw in Sri Lanka a few weeks ago! Anyway, he was big.
Speaking of the garden, I had fleeting views of a black redstart yesterday, most likely a returning bird looking for his traditional nesting sites in one of the walls. The kestrels meanwhile have again taken up residence on the gable end.
The flooded fields continue to recede and the plovers numbers are declining although lapwings still are present in their hundreds. No waders have turned up for a while but other shovelers have arrived; there were five males and just one female at Fougère yesterday and six males and two females today. Gull numbers have dwindled to about seventy and at one point they all took to the air along with the plovers as a male hen harrier passed over.
Stonechats and corn buntings have joined in the birdsong and I heard a white wagtail singing (as opposed to calling) earlier this week.

Shovelers,Teal and Cranes

Today was sunny and warm in the sunshine (20C) but with a quite chilly easterly. In the endless springtime quest for early migrants I took myself off once again to the flooded Tardoir. The waders there were still restricted to lapwings and golden plovers which was a little disappointing but I was cheered by the sight of a group of eight ducks sailing on the water. They consisted of four brightly plumaged male shovelers with two dowdy females and a pair of teal. The two groups eventually separated before the shovelers flew off northwards with very noisy wingbeats as they passed over my head. The teal drifted downstream to mix in with a flock of about 170 black-headed gulls. The only other birds in the muddy fields which now resemble tidal mudflats were six grey herons and small groups of white wagtails.
Cranes are still moving; about 300 went over the house yesterday evening and smaller groups passed today. One of my French neighbours tells me he saw about fifty white storks near Coulgens last week.
Stella suggested that I repair one of the nest boxes today so I obligingly took it down but was then followed by a noisy blue tit who was apparently already taking up occupation and rather irate that I was walking off with its house. I quickly nailed it back on the tree trunk and its owner moved back in.

Goshawk

Despite their size goshawks are extremely difficult to find although the literature tells us that they are not particularly uncommon. Their elusiveness is almost certainly because they usually inhabit dense woodland and I last came across a pair of them deep in Le Forêt de Belaire a few seasons back. This week it was in the Braconne Forest that I saw one soaring above the canopy. Compared to the many similar sized buzzards which are soaring in a similar way at the moment, goshawks have much longer, narrower tails and this was the main distinguishing feature of this individual which didn't show itself for long.
The flooded fields are still full of lapwings, golden plovers and grey herons but very little else which is a bit surprising. The most interesting birds this week have been a few reed buntings near the Bandiat together with a couple of late bramblings, a pair of short-toed treecreepers in the Braconne and of course the resident garden firecrest.

Black Woodpecker et al

It's that time of the year when opportunities arrive to come across birds which would have been less likely only a week or two ago. Sunday was a sunny day and I had a look around the Braconne Forest as it was not a hunting day there. A black woodpecker was calling at Le Gros Fayant which seems to be their favoured area. It was too deep in the forest to locate though and I settled for watching several obliging hawfinches.
The flooded fields are producing a few migrating birds and there was a little ringed plover together with the second redshank of the spring at Fougère today. There were still plenty of lapwing and golden plover there also and some of the latter were in summer plumage. Black-headed gulls numbered twenty four.
The first serins of the spring turned up at my garden feeders yesterday, such tiny birds alongside the other finches, while a little taste of winter lingered with a solitary redwing sitting motionless in a tree  near Saint Colombe.
Today was sunny enough to mow the lawn and I witnessed the lucky survival of the regular lesser spotted woodpecker when it was chased by a sparrowhawk at the bird feeders; it twisted impressively in its escape flight to avoid its pursuer.
Rain is forecast for tomorrow so probably not too much birding, but there will be a topping up of the temporary wetlands for future days.

Redshank and Owls

My did it rain today! or at least around lunchtime as I drove back from  Angouleme. But at least the water has replenished the flooded fields which have partly begun to dry out. The farmers might not be too happy about it but some early migrating birds are taking advantage. A single redshank was paddling around near Fougère today sharing the floods with hundreds of lapwings, about sixty golden plovers and just short of a hundred black-headed gulls.
Away from the floods, a corn bunting gave a showing near Lairière and as I passed through Artenac a little owl watched me pass from his usual lookout. The tawny owl which was calling loudly near the house this evening did so under a sky that was completely clear of cloud and brightly starlit at 11pm.

