Hot, Hot Hot!

It wasn't too long ago that I was having a quiet moan about the delayed summer but this week has brought heat with a vengeance, 40C being reached yesterday. Rather than taking shelter from the temperature, the golden orioles seem to be welcoming it and one male has been singing away near to my house for over a week now. The clear notes carry a long distance and this bird can often be heard from half a kilometre away. Despite this, because he often sings from the very top of the trees, I can usually pick his bright yellow and black out with binoculars.
Another species which relishes the conditions is the black kite. Large numbers of these birds are taking advantage of the frantic harvesting which is taking place at present as they patrol the stubble fields looking for casualties of the combines. I saw over a dozen yesterday as I drove a couple of visitors to Limoges airport and I arrived at a friend's BBQ in the evening to be told that I had just missed the spectacle of about forty raptors, mainly black kites sharing a thermal.
On the side of my house the young kestrels are now viewing the world from their nesting hole and elsewhere in the garden family groups of finches, blackbirds, tits and sparrows are being taught to start looking after themselves. The local blackcap and chiffchaff are still singing but the whitethroat has curiously gone quiet; perhaps it's too hot for him.

Early July

The sun (and the heat) is back this week. This of course is a good thing (as they say in '1066 and All That') but it can make birding more difficult unless you make a very early start. I've had a minor op recently which means that I can't do my usual local bike rides until the end of this month with the consequence that I've spent more time in my garden. Twenty seven species made an appearance yesterday, the most interesting being spotted flycatcher, firecrest, whitethroat and melodious warbler all of which I have seen on several occasions during the last few weeks so I assume that they are breeding around the property. As with last year, the buildings and garden have also provided nesting sites for several other species including kestrel, black redstart, goldfinch, chaffinch, greenfinch, house sparrow, starling, wood pigeon, blackbird, blue tit and great tit.
Stone curlews obviously don't nest in my garden but I heard one calling from a nearby field late yesterday evening, and perhaps a little owl is nesting nearby as one making a bit of a noise in the garden during the early hours.
I have managed a couple of trips to the forest this week but can report nothing of special interest other than black woodpecker. ( I forgot to take any precautions when walking through an area of long grass while wearing shorts and found no fewer than four tics on my legs when I got home... So beware!)
The pair of red backed shrikes were still showing near the bio farm this week and I have caught a glimpse of the occasional golden oriole but several of our summer visitors such as hoopoes seem to be very unobliging (I blame the sun).

As a PS, I recommend the Charente Nature website as a source of info about local birds. It's in French of course but it is updated daily and allows you to upload your own sightings as well as being to access those of others. It's free, you just need to register.