migrants and bits of a nightjar

My morning bike ride was delayed today as there was quite a bit of migration activity around the house/pond.The purple heron wasn't to be seen so I think I can safely say that he's moved on but there were several pied flycatchers about and at least two spotted flycatchers. A pair of common redstarts was an unusual sight and there were several black ones as well. Other species feeding around the pond included: cirl bunting, dunnock, robin, blackcap, chiffchaff, green and great spotted woodpecker, turtle dove, as well as the usual tits and finches and, of course, the moorhens.

All told, and including the bike ride to St Front, I came across over thirty species before 11am.

A flock of jackdaws were mixed in with the feeding crows at Bois Bernadant. This species is not common locally and i think the nearest colony may be on the chateau at La Rochefoucauld . I have occasionally seen large and noisy flocks flying over though.

Ad now for the nightjar... I was just about to leave the pond when a neighbour pointed out the remains of a freshly killed bird on the road. Curiously, all that was left of it were the wings, tail and legs ie no carcase or head. The plumage and size seemed to be that of a female nightjar. This was puzzling as I assumed that this summer visitor had migrated by now, and I had no idea what might have killed it or what it was doing in the middle of the village. Perhaps it had been hunting for moths around the street light as I have seen one doing such a few years ago. Perhaps it had been sat on the warm road surface as they sometimes do and had been hit by a car--but that still didn't explain where the rest of its remains had gone. Quite a whodunnit really.

I took another brief bike ride at dusk, this time over the fields, and just to confirm things, flying up from the track and silhouetted above the trees was the familiar shape of a nightjar.