cold weather movements

A belated happy New Year to anyone who reads this blog. You might spot my resolution in how I have recorded what follows.
We are nearing the end of January and I'm only just getting round to my first post. I've been in Charente for only about a fortnight of 2013 as I had to take a 10 day trip to the UK so I've not had a great deal to report until recently.The recent cold snap has resulted in some interesting birding, however.

Yesterday I took a walk over the Lairiere plains, an area which has a little feel of the uplands with its wide open spaces and distant views. The snow cover intensified this effect but even moreso did the flocks of lapwings (vanneau huppé) and golden plovers (pluvier doré) which were moving southwards ahead of the cold weather.

Lapwings numbered several hundred including one sizeable flock which occasionally settled. But most of them simply drifted by in that silent, ghostly style which is very much in contrast to the purposeful dashing of the golden plover. They usually were in flocks of around 30 birds; some of them were calling as they flew by and one group alerted me to their imminent arrival above my head by the noise of their rushing wings.

A single flock of abot 50 fieldfare (grive litorne) was the only evidence of thrush movement although I have seen a few redwing (grive mauvis), song thrush (grive musicienne) and mistle thrush (grive draine) on other days.  Skylarks (alouette des champs) were about in vast numbers and a flock of over 20 woodlark (alouette lulu) made an appearance as did an individual bird at La Poterie as I was beginning my walk. The large finch flocks still seem to be almost entirely chaffinches (pinson des arbres) with just the occasional brambling. (pinson du nord)

I was enjoying watching a female hen harrier (busard saint-martin) gracefully making its way towards me when my attention was drawn to another large bird which revealed itself as a short eared owl, (hibou des marais) the first that I have seen hereabouts for a couple of years.
A group of cirl bunting (bruant zizi) in one f the few hedges that remain in this area was accompanied by a male reed bunting (bruant des roseaux) This species seems to wander away from its usually watery habitat during cold weather.

In all, 31 species put in an appearance and this included the local very pale buzzard (buse variable) which looks for all the world like a cross between a harrier and an osprey.