Hawk-Eye Beryl strikes again

I went to Minerve first thing this time to the correct spot but saw no Wallcreepers.  There was a cold northerly wind blowing down the Gorge Brian and the only observation was that the local Crag Martins had increased to three.




Crag Martin


Late morning we were driving to have lunch with friends Stuart & Jacqui Gregory and their family.  My wife Beryl is first class at spotting distant raptors.  Driving through the village of Agel Beryl called a distant raptor.  I stopped the car and just caught sight of a longish winged raptor disappearing over the horizon.  A few seconds later it reappeared and incredibly flew towards us then turning to fly across the roadside field.  I looked through my binoculars and was thrilled to see an adult Bonelli's Eagle.  It carried on over the nearby woodland and away towards a well known nesting area for this species.  I was so pleased because we rarely see these birds away from the breeding site and also Stuart and I had checked the site last week and there was no sign of the birds.




Bonelli's Eagle - photo by Ian Spence


Later during the day after we had left Stuart he went back to the nesting site and sure enough the female was on the nest.  Great news as there are only 30 pairs in France and only 3/4 pairs in this area.