I forgot to mention in a post earlier this week that a flock of about a hundred stock doves were in a field near the Tardoire

Chiffchaff Arrivals

Fontenille, as its name suggests, is quite a watery place with its springs and three lavoirs . La Lavoire Basse in particular is a good spot to look out for passerines at any time of year and yesterday its hedges and bushes were busy with feeding chiffchaffs. This rather nondescript warbler overwinters with us in small numbers but it is primarily a summer migrant and the twenty to thirty individuals that were down there were surely recent arrivals. Several of them were singing as was a blackcap (the first I've heard this year); he could have been a migrant also but was more likely an individual who has spent the winter in this sheltered spot.
Other interesting birds there were several reed buntings, a female hawfinch and a Cetti's warbler which was calling from a little further downstream.
Cowslips and celandine were in flower helping to give the place a Spring-like feel.

White Storks and Wildfowl

Over the last decade or so Charente has often delivered a few days of warmish, sunny weather during February. This year it's been mainly wet and cloudy until yesterday which gave us a welcome glimpse of blue skies and sunshine and so I popped down to the flooded Tardoire hoping to see the white storks which I came across on Thursday. Sadly they seemed to have moved on and the only birds on the temporary lakes were the lapwings and golden plovers.
On the previous day ten storks in gleaming fresh plumage had been standing together while presumably taking a breather during their migration northwards. The same flooded field held no fewer an fifteen grey herons.
I ventured further to see if the Bandiat floods had attracted any migrants. There were no storks there and only four herons but a male shoveler and a pair of pintails were a pleasant surprise. Pintails are probably the most elegant of ducks and I can't remember seeing them in Charente before.

Other birds of note on Thursday were a brambling near Agris and a black redstart together with two chiffchaffs in the little garden by Angouleme cathedral and I heard cranes flying over the house at about 9pm yesterday evening.

Black-headed Gulls

It's a mild but dull and showery day today so I've foregone a bike ride. I took one down to the Tardoire yesterday though and watched a flock of nineteen black-headed gulls bobbing about on and over the water. This species wouldn't turn a head in the UK, or on the coast here for that matter, but gulls of any kind are not a common sight in Charente.
The only other migrants there were the lapwings although this time they were accompanied by considerable numbers of golden plovers which unlike the lapwings never took a periodic flight but remained squatting in the mud.
In the garden the finches, tits and sparrows are still very busy on the sunflower feeders and an unexpected visitor this week was a siskin. Meanwhile great spotted woodpeckers are regular visitors to the fastballs, the firecrest is forever flitting around its favourite bush and a robin, a dunnock and a wren peck away at anything that the other birds drop.






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Crane Migration Underway

After all the reports of late departures and early returns, it seems that normal service is resuming with hundreds of cranes moving north as they traditionally do in late February. Several skeins went over the house today, some consisting of 300-400 birds and it all seemed very appropriate as the weather was mild and springlike though overcast.
In a previous post about 'recent sightings of note' I forgot to mention that I watched a little owl peering from a window ledge at Saint Colombe. This species is not uncommon in these parts but like all owls, except perhaps barn, it is more often heard than seen. Another bird which I think went unreported was a surprisingly early corn bunting which was singing near Artenac. Today's singers were mainly song thrushes, robins and blackbirds, and the most vivid sightings were a male hen harrier near Saint Amant de Bonnieure and the firecrest in the garden once again.

