Just when it seemed that things were starting to quieten down on the bird front, today produced a few pleasant surprises. The weather is still not very late Mayish but I risked a trip to the Forêt de Belaire this morning (and only got wet once). Several cuckoos were calling as I arrived but I was drawn to a sound which I had not heard since 2012 and located a wood warbler among some beech trees. He was quite confiding and I presume holding territory. He sang incessantly but resorted almost all of the time to the second half of his two part song, shivering his wings to accompany his trill which sounds something like a spinning coin.
A heavy shower caused me to take refuge under an oak tree but it proved to be a fortunate choice as a pair of crested tits were feeding above me. This is the the third location in the Charente where I have come across them. A very elusive bird which was also feeding nearby was almost certainly a willow warbler but I could not get on to it well enough for a definite i.d.
After the shower passed I came across my first honey buzzard of the year soaring above a clearing, his pigeon like head and his distinctively barred tail showing well. This migratory raptor is sadly a frequent victim of the hunters on the Mediterranean Islands.
There was plenty of birdsong to be heard; tree pipits, serins, melodious warblers, whitethroat, turtle doves and golden orioles were singing along with at least three nightingales.
I had quick look over the plains as I passed by; three or four black kites were flying around or sitting on the ground and a late pair of passage yellow wagtails were near the éoliens but there was no sign of the stone curlews.
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