It’s with some guilt that I realise that I haven’t posted since last autumn but Covid 19 has made me realise the value of very local birding as I, along with everyone else in Charente, am now essentially restricted to observing birds within 1 km of my house.
So, partly because I have more time on my hands (despite all the garden and diy jobs that have suddenly turned up) and partly to provide some info for anyone who still reads this blog, I will try my hand at Birding Charente During Lockdown.
The garden’s a good place to start and I’ve spent some time walking around it since I hurriedly scrambled back from a trip to Texas just a few days back. The weather’s been warm and sunny and there are plenty of signs of bird activity including some migration and this resulted in a tally of 26 species in or from the garden this weekend.
I saw and heard my first cuckoo of the year on Saturday and three swallows flew northward over my head this afternoon. Blackcaps are singing and probably nesting in the garden while blackbirds, and black redstarts definitely are. A pair of the former sadly deserted a nest leaving four eggs behind but I think they have already relocated close by. A chaffinch has been singing very noisily all week and he and his partner are always busy on the lawn as is a robin. A serin, a cirl bunting and a mistle thrush joined the choir today and I’ve heard the sounds of green and great spotted woodpecker close by.
Other species that have put in appearances include dunnock, house sparrow, starling, blue and great tit, greenfinch, chiffchaff, woodpigeon (but strangely no collared dove) crow, jay, magpie and of course moorhen on the adjacent pond. Overhead, along with the swallows, have been buzzards but no other raptors as yet.
I’ve done a couple of the limited walks that are allowed from the house but they added only a few birds to the garden list viz. linnet, skylark, meadow pipit, long tailed tit and nuthatch.
Let’s see what the next few days bring.
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