British and Irish expats in France (1 Viewer)

Bonjour everyone,

I'll set the ball rolling on this one. Today I went out to Etang de Lachaussée in la meuse, department 55. This is one of my local patches that I frequently visit.

Scores on the doors today:

Indisputed highlight, 2, dare I say, a pair of Penduline Tits???? One was singing, so was obviously a male, one was just calling so was maybe a female. I have seen them here before and previous form is that I hear them, then see them for a few seconds, then they get up and fly for at least a kilometre or more. These 2 seemed to be holding a territory and were constantly calling and singing in the same vicinity. Also Purple Heron seen in flight and the usual Black Kites, Marsh Harriers, first Nightingale and Swifts of the year......

Bon soir, Jonno, Ca va?

Swifts on the way, then. Good-o.
Fingers crossed on the Pendulines.

Snow here in Yorkshire last night & below freezing overnight. Not many migrants yet - Willow Warbler today near York.
Atb,

H

Bonsoir Jonno and Howdo H (that's my best Yorkshire accent you'll note), in my part of France it's as cold as in Holmfirth today so Spring on hold again, only bird of note was a southbound(!) Yellow-legged Gull, pretty rare at 1,100m asl and even more so in Spring.The big news locally today was of 4 Red-rumped Swallows together on the Rhône 20kms south of Geneva, a description species in this neck of the woods, as was yesterday's headliner, a Subalpine Warbler in a garden near Geneva, seen bathing and preening in a puddle formed in a deckchair, now that would be a great garden tick!

I traversed the country yesterday - Pyrenees to Alps and probably had a total of 10 species!
I'm thinking now...
Blackbird, Crow, Jackdaw, Black Kite, Red Kite, Kestrel, Buzzard (Com), Grey Heron, Shelduck, House Sparrow, Serin, Starling and the highlight of Hoopoe at a services.... Magpie, Crested Lark - 15 sp.

Hoping to stop at the coast on the way back and should beat that in 15 mins... (there is also Citrine Wag and RT Pipit where we are going. please stay please stay please stay)

I went back for the Pendulines on Monday morning and no sign, but, I did bump into the guy that I texted to let him know of their presence, he had 5 in the same place on Sunday evening, and, they all got up towards dusk and moved off, so, it seems that it was a migrating party. Still smart though!

Consolation was found in a Purple Heron in full breeding finery as well as the usual Black Kites, Nightingales, Marsh Harriers, Lesser Whitethroats, White Stork, booming Bitterns..... Lachaussée is probably my favorite spot.

Now, what will tomorrow and Thursday's easterlies bring? I have Friday off, hoping for a WWB Tern to complete the set!

A bientôt.

halftwo said:

Bon soir, Jonno, Ca va?

Swifts on the way, then. Good-o.
Fingers crossed on the Pendulines.

Snow here in Yorkshire last night & below freezing overnight. Not many migrants yet - Willow Warbler today near York.
Atb,

H

Click to expand...

Please, don't embarass me by making me type in French!

Swifts definitely on the way, loads there on Monday morning.

With that weather, you need to keep an eye open for Snowfinch in that case.

Had a day out birding today up the Arve valley (that's the river that starts from Mt Blanc and flows down to Geneva where it joins the Rhône). There' s a particular area (Passy)that seems to attract stray migrants not easily seen in this neck of the woods, my theory is that they follow the Rhône, then the Arve until they find themselves surrounded by massive peaks, if it's cloudy or rainy they stick around. So the other day Ortolans, Tawny Pipits etc were stuck there. It was a lovely morning - so they'd all cleared off, still I managed to see some nice new birds for the year like Whinchat, Wheatear, Swift, Bonelli's and Reed Warblers, all bar the Swifts were just single individuals though, so not exactly teeming with birds. The highlight was an unfortunately brief sighting of a Hooded Crow, which flew over the car as we exited the autoroute (my pal Mike who was driving, missed it). I realised later it's a 'French tick' for me, so a bit of a Brucie bonus!

I was out on Friday, the highlight of a chilly day was a pair of breeding Cranes (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!) on their usual site, although it was the first time I've seen them there since 2011 and just goes to show how elusive such large, loud and conspicuous birds can be! It's been snowing yesterday and today so enthusiasm to get out has not been at it's highest!