Wallcreepers and a quick summer/autumn review

 Once again I have been away from my blog for several months but the arrival of the one of our favourite regular rarities has stirred me into action

Wallcreepers have been reported this week from the chateaux at La Rochefoucauld and Confolens and I’ll be off to look for them very shortly and hopefully they will provide even better photo opportunities than they did last autumn/winter.

The months that have flown by since my last post (in May!) have turned up some interesting birds but the most abiding impression is of an overall decline in numbers and I suppose we have climate crisis to blame for that. Nevertheless I managed to get out most days with binoculars and camera and here are some of the highlights of the summer:

I was blessed with coming across a migrating dotterel for the second year running and although it stayed around for just one day it obligingly allowed me to take lots of pics. These two individuals are, as far as I know, the only ones seen in Charente for many years.

  

Flycatchers were one group which seemed to buck the trend of diminishing numbers and the pied variety was easy to find during early autumn migration.

Spotted were less so but a couple turned up in my garden.

 Wheatears and whinchats also brightened things up from Augustus onwards as they began their journey back to Africa.

And the prolonged drought made the bird bath inviting for some species.

As I write, the cranes are in the middle of their return migration with a couple of thousands passing over the house this week.