It's mid May and almost all of the regular migrants have now put in an appearance. Orioles have been here for some time as have swifts and this week I saw my first red backed shrikes (both of them, dazzling males) and a hobby which was being mobbed by swallows.
A few species have eluded me although they have been reported elsewhere in Charente; I am still waiting for a spotted flycatcher and a honey buzzard to turn up and with far less confidence for a wryneck. An even remoter possibility is catching sight of bee-eaters which have turned up in the south of the department for the second year running.
A relative common species in the forests here is the inconspicuous bonelli's warbler but I have yet to come across one this year and today I am off to (a rainy)England for a week so I'll have to wait till I get back.
A serin is singing noisily outside the door as I write this. I won't see one of them in the UK either.
