Cranes and Merlins

Cranes have been passing over in the last 2-3 days although I've seen only a small flock of 14 myself. My wife has seen more --but then she has not been assembling Ikea furniture indoors.
I did manage a walk along the Son-Sonette on Wednesday; along with the 14 cranes I came across one bullfinch and a few reed buntings. In total 34 species made an appearance.
Another escape from the assembly line took me to the plains yesterday. I was rewarded by the fascinating sight of not one but three merlins working together to chase skylarks one of which was taken after a long dog-fight high in the sky. This took place not long before sunset and several kestrels were also hunting. Perhaps the low-angled light works to the falcons' advantage.

Five corvids and four raptors on Remembrance Day

The mixture of showers and sun continued today but the rain held off all morning and I took my binoculars when I cycled over the plains to pay my respects at the La Tache cenotaph.
One gets so used to seeing flocks of just crows daily that it's a pleasant surprise to see their numbers augmented by rooks and jackdaws as they were around Artenac today. Put this together with the many jays that were flying about and the pair of magpies thatI I came across and it amounts to five members of the corvid family. This is about the maximum that is possible in Charente as ravens are very rare.
Raptors gave a good showing also; buzzards were everywhere as usual including the extremely dark and the almost white individuals which often frequent the area. A pair of female hen harriers were making use of a thermal and a single kestrel was hunting the fields. Later, an immature sparrowhawk decided to sit on the stable roof for some five minutes.
The finch family was represented almost entirely by goldfinch as the 500+ flock is still feeding on the unharvested sunflowers--although they seem to have eaten most of the seeds by now. Just a few greenfinches accompanied them. Elsewhere, chaffinches were around in good numbers with the odd brambling mxed in with them. No sign of any linnets today.
The other species that were flocking were the starlings around La Tache and the many hundreds of skylarks that are feeding on the plains. There is still no sign of any more cranes but the migration period seems to have stretched further and further into late November and early December in recent years so their is still a good possibility they will turn up.
Firecrests and a short-toed treecreeper were both in the garden bringing the day's species total to a satisfying 30+.

Break in the clouds? Go for a ride--Get wet.

The weather remains miserable today but beset by the guilt of a 64 year-old who fears that he needs a bit of exercise I took to my bike. Not many birds were as equally adventurous, however. A trip over the plains and back via Artenac revealed a flock of 100+ goldfinches making the best of the sunflowers that remain, a few chaffinches, and greenfinches plenty of skylarks on the ploughed fields, a smattering of crows, two magpies and a jay, some wind-tossed woodpigeons and collared doves, the usual blue and great tits, an occasional calling meadow pipit, a kestrel and a buzzard, some starlings huddled on a wire, chirping house sparrows and the resident moorhens on La Poterie pond--I can't count the remaining mallard. I make that a mere 17 species!
But there was a large flock of linnets outside my house yesterday afternoon and I'm sure that robins have stopped singing only until the rain stops.

Back in (wet) Charente

The short trip to the wetlands of the Costa Brava was very pleasant and yielded 60+ species including plenty of flamingoes and it was good to find that the water levels were so high after the summer drought.

The same conditions seem to be the case here in Charente as it rained pretty incessantly today so I hardly got out of the house. I don't yet know if any more cranes were observed during my brief absence.

Hold That Page

 At least two flocks of cranes were calling this morning as they flew over the house between 5 and 6am----so the cold weather is causing some movement.

Spain tomorrow

Well the cold wind certainly came today but it as yet has not brought any migrants from the north--or not that could be observed from my garden. Tomorrow I'm off to northern Spain for a few days to see what has blown in there.

Birthday List

Yesterday I reached the 64th milestone which seemed a good opportunity to see how many birds were out there to celebrate it with me. There was no chance of  finding 64 species but one for each two years seemed a possibility. In the end I managed 35 and that was without a few usual suspects such as linnet and nuthatch.
The highlight was several brightly plumaged male brambling in amongst the other finches which were feeding on unharvested sunflowers. One of these flocks mainly consisted of over a hundred goldfinches which made a bright spectacle in the sunlight. Another gave a tantalisingly brief view of a tree sparrow--my first this year.
Five mistle thrushes--possibly migrating birds were feeding near Ventouse and a troupe of rooks were in a field near Artenac. This species is highly localised in these parts but the available food after the harvest is probably encouraging some wandering. For the same reason, woodpigeons and collared doves were plentiful, one flock of the latter contained about 100.
The temperature is forecast to plummet over the next 24 hours as cold air comes in from the north and this should produce flocks of lapwings and perhaps cranes migrating south