france

Bernache nonnette - Branta leucopsis -Barnacle Goose

Bernache du Canada - Branta canadensis - Greater Canada Goose

Present around our house between 19 and 21 November 2019, this male constitutes the first record for Haute-Savoie

Taken in France, where these little beauties are fairly common. In the UK they are limited to small areas of Scotland. Every year I try to get a better image.

Black kite in the Tarn Valley in south Aveyron, France

Short-toed eagle at sunset on the Larzac, France

Just one pair of Pochard at Le Marquenterre, Picardy and no sign of any duckings. Unlike the Mallards, these were still in splendid plumage.

Taken at Le Marquenterre, Picardy, France

Photography prospects this week look bleak. Heavy grey cloud forecast to the end of the week and then rain!! So here's one from a couple of months back when the sun was shining.

It's odd isn't it that in the past 15 years (yes, I came to birding relatively late in life) I have never been close enough to a Cattle Egret to get a decent photo. Then at the end of August two opportunities presented themselves completely out of the blue. As you can see, the bird is as...

Sorry for my long absence. This is a rare sighting for me. Will catch up with you all later in the day.

Not often that we see these birds and they're quite timid - even using the car as a hide does not always guarantee success. This is probably as good as I've managed to get!

Since arriving in France the weather has been poor so birding/photographic opportunities have been few. However, this Little Egret flew across my path on Saturday, so not all bad. I'll be in and out today but I will catch up with you all at some point

My last upload for a week or so. We return to France next week but after we settle in and get back on-line I'll get back to it. Many thanks for your comments this week. Have a good week-end.

Not quite 'bird on the wire' but you get the idea. Many thanks for your comments this week, have a good week-end.

Thanks for all your comments on the Reed Warbler. Pretty sure that this is a juvenile, you can see the adult feathers pushing through the soft down. Certainly in the Loire region of France our experience is that Black Redstarts are common whereas Common Redstarts are rare!

Sorry I've not been posting lately, we've had a lot on and at the end of last week we returned to the UK. For our first month in France the Reed Warblers were simply not showing but two weeks ago we noticed a change in behaviour and one or two started to climb up the reeds as here. I wondered...

Firstly, apologies for the poor resolution but this is a very heavy crop. It does, however, prove the theory that you never know what you will stumble over next! We were on our way to a riverside walk when we decided to call in at the site of a Roman settlement. A few tiers of an amphitheatre...

aka Norfolk Hawker. Funnily enough I've only come across these dragonflies in Norfolk but I spotted this one in Bourges, central France at the week-end.

You may be thinking that this female is about to return to the nest with this morsel (as I was) but no, two seconds after I took this she scoffed the lot! For some (still) unaccountable reason I inadvertently mucked up the settings on my camera and so this was taken at ISO 2000 which was...