Late July.....and More Rain

Not just more rain but very much on the cool side as well!
Generally one doesn't expect too much that surprises by the time mid summer arrives and this year is no exception but here are a few observations.
The most interesting of these was a brief view of a peregrine as it flew across the upper stretch of the Bonnieure. I think this is only the second time that I've seen this precise in Charente.
All the grain is now in and the ground-nesting birds which have survived the combines can occasionally be seen or heard in the stubble fields. A stone curlew flew across the road near Romefort today and a few quail were calling from the plains as I cycled across yesterday. Meanwhile, the odd black kite scavengers for victims.
I came across a flock of five common sandpipers on the Charente near Mansle today and kingfisher was on a stretch of the river near Lichère.
On my local cycling excursions I am still coming across the occasional singing tree pipit and yellowhammers are more common on some days than cirl's while red back shrikes number at least 8 pairs within 10k or so of my house.
Sadly, after his earlier singing, there has recently been no sign of the reed warbler near Valence and I have yet to come across a bonelli's warbler this year. The nightjars are surely in the nearby forests but I have not made an evening visit to find out.....perhaps next week if it gets warmer.

July, Rain! and Rock Sparrow

 It's been a miserable week weatherise. I've seen no official figures but we must have had getting on for six inches in old money judging from the full containers in the garden. The fields are full of half harvested fields which have not been touched for a week now and I presume the farmers are as grumpy as the birds which are trying to shelter their broods.

I've quoted D H Lawrence before when he said that you never see a bird that feels sorry for itself and so, grumpy or not, they all seem to be getting on with it. Swallows, house martins and swifts were all flying low today as they fed busily over the stubble and many of them seemed to be young birds practising their fly-catching skills. Red backed shrikes were perched upright on the hedgerows as I cycled past (there was a gap in the downpour this morning) and corn buntings were already gathering in post breeding flocks with at least 15 in the sunflowers.

Rock sparrows are not an easy bird to find in Charente, in fact I can recall seeing the species just once before this summer, but at least one pair appears to be breeding in the small settlement of Galvert just a couple of kilometres from my house.

For the record, it's still possible to find about forty species of birds within a couple of hours but nightingales have now largely stopped singing so are hard to locate. Orioles are still plentiful though and I saw three hoopoes last week. Other less common species that are turning up occasionally are black kites, stone curlews and hen harriers. 

Apart from the birds, it's been delight to have posts of close views of hares and red squirrels during the last few weeks.