Paul Collins
Well-known member
Hello. Although I live in London, I have a second home in Normandy which seems worthy of a thread. With this thread, I hope to discuss local birds on my land and also in the rest of Normandy.
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Normandy Birdwatching (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Paul Collins
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Paul Collins
Well-known member
I live in a small town (for an idea of location, I'll say that it is a few kms from Livarot, only 20km from Deauville, Houlgate, 35km from Caen, Le Havre and Honfleur). My cottage is in the middle of the countryside, with fields, woodlands and one or two occasional lakes.
The first time this year that I have been was from the 28th December to the 2nd January, with a gap in the middle to go to Paris. I shall start in January.
BIRDS:
Large numbers of song thrush, mistle thrush, fieldfare, redwing, blackbirds and starlings.
Scatterings of great, blue, long-tailed, marsh and willow tits, with occasional wanderings of goldcrests, nuthatch, and short-toed treecreepers (delights to find in these dense tit flocks).
Finch flocks are mainly chaffinch and greenfinch, but there is the odd bullfinch male, which is a nice find always.
Wrens and house sparrows are everywhere, singing early in the morning.
Over-wintering chiffchaffs have been seen in the hedgerows.
Green and great-spotted woodpeckers quite commonly seen and heard.
Woodpigeons are thin on the ground at the moment.
Buzzards are commonly seen crying in the air. Kestrels less so.
A couple of rarish birds for the area include bullfinch (more commonly seen now, and a first for my garden!), white wagtail (occasional in summer and winter), hobby (first time ever in the area), grey wagtail (ditto), and cormorant (occasional fly-over)
MAMMALS:
Mole-hills everywhere. Rabbit droppings, and a few rabbits seen locally. Pug-marks of deer in my field. Most notable sighting was a hare bounding across a road at 2am on New Years Day (a rarely seen species in the area).
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I shall enclose more reports as the year goes by, with photos and sketches as well.
Paul
The first time this year that I have been was from the 28th December to the 2nd January, with a gap in the middle to go to Paris. I shall start in January.
BIRDS:
Large numbers of song thrush, mistle thrush, fieldfare, redwing, blackbirds and starlings.
Scatterings of great, blue, long-tailed, marsh and willow tits, with occasional wanderings of goldcrests, nuthatch, and short-toed treecreepers (delights to find in these dense tit flocks).
Finch flocks are mainly chaffinch and greenfinch, but there is the odd bullfinch male, which is a nice find always.
Wrens and house sparrows are everywhere, singing early in the morning.
Over-wintering chiffchaffs have been seen in the hedgerows.
Green and great-spotted woodpeckers quite commonly seen and heard.
Woodpigeons are thin on the ground at the moment.
Buzzards are commonly seen crying in the air. Kestrels less so.
A couple of rarish birds for the area include bullfinch (more commonly seen now, and a first for my garden!), white wagtail (occasional in summer and winter), hobby (first time ever in the area), grey wagtail (ditto), and cormorant (occasional fly-over)
MAMMALS:
Mole-hills everywhere. Rabbit droppings, and a few rabbits seen locally. Pug-marks of deer in my field. Most notable sighting was a hare bounding across a road at 2am on New Years Day (a rarely seen species in the area).
----
I shall enclose more reports as the year goes by, with photos and sketches as well.
Paul
Paul Collins
Well-known member
Just to give you an idea of what to expect over the year, and what can be found on my land (for the moment in terms of birds, and then perhaps later in terms of other wildlife - the bold typeface indicates more unusual garden species here):
1) Cormorant
2) Grey Heron
3) Buzzard
4) Sparrowhawk
5) Kestrel
6) Grey Partridge
7) Collared Dove
8) Turtle Dove
9) Rock Dove
10) Wood Pigeon
11) Cuckoo
12) Barn Owl
13) Swift
14) Green Woodpecker
15) Great Spotted Woodpecker
16) Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
17) Swallow
18) House Martin
19) Tree Pipit
20) Meadow Pipit
21) White Wagtail
22) Wren
23) Dunnock
24) Robin
25) Redstart
26) Blackbird
27) Fieldfare
28) Songthrush
29) Redwing
30) Mistle Thrush
31) Blackcap
32) Wood Warbler
33) Chiffchaff
34) Willow Warbler
35) Goldcrest
36) Spotted Flycatcher
37) Long Tailed Tit
38) Willow Tit
39) Marsh Tit
40) Coal Tit
41) Blue Tit
42) Great Tit
43) Nuthatch
44) Short Toed Treecreeper
45) Red Backed Shrike
46) Jay
47) Magpie
48) Carrion Crow
49) Starling
50) House Sparrow
51) Tree Sparrow
52) Chaffinch
53) Greenfinch
54) Goldfinch
55) Linnet
56) Bullfinch
57) Yellowhammer
58) Cirl Bunting
1) Cormorant
2) Grey Heron
3) Buzzard
4) Sparrowhawk
5) Kestrel
6) Grey Partridge
7) Collared Dove
8) Turtle Dove
9) Rock Dove
10) Wood Pigeon
11) Cuckoo
12) Barn Owl
13) Swift
14) Green Woodpecker
15) Great Spotted Woodpecker
16) Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
17) Swallow
18) House Martin
19) Tree Pipit
20) Meadow Pipit
21) White Wagtail
22) Wren
23) Dunnock
24) Robin
25) Redstart
26) Blackbird
27) Fieldfare
28) Songthrush
29) Redwing
30) Mistle Thrush
31) Blackcap
32) Wood Warbler
33) Chiffchaff
34) Willow Warbler
35) Goldcrest
36) Spotted Flycatcher
37) Long Tailed Tit
38) Willow Tit
39) Marsh Tit
40) Coal Tit
41) Blue Tit
42) Great Tit
43) Nuthatch
44) Short Toed Treecreeper
45) Red Backed Shrike
46) Jay
47) Magpie
48) Carrion Crow
49) Starling
50) House Sparrow
51) Tree Sparrow
52) Chaffinch
53) Greenfinch
54) Goldfinch
55) Linnet
56) Bullfinch
57) Yellowhammer
58) Cirl Bunting
