Sunday 6 May 2012

Looking Locally

A very obliging Turtle Dove


A pleasant day but a northerly wind.  We took a drive north of Minerve checking for any new migrants.  There was not much to report until we got east of Le Boisset and took the track high into the hills.  A Raven flew over and after a bit of searching a pair of Red-backed Shrikes were located on a potential nesting site.  This species is very much part of my youth in Suffolk so I get a thrill every time I come across them.

Male Red-backed Shrike
We moved back to Minerve and looked again in vain for Red-rumped Swallows.  Where are they?  They are usually back by now even gathering mud from puddles in the track by our house.  We did see a male Blue Rock Thrush, 3 Crag Martins and an Alpine Swift.  The latter was the first for Minerve for us this year.

Alpine Swift
After listening to the football on the radio I checked out a few places down in the plain. Not much really - two pairs of Black-winged Stilts and a Golden Oriole at Homps sewerage lagoons and c20 Bee-eaters just east of Olonzac and a very posy Turtle Dove.

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