Yesterday evening was one of those which reminds you of why we live in Charente ; at 9pm there was hardly a breath of wind and the temperature remained in the mid 20's with the heat of the day perceptively radiating from the ground.
I took a walk over the plains and watched the sun set at around 10 o'clock somewhere over Ruffec way. It has just begun its track back southward now but is still just about as far northward as it can appear.
A stone curlew was agitated by my presence and flew around me for some minutes, calling plaintively and close enough for me to see its large eyes even when in flight. A female hen harrier intently quartered the fields and at least a dozen quail were calling.
The hay crop is in already and the wheat and barley are ready for harvest so one wonders, as always, how the ground-nesting birds continue to survive. Indeed all of them don't; the little bustard seem to have disappeared from this area permanently now and although the landscape looks perfect for corncrakes, I have not heard one calling here for perhaps 15 years. I am re-reading Lawrence's 'The Rainbow' at present and he mentions how this bird's call was a commonplace feature of summer in early twentieth century Nottinghamshire. On this calm Charente evening, except for quails and the occasional skylark, all was extremely quiet.
Speaking of changes to the landscape, 31 wind turbines are now visible from the top of the plains and soon we are to have another 7 on the plains themselves. Whatever the economic and ecological benefits of this technology (and I am very sceptical about about both) there is no doubt in my mind that along with the huge grain silos they are unwelcome industrial intrusions into an attractive, rural landscape. I fear that by next year an evening walk on the plains will no longer convey the quiet stillness of deep rural Charente.
I was interested to read in the Charente Libre that Little Bustards have apparently colonised the route of the new LGV train line and that work has been halted on that section (Vouharte) as a result. Apparently the removal of woods and the subsequent ground vegetation that has flourished in the wet spring has encouraged them to nest. The link is here:
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More sadly, this is the first summer in the 9 years that we have been here that we have not heard or seen a single stone curlew in the fields behind our house. The crops have not changed over the years (a mixture of cattle grazing, maize, winter wheat, sunflowers and rape) but I do wonder whether the copious amounts of pesticide that are sprayed on them have finally taken their toll.
I've still not managed to have a look at this area but thanks for the information.
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