France Day 3: Rewarding Town and Countryside Walks

Woken again by the male Redstart - no need for alarm clock at least! Got out to find it had stopped raining but the river at the bottom of the garden had shot up by a couple of feet (and is still rising now!). It was actually quite cold and overcast, but luckily this was not to last too long and the rest of the day was really nice.

A poke around the garden of the gite resulted in much of the same as yesterday highlights included a male Wood Warbler, Golden Oriole and at least 4 Nightingale that blasted their song out from the undergrowth, occasionally showing too. Several family parties of Stonechat were vocal in the hedges and a Woodlark was sat on a wire with food for nest/young hidden out of sight.

We decided to go for a drive back into Montmorillon to have a look at the towns buildings and get some fresh pastries. Both were very impressive. We then headed north slightly to Saint Savin, where we had a look at the really impressive church with some quite incredible art work.  Both towns were brimming with Black Redstart!

Montmorillon (phone pic)

Saint Savin (phone pic)

I got the Sat Nav lady to take us back cross country and was rewarded with close up views of a smashing 'grey ghost' male Hen Harrier. Although I was on a main road there was no traffic in sight so I pulled up and enjoyed watching it hunt a wheat field. An irrigation pond held Mallard and Reed Warbler, male Cirl Bunting and several Nightingale.

Back at the gite we had another impressive local style lunch, the gite is now starting to smell of cheese! In order to walk off some of our food we headed on a walk along the river valley, probably about 8 km out, then back. Although I didn't stop at everything there was still quite a bit about, highlights included Black Kite, 20+ Nightingale, 5 Red-backed Shrikes (3 male, 2 female), 5 Melodious Warblers, 2 Short-toed Treecreepers, dozens of Black Redstart, Whitethroat, Blackcap and Cirl Bunting as well as lots more common stuff, also my first local Robins, Long-tailed Tit and Pheasants.

 One of the typical fields along the wooded river valley (phone pic)

Male Red-backed Shrike (phone-binned) - one of 4 males (and 2 females) seen today

Spent some time relaxing in the garden in the afternoon watching the Red Squirrels playing, and the Common Redstart and Black Redstart feeding up their nests. Two Short-toed Treecreepers gave incredibly close-up views too.

Male Black Redstart (Phone-scoped). Thought it had a ring for a moment, but it's just poo!

An evening circuit of the farm track above the gite was surprisingly productive, with male Cirl Bunting, Skylark, Woodlark, Hobby, 2 Golden Oriole, 2 Melodious Warbler, 1 Hawfinch, 1 male Red-backed Shrike and 1 Black Kite in amongst a wide range of common birds.

All in all another relaxing, enjoyable day. Looking forward to tomorrow, the weather is set to get warmer too, which will be nice.

France Day 2: Sorting out the Local Area

Woke up at 6am just as it was starting to get light, well actually I was woken up at 6am to be precise, by a male Redstart (phone-scoped photo below) and male Black Redstart that were singing full blast just outside our bedroom window! I spent a couple of hours just loitering around the gite while I waited for Jenny to surface, there was lots singing but it was difficult viewing due to all the vegetation. I got Golden Oriole, Short-toed Treecreeper, Garden Warbler, Nuthatch and lots of other common birds (Blackcaps everywhere). It was nice watching the Black Redstart pair feed up at their nest, there was also Blue Tit and Grey Wagtail breeding in the garden. The real highlight of the pre-breakfast session was 4 Red Squirrels that were really showy around the garden.

Male Common Redstart (Phone-scoped)

As this was our first day in the local area we needed to stock up on provisions so we headed to the nearest sizeable town Montmorillon (15/20 minute drive) in order to do some shopping - something I loathe doing in England - mainly because it involves going into Selby. Today was a little different though and en-route there and back I was rewarded with great views of Hoopoe, male Woodchat Shrike, Wryneck and Quail, as well as several other commoner birds. We'd pulled over to look at a building on a distant hillside and out popped a Wryneck in the hedge right next to the car! Got to love that bit of luck!!

After a lunch of local breads, meats and cheeses we decided to do a walk around the local area taking us to the nearby small village of Thollet, this was going well for the first hour, but during the second hour the rain came, and 8 hours later it's still pouring down! The forecast for the rest of the week looks great - just not today! Its surprising, at least to me having not been over here (France) other than on a school trip (15/20 years ago) just how quiet the place is, we walked for ages along roads, tracks, through hamlets with out seeing a single person. Its great! You can just stand in the countryside and just hear birds (and the odd cow/sheep)! No planes, trains, auto-mobiles, no people... perfect!

Avian highlights of our walk included female Montagu's Harrier sat on a fence post, 2 Turtle Dove showing nicely on the road, vocal Hoopoe with crest raised, equally vocal Cuckoo, Woodlark, smashing views of a Nightingale, several showy male Stonechat, more vocal Golden Orioles, Cirl Bunting and a rather fine-looking Melodious Warbler, along with several trip birds such as Whitethroat, Dunnock, Meadow Pipit, Song Thrush etc.

Hopefully the rain will stop overnight and the sun will be out tomorrow!