rugbymatt

Its actually quite lively, we have a new troll and I have been winding him up all day, but I am bored now, I get bored easily.


Plus I keep an eye on the France forum because you never know what life has in store for you eh?

val50

You certainly don't. Had a great day out with OH - saw loads of lapwings on Utah Beach by the way.
Thankfully I'd had a couple of drinks before logging on to BE tonight

Le Chant

Does Spain turn their streetlights off at 9pm too?

rugbymatt

I find it best to have a lot of drinks before coming on here, but I still cant drink so I am struggling at the moment.


Lapwings are very rare in the UK now.

val50

Must be because they are all in the fields of Normandy - there were hundred's of them
Saw some Candian geese too, which is unusual for here, loads of hawks and buzzards. Cormorants were at St Vaast and grey heron in fields close to Carentan. Have to remember to put the bird book back in the car.

artemis

Hi Val, just popping on to say hello to you and to wish you a very happy New Year. I have just been reading about all the birds that have been spotted ... lovely ......... we were lucky enough to have a surprise visitor who was hoping to eat one of the house sparrows that we feed. He dove down onto the bird table really quickly and the garden became eerily quiet and I have to say that had I been a bird I too would have kept very quiet for fear of being eaten.

He sat in our honeysuckle bush for a good 6 minutes no doubt thinking that he had missed breakfast but why not soak up the winter sun so the morning wouldn't be entirely wasted. He had the most beady and beautifully fierce yellow piercing eyes and we found his name at last which was 'sparrowhawk'. A couple of weeks later I came home to discover a large sprinkling of grey and white collared dove feathers under the apple tree. A couple of the feathers were lodged in the tree so it did look as if he was successful in catching a meal. It could not have been our fat and lazy cats who may have dispatched the poor dove as their little paws would not touch the ground outside because it was much too cold for them!

treskillard

Can't resist posting that I saw a Great White Egret feeding on the river near Mirepoix last Sunday. They have such beautiful graceful necks. They make Herons look clumsy.

Not my photo I hasten to add

themoose

great photo. there are a few by us, will see if i can catch one on film.

pepsisue

Is it rare to see a Bum Barrel, of cause that's only it's nickname.

Another name to add to our compiling list.

onlyonebrenda

Sadly my eyesight isn't as sharp as it once was which is frustrating when it comes to identifiying the very rich birdlife round here. As well as the species already mentioned I have plenty of wrens. There is a booming sound which comes from the marshlands by the river at the end of my garden. I'd like to think it's a bittern but sadly it's probably just a large frog. I see quite a lot of jays round here and at the moment there's a larger number of magpies around. Some Dutch friends who live in a very old farmhouse have a pair of gyr falcons nesting in the roof every year. Fascinating to think that they might be descended from birds that the knights of old used for hunting.
One visitor that comes to my garden that gives me a real thrill is the red squirrel. I've just had my cherry trees pruned back hard after many years of neglect. Unfortunately this has come at the same time as next door repairing their roof so the turtle doves are flapping around rather forlornly.
And yes, seeing buzzards on my way into the local maret town still makes my heart sing.

treskillard

So the migration has been well under way for a time down here in the Aude. I'm not out often but a couple of weeks ago we saw the resident pair of Short Toed Eagles hunting above the hill near us. They are snake Eagles and with this patch of poor weather we've had the last 10 days will wish they had waited a bit longer before coming north this year. I hope they survived. I saw the first Hoopoe here yesterday. Also, I was amazed to see four White Storks wheeling above the valley on my way to the airport in Carcassonne on thursday! Apart from these I also saw about 12 vultures circling around the Upper Aude Valley last Sunday. It was market day in Esperaza so maybe they were out looking for people recovering from too many cosmic rays (they're cheap now I've heard )

treskillard

Finally I saw a Cuckoo today!
Isn't that what British people are supposed to announce to one another.

Le Chant

That's pretty cool Tres! Well done!

We've had ours here for a few days now and it isn't bothering us too much just yet. Give it a few weeks though and I'll be reaching for the shotgun....

treskillard

A polite way of saying "I saw it first, Na Na Na Na Na!"





:curse:

Le Chant

Nope!

A polite way of calling you a flash git for managing to get a shot of it!

:curse: