Little Ringed Plover

My brother showed me a large flooded clay quarry near Roumazieres today and I saw my first Charente LRP's of the year there (although I  had seen one on my Portugese trip). I think that the only time I have seen them in Charente before has been on migration but presumably these were staying in this suitable habitat to breed. The only other birds on the water were several little grebes and mallards with young but Carl had seen common sandpiper there recently, again presumably breeding. Several sand martins were flying around with the swallows, house martin and swifts, and in the trees nearby a spotted flycatcher was lurking.

Nightjar

One anticipates looking for nightjars on warm early summer evenings but they haven't arrived as yet so around sunset last night I risked the strong chance of cool showers and paid a visit to my usual site within the forest near Cellefrouin. There were no birds to be seen or heard at that location but I did have my best views ever of a nightjar as I was driving there. I have seen these birds sitting in the middle of the road before but I almost had to do an emergency stop to avoid running over this individual and he remained sitting in front of the car, dazzled by the headlights for a good two minutes, his large eye reflecting the beam. His cryptic plumage was of little use to him on the tarmac although he looked very similar to the short piece of a branch which he was lying next to; perhaps he had confused it for his mate.

Honey Buzzard

The bizarre weather continues (for all western Europe, never mind France); yesterday was warm and sunny yet today has a forecast high of 14C and cars passing the house have their headlights on at 9am because of the gloom.
A honey buzzard was a welcome sight yesterday. Circling on level wings, not far from the house, it gave excellent views of its plumage including its distinctively barred tail. A stony field near Chatenet held a crested lark. Quite apart from the pointed crest, they always strike me as having a much slimmer build than skylarks and their plumage is duller and less contrasting. Orioles were calling from many locations as I cycled around but I did not catch a glimpse of one.
In yesterday's post I forgot to mention seeing a male montague's harrier sitting on the ground on the plains.

May Migrants

A rare sunny day took me on a bike ride over the plains yesterday and I was surprised to come across two male wheatears and a whinchat as I assumed that summer visitors had stopped moving by now. also up their were four black kites, wheeling in a thermal with a couple of buzzards. A single stone curlew popped his head over a near horizon at Artenac.
Later I called in on the Braconne Forest; the foliage makes observations difficult now but I heard the call of the black woodpecker and, above a clearing, I watched a hobby circling. The only warblers about were melodious, blackcap, chiffchaff and whitethroat with no sign of bonellis which breed there.
Unsurprisingly given the recent weather, the Bandiat is in full flow but there was little in the way of birds except for nightingale, mallard and moorhen. 
A common redstart is singing in my garden throughout most of the day.

What a Cold Wet May !

May 2013 has settled into what must be the coldest and wettest in living memory! Consequently, birding has taken a back seat to huddling by the fire with a book but, as D H Lawrence noted, 'you never see a bird that feels sorry for itself' and so they try to continue about their business.
A welcome visitor to the garden has been a spotted flycatcher perhaps the same one that nested here last year. Other birds that are nesting either on the house or in the garden include kestrel, wren, house sparrow, starling, blackbird, cirl bunting, chaffinch, goldfinch, black redstart, serin, moorhen, white wagtail and wood pigeon; there could be others but it's too wet to go and look.
I've had a few glimpses of golden orioles at the tops of nearby trees, and cuckoos are still calling. On a rare warmer evening a couple of days back a hobby appeared above the house and caused some consternation among the swifts. Hen harriers and hoopoes have made occasional appearances in nearby fields.

Reed Warbler

Reed warblers are none too easy to find around here mainly because there are so few reeds, most suitable locations having been turned over to poplar plantations. There is a small stand of phragmites on the Son-sonette near Valence and it usually has a pair in the summer so it was no surprise when cycling by yesterday to hear a bird doing its endless, monotonous chattering. Other migrant warblers that were around were blackcaps, whitethroat, chiffchaff and melodious but there was nothing to be heard of the resident Cetti's.
Nightingales were singing and cuckoos calling but perhaps the most interesting bird sound of the day was of tree pipits whose song ends with a cadence that always reminds me of waders.
Common redstarts have been elusive for me this spring but a male appeared in the garden a day or two back.
The sun is shining as I write but May is still rather a chill affair; perhaps the Charente summer will start to kick in before the month is out.

shrikes

The cool showery weather continues and I have little to report on the bird front but as I was passing Les Vielles Vaures a couple of days ago I stopped to see the state of the river. The Bandiat is still flowing strongly and partly in flood but there were two red backed shrikes, both males perched high in different trees. They could still be passage individuals but it seems likely that at least one of them is breeding there.
At the house nightingales and  orioles are still very much in full voice and a serin is nesting in a very low tree in the garden, a noisy starling family has a nest n a wall of the house as do the kestrels and house sparrows make a lot of racket under the eaves but the reurning black redstarts do not appear to have bred on the property this year; perhaps the changes after last year's building work has deterred them. A pair of white wagtails is often on the lawn as are cirl buntings so I assume they are nesting nearby.

May

I've just got back from a birding trip to Portugal where, among other things, it was good to see bustards again as I haven't come across one in Charente for a few years now.
Everything has greened up here in the last two weeks with almost every tree in full foliage. Golden Orioles must have arrived while I was away as their loud distinctive song can be heard coming from the woods. Nightingales and blackcaps seem to be singing everywhere, a hoopoe was calling around the village today and I heard several melodious warblers and a bonelli's warbler on my walk.
 I watched a male montague's harrier hunting close to the house yesterday afternoon. This more delicate version of the hen harrier is a summer visitor; it was very common sight in Portugal and it's strange to surmise that this individual could possibly be a migrant which I saw down there some two weeks ago.