Gulls

There’s not a great deal to report at present but the last couple of days of warm sunshine have been welcome and have raised expectations. We all know that spring migration doesn’t really get underway until later in March but there is always the chance that something might turn up. A brief visit to the Tardoire today revealed that most of the lapwings have moved on and there is not a single goldenplover remaining. The most interesting sight was of three black headed gulls floating in the middle of a flooded field, not a great deal to get excited about but indicating that some birds are moving.
I have visited the Bandiat river at Vielles Vaure but sadly the site has been degraded from a birding point of view because of scrub clearance. More of the flooded area has been revealed but migrating water birds have less concealment. Not surprisingly, nothing was there other than four mallards.
There have been reports of shoveler and garganey from other Charente sites and the blackbird’s song is brightening up the early evenings so we’ll see what the next few days bring (other than showers that is).