Marsh Tits and February

February is something of a doldrums month if you are away from the wetlands or coast. Waders, wildfowl and seabirds might brighten a birder's day in Charente Maritime but there is little chance of those species making their way into Charente. But never mind,; we chose to live here and so we must make do with what we can find until the spring migration brings us some new arrivals.
The first of these is likely to be the cranes (gru cendré) which traditionally make an appearance in the last week of this month.
As for what's about now....this week  I came across my first marsh tits (mésange nonnette) of the year. This is a resident species but far less common than the familiar blue (bleue), great (charbonnière) and long-tailed (a longue queue) tits (mésanges). In some ways it is similar to the coal tit (mésange noir) in that you can go for quite long periods without catching up with one and yet you know they are about. A 'localised species' is probably the best way of describing these birds. Coal tits tend to prefer conifers but marsh tits are usually in mixed woodland. Their distinctive nasal calls usually draws attention to their presence and once located they are often quite confiding and give good views.
Other interesting birds of late include a grey wagtail (bergeronnette des ruisseaux) feeding with two white wagtails (bergeronnette grise) on the Son-Sonette at Valence, at least two siskin (tarin des aulnes) near St Front, a couple of wintering chiffchaffs (pouillot véloce) in the same area, goldcrests (roitelet huppé) which still seem to be more common than firecrests (roitelet triple-bandeau) at the moment and reed buntings (bruant des roseaux) accompanying cirl buntings (bruant zizi) in the fields.
Our garden visitors have included a green woodpecker (pic vert) on the lawn and a female sparrowhawk (épervier d'europe) sat on the bird table! The pair of bramblings (pinson du nord) are still coming there for food.