swallows and golden plovers

A welcome sight yesterday was of four early swallows on the Charente river at La Terne. Later, near the border with Charente Maritime was a large flock of over 200 golden plover which was feeding in a field with an even larger flock of lapwing. A similar sized mixed flock was flying north near Fontenille this morning.
Chiffchaffs, chaffinches and song thrushes are now singing everywhere.
Tomorrow I am off to Andalucia for a two week birding trip. By the time that I return many of the Charente migrants should have turned up.

PS  as I was packing to leave, a pair of swallows turned up around the house.

migration?

It was warm in the sunshine today and there was a lot of activity at La Poterie pond especially in last year's bulrushes. At least 3 chiffs were present with one of them singing (some surely must be arrivals) ;a male blackcap was also present.
. A bright (non migratory) firecrest was busy in the trees.

Black redstart

A trip to the Bandiat river yesterday turned up no signs of any early migration except that a male black redstart was sat in a ploughed field amid a flock of chaffinch and cirl bunting.
Another male was singing from the weather vane on La Tache church this morning. This is a popular perch for this species but has not been used as a singing post since last autumn.
A flock of 200 lapwings made its way north over the Bandiat and the appearance of three stonechats in the course of the morning was a welcome sight as they disappeared from view during and after the cold snap.
A bright male sparrowhawk raced across the Bandiat road bridge as I was watching two coypu swimming below it.
Buzzards seem to be pairing up and some are doing courtship flights.

chiffchaff

Few signs of any migration as yet-----but then we birders are always over optimistic----but a chiffchaff was singing at La Poterie today. This could, of course, be a wintering bird but I have not seen or heard any chiffchaffs yet this year in Charente and so I like to think that it's just turned up from the south.
A female hen harrier has been around La Tache for the last two days; perhaps she will team up with the male that has been around all week.

sunshine and cranes

It's been a gloriously warm and sunny week and the still conditions seem to have been ideal for the crane migtation. Well over a thousand have passed over La Tache in the last few days, usually in flocks of about 300. The highlight for me was yesterday as I was driving to La Poterie at 9.30. What I first took to be a large flock of sheep on top of the plains turned out to be about 300 cranes standing in the sunshine. Luckily I had a small camera with me but unluckily as I was about to snap them, a gyrocopter put up the whole flock.
I have seen small groups of cranes on the ground in the past but this was the first time I had come across a large flock which had presumably rested overnight.
Other birds of interest this week include my first yellowhammers of the year at Fontenille. (This species seems to be very localised in these parts.) A little owl was calling this evening at La Tache and a barn owl was screaming aroun the village on Tuesday night.Two snipe were in the wet meadow of the bio farm yesterday. Song thrushes are singing and I heard my first chaffinch song of the year at La Poterie yesterday. A male hen harrier has been a daily sight  hear La Tache and the very pale phase buzzard which seems to have been around for several years now, has frequented the road to La Poterie. Skylark flocks are still in evidence but some individuals are in full song.
This evening a flock of about 200 lapwing which was moving north included 6 golden plover.

                      The cranes which are taking off in this photo are hard to see against the trees behind.

Red admiral and peacock butterflies are on the wing, violets, celandines, daisies and dandelions are brightening everywhere up and my first house lizard of the year appeared under the gate at La Tache today.