Having lived for around thirty years in the West Wight I have to admit I miss the birds of the coastline and estuary which were within walking distance of my house and so a drive out to the lakes of the high Charente was a rather desperate attempt to see if anything was around in the wildfowl and wader line.
Predictably the answer was rather little but nevertheless these man-made habitats do give a glimpse of wetland species. The commonest birds are great crested grebes and cormorants with over sixty of each species dotted around the two largest lakes. La chasse is most certainly the cause of the paucity of wildfowl and waders but a stretch of Lac de Lavaud is protected and even has a bird hide at Foucherie. A pair of male teal were a delightful sight there but the only other ducks were a pair of rather distant wigeon. Half a dozen coots were bobbing about among the grebes.
I managed to find a small flock of wigeon and a single pochard on the other lake (Mas Chaban) and by the side of a little stream which entered it, a common sandpiper was feeding. The only other waders were four lapwing in a nearby field.
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