Too Hot even for Wildlife

The weather has been stifling.  Daytime temperatures hovering between 35 -40 degrees for some days.  Some welcome cloud has kept today below 30.  First some good news about the baby Scops Owl.  Its parents found it and hopefully fed it that night so all should be well.

Hoopoe

So few birds about.  A distant Short-toed Eagle is the only raptor for the last day or so.  Juvenile Nightingales croak from the hedges and a few juvenile Sardinian, Subalpine and Melodious Warblers have been seen.  A bonus this morning was a juvenile Green Woodpecker a species I have not seen in the garden before.  The Woodchat Shrikes continue to frequent our area and a Hoopoe has been turning up in the mornings.

Coastal look and Fluffy Finale

We took a drive south to Port Leucate.  There were plenty of Little Terns and Kentish Plovers on sandbanks but also some almost fully grown juvenile Black-winged Stilts.  They give the impression of being quite shocked to discover they have such long legs and seem not sure what to do with them.

Juvenile Black-winged Stilt

We also had a look around the Franqui area and found Hoopoe, 15 Bee-eaters, and quite a few juvenile Shelduck.  A large Coypu also posed for the camera.

Juvenile Shelducks

Coypu

Returning home there were messages on my phone all from Susan from Oupia.  She, Tim and Rod Leslie had been handed a juvenile Scops Owl which had been found on the path adjacent to their house.  There are Scops Owls in the immediate vicinity so after I had dashed over to photograph the fluffy fledgling it was lodged in a fig tree in the hope that the parents would find it after dark.

Juvenile Scops Owl

I hope to report good news on this wonderful little bird.

It Pays to Look Up

Strong winds made seeing any birds tricky but whilst strimming this morning I did see an unusual species for here and at this time of year.  I have seen occasional Lesser Whitethroats in spring but the one today was quite a surprise.

Griffon Vulture

I was called away from watching the Tour de France by Beryl who was staring upwards at 3 Griffon Vultures making their way south.  Good day for Brits on Bikes but what on earth has happened to the England cricket team?

Birds Hard to Find

I started the day by returning to the Lesser Grey Shrikes to see if I could get some photographs.  It was difficult and I could not emulate Jonathan Theobald's splendid shot.  There were plenty of shrikes to see and I met two young people working for LPO who told me there could have been  3 pairs nesting in the area.  that would make sense as there were a number of birds spread over a wide area.  I also noted 2 Golden Orioles before moving on.

Roller

Near Fleury a Roller posed nicely on some wires and I checked out Pissevache again.  A Common Sandpiper and Kentish Plover were the only waders seen.  I also drove south to Gruissan but little more here.  At Mandirac a Purple Heron appeared and there were plenty of Black-winged Stilts.

Black-winged Stilt

This evening  I joined the Aude LPO to look for Eagle Owl chicks.  No luck there either but we did hear a snatch of Nightjar song.

Success For One Pair of Rare Birds

I got up early and went down to the coast to check out a pair of Lesser Grey Shrikes which had been found by Jonathan Theobald earlier this summer.  This is a very rare species now with probably only 20 pairs in France.  Sites are kept quiet to protect this species and the good news is that they have fledged at least three young so hopefully all is well with one site.

Lesser Grey Shrike - photo Jonathan Theobald

I also checked Capestang on my way home but it is very dry and not much sign of birds.  An evening drive produced a dogfight between a Short-toed Eagle and a Peregrine near to Minerve.

Whew! It's Hot

I got up early and started cutting grass and the temperature was already 24 degrees.  By 10.30am it was getting too hot so I stopped.  By noon the thermometer showed 38 degrees.  You cannot do much birding in such heat although the Woodchat Shrike was still around the garden and I did see it feeding a young bird.  Also a Nightingale churred in the hedge and an Orphean Warbler made its way through the garden.  Cirl Bunting and Turtle Dove were also noted.

Cicada close-up

It was insects that caught the eye today.  Myriads of butterflies with lots of Southern Marbled Whites, Cleopatras, Great Banded Graylings, Scarce Swallowtails and Berger's Clouded Yellows.  I also found a Hummingbird Hawk Moth and caught a glimpse of a gorgeous Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth.  Cicadas were bolder than usual and I managed a photograph.

Back in Paradise

After just a day or two in Wales to get the garden in order we set off this morning for Bristol Airport to fly the 2 hours to our house in Languedoc, France.  At the Airport we perhaps not surprisingly bumped into friend Mike Dilger of BBC TV's One Show on his way to Inverness for more filming.  Soon we were in the hot sun with temperatures in the 30's.  On the way from Beziers we noted a Roller sitting on a tree by the roadside and as we pulled into our driveway a Woodchat Shrike flew to a hedge at the back of the property.

Woodchat Shrike

We had supper with our good friends Susan & Tim in nearby Oupia.  An idyllic experience as hordes of Swifts and a smaller number of Bee-eaters hunted insects over the house.  A single male Montagu's Harrier flew over high up and as dusk approached a Scop's Owl kept up its sonor like call just prior to us leaving.

Male Montagu's Harrier

As I write this it is gone 11pm and the insect chorus outside is deafening.  My friend Ron Bennett who lives nearby always refers to this region of France as Paradise.  It is difficult to argue with that.