A French Odyssey; October 2022 (1 Viewer)

[dantheman]

I always enjoy anthracite or obsidian if you want a shiny black and ninja black is nicely evocative if not actually descriptive

Having being hearing woodpeckers all week and at times not catching a snifter of a glimpse think ninja may be an appropriate word here ... having a bit more sympathy than previously for the 'Ivory bill Woodpecker' searchers in the states ...

(Mind you I'm making no effort to physically track them down or get closer)

Sounds like a decently birdy garden your folks have - enjoying your updates

It's a fortuitous location I think in some respects. Just wish the garden was a bit wilder/more habo but a small range of trees from large conifer to a couple small silver birch and Fig, along with the pond certainly helps, as does being surrounded by other gardens and with reasonable views.

 

[dantheman]

Great stuff Dan, well done on the Lesser ‘pecker, I haven’t seen one in our part of France this year so a bit jealous and as for having a pond in the garden, very nice!

If you have any space at all, dig a pond! (If you don't have one already) Best and most prolonged views I've had here or anywhere ever this year I think. I think you get some other stuff I could only dream of here ... ;-)

(Edit: views of the woodpeckers being referred to that is, not ponds. We've all seen ponds at some time or another)

 

[dantheman]

** Day 6 - Wednesday October 5th BONUS CONTENT **

Special Trip Out ...

Continuing the theme of widening horizons and visiting superlative birding locations in the region took an afternoon visit out on the Tuesday afternoon to a few places with the male parent. First stop was the village of Bruch, on the way back to Agen where I had half an hours or so wander whilst Dad did some stuff. The first twenty minutes down the hill to a stream and brief sortie into the countryside produced 1 Magpie, 1 Collared Dove and some heard-only House Sparrows, along with a Buzzard as we pulled up in the village itself. Not the best. It was mid afternoon and hot again, but still. Things improved dramatically though with a second Magpie and 2 more Collared Doves near the busy main road when I started back. Back at the stream again in a bit of a loop and there was actually something slightly out of the ordinary - 2 White Wagtail and a Grey Wagtail (trip tick) flushed up from beside the bridge in the shallows. Unfortunately as they had flushed I wasn't really able to enjoy them much (ie I had absolutely rubbish views). Did get a certain amount of pleasure from some random fish watching however - a couple of dozen big languid things with dark tails and top fins and orange underfins; may have to refer back to fishforum at some point for further special id refinement perhaps. Onward to some other places, including getting food for the week in Tonneins but nothing noted of interest, until coming back from Aiguillon we pulled off the roadside by one of the many gravel pits in the area and added some distant Great Crested Grebes (about 5) to the trip list, along with a Coot and some even more distant gulls - mostly Yellow-legged but half a dozen or so Lesser Black-backed Gulls too loafing on the distant side of the pit. Southern European birding at its finest.

 

[rosbifs]

Couple of other good sites

migraction

Accueil - www.migraction.net

and

faune-france

Accueil - www.faune-france.org

www.faune-france.org

Honeys have all but gone... Red Kites moving here now, Short Toed still moving along med but very few here now...

 

[dantheman]

Day 7 - Thursday 6th October

Another day, another garden birdwatch! Fortunately I didn't keep any birding notes at all today, so apart from noting the new species I mostly don't have to report every single bird I saw in the garden, at least ...

Up in good time for a garden vizmig session, hopefully, and it was reasonable, with a new addition - a Hawfinch high up over the valley amongst the occasional other birds moving about in the early morning sun - like some kind of comedy bird, with its distinct chunky appeal. This one was pretty high and distant, but the odd front heavy appearance (massive bill merging into the chunky head at distance) and checkered wings unique even at range. The only other stand-out bird was a male Marsh Harrier flying purposefully south down the valley.

