A hoopoe was around the garden as was my first goldcrest of the year, and willow warblers and woodlark were still singing there.
Other birds in the garden or seen/heard from chez nous were:
cuckoo, nightingale, blackcap, cirl bunting, swallow, moorhen, robin, starling, blackbird, wren, song thrush, blue tit, great tit, chaffinch, greenfinch, house sparrow, wood pigeon, crow, jay, skylark, magpie black redstart. Not a great list but then I wasn't looking particularly hard.
A trip to the Bandiat produced 5 greenshank (which interestingly were on the south side of the bridge, an area which usually holds little despite having more extensive flooding) A green sandpiper was with them. The flooding on the north/Agris side has almost dried up but it did hold one green sandpiper.
More interesting were the 20 or so yellow wagtails, most of them, blue-headed, which were feeding on what was left of the mud. While scanning them I came across a pair of ring ouzel. These are only the 3rd and 4th which I have seen in Charente. The previous ones were also in the Bandiat/ Braconne area which suggests that this is a regular migration route.
The cattle farm near Agris also had several blue-headed wagtails on show.
I have heard the hoopoes and cuckoos around but have not seen either. No sign of Goldfinches yet either. Masses of Sparrows and a couple of Dunnocks plus a busy little Black Redstart around ay the house. I passed Agris this morning and saw a pair of Magpies. Diane
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