The gloom of this long, grey,wet winter has lifted over the last couple of days and my! did the cranes take advantage of it!
I was cheered yesterday afternoon to see about 300 pass over the house but that was nothing to today's spectacle; I have marvelled at the February migration in Charente for over twenty years but never have I witnessesed a spectacle like today's.
Between 3pm and 6 pm around 15,000 (thousand) birds flew over the house. On several occasions it was fascinating to watch skeins turn back on themselves as they noisily circled while waiting for the following skein to catch up and mingle with them. Most of the groups of skeins held around a thousand birds and the above figure of 15,000 may well be a conservative estimate. Quite amazing!
Certainly the most that we have seen in one day since arriving here 10 years ago. All the neighbours were outside to witness the wonderful spectacle.
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