Took the walk into the village to post a letter mid-morning, so took the opportunity to pay homage to the Petite Baise, the river which runs through our little valley. It's mostly a sordid green, slow-moving sluggish affair (except when it floods, when it gets faster and browner) and surrounded by trees and thick vegetation down to the waters edge for the most part. It is used by pleasure motor boats fairly extensively in season. Down by the waters edge and on the other side a flash of blue gave itself away as a Kingfisher, with another beside the ruined watermill. 2 Grey Wagtails were down by the weir. Otherwise the walk was quiet, apart from a Mistle Thrush on the lane back. Checked out the sewage works, which is half reed bed, but only a brief stop and nothing to see or hear.

Back home and after lunch on the phone to a relative when I espied an odd bird in the silver birch as I left the house - bit weird - slim and upright with a hefty bill - but then it flew, arrow-bright away with a sparkle of incandescent bright blue and the penny dropped!* To add to the oddness, within half an hour a Grey Wagtail was down and visiting the pond - two new garden trip ticks that I'd only seen in the village an hour or two earlier and had wondered if I would get in the garden at all this visit!

The main event of the day was the trip back to Coulx to collect Mum mid-afternoon. The trip up was uneventful, apart from the usual french drivers, with only a single raptor seen on the whole one hour trip. But slightly bizarrely, that one raptor was an Osprey flying south over the hilltop village of Verteuil-d'Agenais. Was successful in picking Mum up and we escaped back south again ourselves. Allowed the satnav a little more leeway on this leg, and was taken a slightly more direct route which was nice and scenic but probably took longer through the rolling french countryside. Worth it for the scenery if nothing else. Raptors seen en route this time included Kestrels and Buzzards and a single Black-winged Kite on a telegraph post by Buzet sur Baise.

Back past Aiguillon and I was looking out for the spot where we'd stopped previously by the gravel pits and was surprised to see a sign reading -'Observatoire de Faune et Flora' by the roadside. We took the turning, and sure enough there was, a km or so down the minor road. Quelle surprise! Not only a viewing area over one of the big pits in the area (which was all I was expecting in reality), but a smart new visitor centre by the looks of it. It was shut admittedly. It was a surprise, but no surprise that we hardly saw any birds on the quick scan - a single Little Egret flushed up by our presence, and a distant Buzzard. Oh well. The surprising thing is that Dad must have driven past that sign just about weekly for at least the last few years! Presumably put in place as some mitigation for gravel extraction and used for education purposes, which can't be a bad thing, even if there were no birds there. I'm sure there are sometimes, or it has potential to in the future though as the site develops ... ;-)

We did manage to stop at the other spot too (well the other end of it, nearly being run off the road by an elderly frenchman in an antiquated Renault in the process), and managing to see Great Crested Grebe and Coot again, plus a single Mallard and waterside roost of 30 or so Cattle Egret.

*(Kingfisher)

 

[dantheman]

Day 8 - Friday 7th October

First zero day! Well ... not quite, just no new additions. I still birded the garden, fairly hard. This mostly involved sitting down.

It was probably setting up to be a quieter day after all the excitement earlier in the week. Unfortunately it was the earliest I had been up so far, out in the garden a good half hour before what should have been reasonable light. As usual it was foggy, but this time the fog didn't lift until around 10:30 or so. And when it did there weren't the hordes of birds passing through that I had been expecting. Some Chaffinches of course, but high up (maybe birds had been passing above me and the fog all along, but I never heard anything, at any rate). Swallows and House Martins etc.

The other end of the day wasn't much better. In fact it was worse, but my expectations at least were lower. I went out after tea until after dark, and was able to report back to Dad the best bird of the session was a Jackdaw. Well, two Jackdaws.

