Shrike, Swifts et al

A good morning's birding today produce several swifts at the Bandiat along with swallows, house and sand martins. A beautiful male red backed shrike was hunting from a hedge there as was a hobby and a female sparrowhawk from above. A second hobby was hunting very low over the field which contained three stone curlews on the Lairiere Plains and nearby a few wheatears were present.
 The Braconne gave Richard and I good views of bonelli's warbler and marsh tit and a frustratingly brief one of a black woodpecker flying through the trees.

Mid April's latest arrivals

It's been a very warm week and a busy one for me about the property but I've managed to squeeze in some birding.
Cagouille reports his first nightingale and there are certainly plenty about now. It's the same with whitethroats which seem to have turned up in numbers. I came across my first bonellis warbler of the year in the Braconne a few days back and I heard my first cettis warbler yesterday at Valence. This species is a resident but I have not heard their call throughout the winter so they appear to have arrived from somewhere.
I've seen three black kites as I have been driving about and quails were calling on the plains yesterday where a pair of stone curlews were still in a field.
The Bandiat has been disappointing though; it is still partly in flood but has attracted fewer migrants than it did a week ago.
My brother reports common redstart from near Roumazieres but I have yet to cast eyes on one here. Not so for melodious warbler which was singing in the garden yesterday and a grasshopper warbler was reeling by the Bandiat a few days ago.
Everything is making its way northward but there is still stuff to arrive, orioles, swifts, whinchats turtle doves and montagues harrier to name a few.

Wheatears and wood sandpipers

The spring is still a very rainy one but between the showers a little birding is possible. On Wednesday there were 4 or 5 wood sandpipers at the bandiat and a green sandpiper there yesterday as were
two male wheatears  in a ploughed field near La Rochette.
Away from the migrants, a black woodpecker was again heard and seen flying away near Le Gros Fayant on Wednesday.

Tree Pipits

Tree pipits were the latest of the spring arrivals to turn up; two of them were in a tree (appropriately) at Les Vielles Vaures. The redshank and greenshank were still both feeding there as were most of the other migrants viz swallows, house martins, chiffchaffs,blackcaps and yellow wagtails but no sand martins today.
There was no sign of the black woodpecker near Le Gros Fayant but a coal tit and a hawfinch were a welcome sight for me as these species can be elusive.

Four New Arrivals

It was back to Spring today with some pleasant sunshine once the mist cleared. A trip to The Bandiat produced one greenshank, one redshank, several house martins and a few sand martins. Two green sandpipers flew off just a I arrived and there were probably about a hundred swallows feeding there but others seemed to be resting on branches and telephone wires as were others at Agris and Pont d'Agris. This whole area where the Bandiat meets the Tardoire provides plenty of insect food for migrants. The only warblers present were blackcaps and chiffchaffs, the latter in their dozens. A couple of yellow wagtails were feeding in the wet meadow.

Stuttering Spring

Sadly there is little of any moment to report at present as spring seems to be only faltering forward. Yesterday was warm and sunny but the butterflies and flowers were more striking than the birds on view. I saw my first bright brimstone of the year and peacocks (butterflies not birds) were plentiful. Cowslips are out all over the place as are stitchwort and celandines, and in the wet meadows by the Son-Sonnette the startling and mysterious marsh fritillaries are in full flower but........I saw just one swallow and a single singing serin.
Today we were back to rain and single figure temperatures but perhaps the warmer forecast for next week will bring us an influx of migrants.