White Storks and Wildfowl

Over the last decade or so Charente has often delivered a few days of warmish, sunny weather during February. This year it's been mainly wet and cloudy until yesterday which gave us a welcome glimpse of blue skies and sunshine and so I popped down to the flooded Tardoire hoping to see the white storks which I came across on Thursday. Sadly they seemed to have moved on and the only birds on the temporary lakes were the lapwings and golden plovers.
On the previous day ten storks in gleaming fresh plumage had been standing together while presumably taking a breather during their migration northwards. The same flooded field held no fewer an fifteen grey herons.
I ventured further to see if the Bandiat floods had attracted any migrants. There were no storks there and only four herons but a male shoveler and a pair of pintails were a pleasant surprise. Pintails are probably the most elegant of ducks and I can't remember seeing them in Charente before.

Other birds of note on Thursday were a brambling near Agris and a black redstart together with two chiffchaffs in the little garden by Angouleme cathedral and I heard cranes flying over the house at about 9pm yesterday evening.

Black-headed Gulls

It's a mild but dull and showery day today so I've foregone a bike ride. I took one down to the Tardoire yesterday though and watched a flock of nineteen black-headed gulls bobbing about on and over the water. This species wouldn't turn a head in the UK, or on the coast here for that matter, but gulls of any kind are not a common sight in Charente.
The only other migrants there were the lapwings although this time they were accompanied by considerable numbers of golden plovers which unlike the lapwings never took a periodic flight but remained squatting in the mud.
In the garden the finches, tits and sparrows are still very busy on the sunflower feeders and an unexpected visitor this week was a siskin. Meanwhile great spotted woodpeckers are regular visitors to the fastballs, the firecrest is forever flitting around its favourite bush and a robin, a dunnock and a wren peck away at anything that the other birds drop.






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Crane Migration Underway

After all the reports of late departures and early returns, it seems that normal service is resuming with hundreds of cranes moving north as they traditionally do in late February. Several skeins went over the house today, some consisting of 300-400 birds and it all seemed very appropriate as the weather was mild and springlike though overcast.
In a previous post about 'recent sightings of note' I forgot to mention that I watched a little owl peering from a window ledge at Saint Colombe. This species is not uncommon in these parts but like all owls, except perhaps barn, it is more often heard than seen. Another bird which I think went unreported was a surprisingly early corn bunting which was singing near Artenac. Today's singers were mainly song thrushes, robins and blackbirds, and the most vivid sightings were a male hen harrier near Saint Amant de Bonnieure and the firecrest in the garden once again.

Golden Plovers and Cranes

This week's weather has been as unpredictable as Mr Cameron's EU negotiations. Wednesday began with a heavy frost but the thermometer read 20C in the sun by early afternoon. Most other days have been grey and drizzly, though, and at times quite windy. The heavy rain has eased up and the floods are receding, nevertheless the  Tardoire valley attracted a flock of over 200 lapwings but there was no sign of last week's greylags.
Golden plovers often mix themselves in with lapwings as do starlings and there were plenty of the latter in with this flock but not a single golden plover. I had to wait until today to see them, and the 50+ flock was not in a flooded area but on the plains near Artenac.
Thursday's bike ride took place in persistent drizzle but it was made a bit more cheerful by the sight of about 150 cranes flying over La Tâche.
The only other bird of note this week (apart from the regular garden firecrest) was a single siskin which flew up from the Bonnieure riverbank.

Greylag Geese

My bike trip took me to the flooded Tardoire valley but with little in mind other than the outside possibility that a few cranes might be taking a stopover there.
There were no cranes but remarkably there were geese, five greylags, standing quietly on the far side of the flood. I watched them for some time before they became aware of my presence and began to get a little agitated. They eventually took off high to the southwest but by the time I'd cycled to the next viewing point, where about two hundred lapwing were feeding, the geese had resettled close to them only to be disturbed again by two very noisy trail bikes.
Les Oiseaux de Charente describes greylags as rare migrants in the departement but nevertheless still chassée. Sad really.
The only other birds using the floodwater were a pair of mallards and that species took the day's total to thirty five, the most noteworthy of which were a female hen harrier, a small flock of woodlark and the regular firecrest which was waiting for me outside my window when I got home.

Cetti's Warblers

The weather remains pretty dire with rain and dampness everywhere and some strong winds also. Today is relatively still though and although the sky is grey there is no rain forecast so perhaps a longer bike ride is in order as opposed to the the brief sallies of the last few days.
All the rivers are in flood and I can't remember the Bonnieure or the Son-Sonnette flowing so strongly. The Tardoir which had a dry river bed near here when I last saw it a month ago, now shows itself as an extensive lake near Fougere.
It's far too early of course for migrant waterfowl to be making use of these conditions but a pair of Cetti's warblers provided an interesting distraction yesterday at Valence bridge. I have heard (and occasionally seen) them on many occasions along this river but they were very elusive in 2015. Much of the waterside vegetation which is their habitat seems to be under water at the moment which might explain why they were showing so well as they flitted through the tops of what is still showing.
There's not much else to report except for a fine male hen harrier hunting near Ventouse.
But perhaps after today's bike ride..........?

Back from Sri Lanka

It's been some time since my last post but three and a half weeks in Sri Lanka is mainly responsible for that as I met up with old friends there and re-acquainted myself with the impressive bird life.
I flew from London and for the record,  although I didn't see a single gull in Sri Lanka, on the journey through France and across the Channel I saw seven species:-  herring, great black backed, lesser black backed, common. black headed, kittiwake and little, the last two from the ferry in surprisingly large numbers.
Charente seems to have had a lot of rain while I was away and more is forecast. Although this makes for miserable weather it raises the prospect of some flooded fields that might encourage some early wetland migrants to loiter in March.
I see in the comments on an earlier post that Cagouille has seen cranes still flying south in late January and I was told today that others had been seen going in the opposite direction over Fontenille this week.Make of that what you will !
On the drive down yesterday there were some flocks of lapwings and I saw a single cattle egret by the N10 but I've had no time to check out around here yet as I've hardly left the house but after a longish absence it was good to see the familiar blackbirds and robins in the garden along with a firecrest that was outside my window while the song of a mistle thrush was coming from the woods.
Tomorrow I might get on my bike.