Yesterday I finally came down from my French mountain hideout to experience some Spring birding at lower altitude around Geneva, spending the morning around Sionnet marshes and fields before a brief look at Lac Léman from the Pointe à la Bise tower hide, finishing off at the hydroelectric dam on the Rhône where, thanks to a tip off from Mike 'Bittern' I was able to see a nice Black-winged Stilt.
Around Sionnet it was great to see/hear some passerine species that I never (or very rarely) get at home, such as Nightingale, Common Whitethroat, Stonechat, Whinchat, Wheatear, Corn and Reed Bunting, Reed and Great Reed Warbler plus the ducks etc., my highlight was finding a singing male Ortolan Bunting which flew off unseen the first time I heard it, then flew off (brief flight view) after singing in a different location 20 minutes later. Not to be outdone, I then spent at least half an hour searching for it in the extensive vines on the nearby slopes where I thought it had landed. My perseverance finally paid off as I refound it pottering about between the rows, always distant but at least it was now settled so I was able to alert various other birders down by the marsh.
At Pointe à la Bise I found a couple of Whiskered and one single Black Tern with a good number of Common Terns so I treated myself to lunch at the restaurant there, sitting outside with the accompanying chorus of Blackcap and Marsh frogs!