There was of course some stuff in the middle of the day, but because I didn't note anything down, and nothing memorable sticks in my mind, will just leave it at that ... ;-)

 

[dantheman]

Extras

A couple of things from around day 3 or day 4 was the swarming of the flying ants - The whole garden, sky and valley seemed to be filled with them! At one point in the late afternoon probably millions of the things, but not a bird in the sky feeding on them, maybe all the hirundines had found there were even more just down the valley or something ... but did seem a bit bizarre! Butterflies in the garden include regular Clouded Yellow (up to 4), with others sometimes seen flying at height, a couple of Brimstone, occasional Red Admiral, a regular Wall or similar, maybe 2 types of Blue (given a lot of size disparity), Small White and a Small Copper. Although seems bigger than I recall seeing in the UK ... maybe a Large Copper, or Middle Copper? Should probably check it out properly if seen again ... In the long grass on one brief circuit 3 Vestal moths seen - would get excited if in the moth trap back home, but maybe resident here ... Lots of Shield Bugs trying to get into the house, probably so they can hibernate cosily for the winter, but causing no end of angst to the parents in the process ... ;-) Away from the invertebrates and in addition to the bats already mentioned a single Red Squirrel seen clambering around energetically in one of the fig trees in the neighbours garden - a particularly black individual this one though.

The very resident birds - not really mentioned these - 4 Blackbirds seem fairly resident, 2 Robins regularly seen, sometimes near each other in an uneasy truce, other times in completely different parts of the garden, or seemingly best enemies, a pair of Collared Doves sometimes hanging around, and a semi-resident flock of 10 or more House Sparrows (they normally nest under the roof tiles on the bungalow, (along with a single pair of Swifts in recent years)) More and bigger flocks around the village. Blue Tits seen daily, and Great Tits entertaining as they remove sunflower seeds from the Sunflowers in the garden. Probably world record shortest sunflowers (will have to measure them) but has been a drought year down here too.

Very balmy - 28 celsius the forecast for Agen one day, hotter I believe than the hottest day in Cornwall on that record-breaking hottest day in the UK back in the summer. Got down to 17C one night too ...

 

[rosbifs]

Extras

A couple of things from around day 3 or day 4 was the swarming of the flying ants - The whole garden, sky and valley seemed to be filled with them! At one point in the late afternoon probably millions of the things, but not a bird in the sky feeding on them, maybe all the hirundines had found there were even more just down the valley or something ... but did seem a bit bizarre! Butterflies in the garden include regular Clouded Yellow (up to 4), with others sometimes seen flying at height, a couple of Brimstone, occasional Red Admiral, a regular Wall or similar, maybe 2 types of Blue (given a lot of size disparity), Small White and a Small Copper. Although seems bigger than I recall seeing in the UK ... maybe a Large Copper, or Middle Copper? Should probably check it out properly if seen again ... In the long grass on one brief circuit 3 Vestal moths seen - would get excited if in the moth trap back home, but maybe resident here ... Lots of Shield Bugs trying to get into the house, probably so they can hibernate cosily for the winter, but causing no end of angst to the parents in the process ... ;-) Away from the invertebrates and in addition to the bats already mentioned a single Red Squirrel seen clambering around energetically in one of the fig trees in the neighbours garden - a particularly black individual this one though.

The very resident birds - not really mentioned these - 4 Blackbirds seem fairly resident, 2 Robins regularly seen, sometimes near each other in an uneasy truce, other times in completely different parts of the garden, or seemingly best enemies, a pair of Collared Doves sometimes hanging around, and a semi-resident flock of 10 or more House Sparrows (they normally nest under the roof tiles on the bungalow, (along with a single pair of Swifts in recent years)) More and bigger flocks around the village. Blue Tits seen daily, and Great Tits entertaining as they remove sunflower seeds from the Sunflowers in the garden. Probably world record shortest sunflowers (will have to measure them) but has been a drought year down here too.

Very balmy - 28 celsius the forecast for Agen one day, hotter I believe than the hottest day in Cornwall on that record-breaking hottest day in the UK back in the summer. Got down to 17C one night too ...

Temps are nuts! We had 25 here and cloudy - meant it felt hot!

I had a, surely, last Short Toed two days ago... We have had an explosion of Leothrix Bec Rouge here over the last week or so - 70 were counted in 2 conifers on the Soulor!! Some in the village here too and all the towns - I saw 1 personally so not a great return for me!