Golden Plovers and Cranes

This week's weather has been as unpredictable as Mr Cameron's EU negotiations. Wednesday began with a heavy frost but the thermometer read 20C in the sun by early afternoon. Most other days have been grey and drizzly, though, and at times quite windy. The heavy rain has eased up and the floods are receding, nevertheless the  Tardoire valley attracted a flock of over 200 lapwings but there was no sign of last week's greylags.
Golden plovers often mix themselves in with lapwings as do starlings and there were plenty of the latter in with this flock but not a single golden plover. I had to wait until today to see them, and the 50+ flock was not in a flooded area but on the plains near Artenac.
Thursday's bike ride took place in persistent drizzle but it was made a bit more cheerful by the sight of about 150 cranes flying over La Tâche.
The only other bird of note this week (apart from the regular garden firecrest) was a single siskin which flew up from the Bonnieure riverbank.

Greylag Geese

My bike trip took me to the flooded Tardoire valley but with little in mind other than the outside possibility that a few cranes might be taking a stopover there.
There were no cranes but remarkably there were geese, five greylags, standing quietly on the far side of the flood. I watched them for some time before they became aware of my presence and began to get a little agitated. They eventually took off high to the southwest but by the time I'd cycled to the next viewing point, where about two hundred lapwing were feeding, the geese had resettled close to them only to be disturbed again by two very noisy trail bikes.
Les Oiseaux de Charente describes greylags as rare migrants in the departement but nevertheless still chassée. Sad really.
The only other birds using the floodwater were a pair of mallards and that species took the day's total to thirty five, the most noteworthy of which were a female hen harrier, a small flock of woodlark and the regular firecrest which was waiting for me outside my window when I got home.

Cetti's Warblers

The weather remains pretty dire with rain and dampness everywhere and some strong winds also. Today is relatively still though and although the sky is grey there is no rain forecast so perhaps a longer bike ride is in order as opposed to the the brief sallies of the last few days.
All the rivers are in flood and I can't remember the Bonnieure or the Son-Sonnette flowing so strongly. The Tardoir which had a dry river bed near here when I last saw it a month ago, now shows itself as an extensive lake near Fougere.
It's far too early of course for migrant waterfowl to be making use of these conditions but a pair of Cetti's warblers provided an interesting distraction yesterday at Valence bridge. I have heard (and occasionally seen) them on many occasions along this river but they were very elusive in 2015. Much of the waterside vegetation which is their habitat seems to be under water at the moment which might explain why they were showing so well as they flitted through the tops of what is still showing.
There's not much else to report except for a fine male hen harrier hunting near Ventouse.
But perhaps after today's bike ride..........?

Back from Sri Lanka

It's been some time since my last post but three and a half weeks in Sri Lanka is mainly responsible for that as I met up with old friends there and re-acquainted myself with the impressive bird life.
I flew from London and for the record,  although I didn't see a single gull in Sri Lanka, on the journey through France and across the Channel I saw seven species:-  herring, great black backed, lesser black backed, common. black headed, kittiwake and little, the last two from the ferry in surprisingly large numbers.
Charente seems to have had a lot of rain while I was away and more is forecast. Although this makes for miserable weather it raises the prospect of some flooded fields that might encourage some early wetland migrants to loiter in March.
I see in the comments on an earlier post that Cagouille has seen cranes still flying south in late January and I was told today that others had been seen going in the opposite direction over Fontenille this week.Make of that what you will !
On the drive down yesterday there were some flocks of lapwings and I saw a single cattle egret by the N10 but I've had no time to check out around here yet as I've hardly left the house but after a longish absence it was good to see the familiar blackbirds and robins in the garden along with a firecrest that was outside my window while the song of a mistle thrush was coming from the woods.
Tomorrow I might get on my bike.

Marsh Tit and Golden Plovers

The last day of the year and the temperatures are still holding up although we've had the first rain for a while.
Yesterday's ride over the plains was a productive one; I'd not long left the house when I heard the distinctive nasal call of a marsh tit, a bird which I've not seen for some months and he showed himself well as he fed on hazel catkins.
On the plains themselves was a flock of about forty lapwings which rose from a field and then resettled but a much larger group of golden plovers was more purposely bent on moving elsewhere.
I mentioned a few of the regular species which were missing on my last foray but they all showed up today. In fact there were another nine of them (including a few cranes) to add to the previous tally of thirty seven. Forty six is not a bad showing for the last few days of 2015.