the sun's back---for a bit at least

Well what a miserable last week in May that was; wet and cold. On the first day of June we still had to light the fire.

But today started to warm up and encouraged me to go for an early morning bike ride around the beautiful Bonnieure valley. i saw over forty species and the most interesting were:

A single cattle egret, appropriately in a field with two cows. This species is not very common around here and usually encountered on migration.

A marsh tit. Again, not often seen or heard around here but I have come across them before in the same wood near St Angeau and also in the Braconne forest.

A dunnock. Surprisingly, this common bird seems to make itself very scarce in the immediate vicinity and rarely visit my garden for instance.

A family party of at least 9 long-tailed tits.

Several house martins which were sat in the road in St Angeau, collecting mud for their nests.

I don't know if great spotted woodpeckers include cherries in their diet but one of them seems to be spending an inordinate amount of time in my cherry trees. As with all the other fruit trees, the crop seems to be especially good this year.

Apart from the birds, I watched a pair of martens at close quarters. This unpopular mammal is nevertheless very attractive to look at, almost teddy bear like with its chestnut fur and striking white V on its chest. They were unaware of my presence as they crawled around the lower part of a large chestnut tree. I was alerted to their presence by a harsh, jay-like call which I had not heard before.