One advantage of keeping a blog is the ability to check back to previous years to see if patterns are persisting. The very hot weather of the last fortnight or so has resulted in intense harvesting of barley and then wheat and I began to think that this was surely rather earlier than usual, but a quick flick back to 2014 tells me that this is not the case as exactly the same shearing of the fields was taking place in early July.
I still don't know how the ground nesters cope though and I wonder if the stone curlew which was calling close to my house at midnight was successful in breeding or not.
Black kites search the stubble as always and the occasional hen harrier makes an appearance as does the occasional hobby. Quail seem thin on the ground this year though and I have not heard one for some time.
At least three reed warblers and a couple of Cetti's warbler are still vocal on the Son-Sonette but the orioles are singing less and less.
