A decision to have a look around the Charente valley near Luxé turned up trumps when a migrating osprey met my arrival. It spent around fifteen minutes gliding and hovering over the river close to he new railway line before it drifted upstream, never making an attempt to drop down for a fish but frequently extending its legs.
On the flooded overspill the only wader around was a green sandpiper but while I was watching it a kingfisher flew across. Water pipits were flitting about in numbers while chiffchaffs were in every bush and also feeding on the ground. The only other passerine migrants were three swallows and a singing blackcap.As I returned to the car a black kite passed overhead making me think that the Charente's valley like so many others acts as a flight path for migrating birds.
As planned yesterday, I visited the Tardoire but saw no sociable plover among the hundreds of lapwings. One great white egret was feeding with a dozen grey herons but little else was there of note except a single redshank and five shovelers.
The big bright hawfinch was again at the garden feeders and a few brambling and siskins accompanied the commoner finches.
No comments:
Post a Comment