All quiet here but my sister turns 50!

Hi folks, really quiet here in terms of local wildlife and really nothing of note to report. I'm a bit tied to the village because I'm looking out for my neighbour's 3 cats, otherwise I might have headed out to the coast .... maybe in a few weeks when said neighbours get back from Australia I'll take some time out.

Been much more interesting on the music front though. Jane (my sister) was back last week along with her partner and my beloved fiancee Gabrielle. Jane celebrated her 50th birthday with a party at the biggest bar in town - Henri's and a few local musicians turned up and played. We played too and although a bit stage rusty it was good to get back to playing .... here's a few pics of the night

My best pics of 2011

Here we are then 2 days into the new 'leap' year 2012, the designated year of sustainable energy to all, the international year of 'co-operatives', the year of the London Olympics and according to the Mayan culture the year the world as we know it will end (on Dec 21st apparently!) ...... best not think about it!

As is the the tradition at the end of one year and the beginning of the next I thought a spot of reminiscence should be in order, bit late (that's my own tradition) but here are a few of my favourite photographs from my first 9 months in France, some of which have found their way into other blog posts but mainly these are unpublished.

I arrived here in March just as trees were beginning to bud and took a series of photographs of garden birds out of the back of the barn, these 2 of blue tit and goldfinch were amongst the best.

Later in the month I went over to the coast at Isle De Oleron and although seagulls are maybe not the most photogenic of birds, these couple of Lesser Blacked Backed Gulls negotiating the incoming tide made for some good shots

In April we, that's me Jane & Mark, spent a week or so down in the Pyrenees. They wanted some chillout time from the barn restoration project and I just fancied a trip somewhere to celebrate my retirement. Some half decent landscape photographs of La Pic de Ger and Le Pont D'espagne here plus one of Mark after an evening of fine wine tasting and singing and one of me the day after looking decidedly hung over (but still smiling!)

 

The bird pics are of Red Kite ..... one of a pair that hovered over us one day while we were camping high up in the mountains and Griffon Vulture of which we saw many patrolling the skies

Later on that month, back at La Macherie I saw a Western Whip Snake on the road as I was walking Balloo ....not seen one of these before and at the time wasn't sure if it was one of the poisonous ones so kept my distance and kept the dog away, still managed a couple of good shots though (the close up is with the zoom!)

 

Into May and peak breeding season for birds, stacks going on of course but here's just a couple of my favourite memories - first a pretty good overhead shot of a migrating Osprey in the Limousin (right) and below are 2 of many close up pictures I got of a pair of Black Redstarts that were nesting in the barn and that I tempted into using a home made perching post just outside .....judging by the huge array of food they brought back to the nest, if I'd taken more I could have compiled a half decent pictorial record of all the insects in the garden!

June saw me down in the south of France and although I somehow managed to time my trip down to the Camargue with some of the heaviest and most violent electrical storms certainly I've ever witnessed there were enough bright interludes to allow some good photographic opportunities.

Flamingoes are photogenic at the best of times and the good numbers on the Camargue allowed many good shots. I've also picked out a good shot of a Kentish Plover I took from the car and some excellent dragonflies that came out in the sun after yet another downpour.

At a nearby location (Plaines de La Crau) I managed this cracking good shot of a Black Kite (right) along with a speciality bird of the Mediterranean area, the splendidly exotic Roller

July and August were quiet months but this photograph of a Grey Heron and Little Egret squabbling over food was memorable for the interaction alone whilst coming across a family group of white horses walking towards me and then having them follow me on my local patch was one of those encounters that was both quaint and disturbing in equal measure!

Autumn here was marked by plenty of late summer sunshine with temperatures of 30 degrees C not uncommon well into October. Goodish rather than spectacular bird migration with late warblers, redstarts, whinchats and a half decent passage of Red Kites coming through providing daily interest in terms of birds but a high flying wandering Black Stork (right) over the barn spotted by my mate Mark was a highlight for me.

Blooming wild flowers in the meadows and  almost into November! (pic left)

Short Toed Eagle on passage nr Montmorillon (pic right)

Nice and pretty lucky shot of a Marsh Tit in flight in the Autumn sun here ..... been looking for an opportunity to showcase this pic!

More bird passage in November with masses of Common Cranes flying south over the village but equally impressive to me was the Wood Pigeon passage with big flocks in the early winter sunshine looking splendid (pic right)

Into December and still relatively mild with hardly any frost yet, I had Common Cranes still migrating south on Boxing Day with 35 south over the village and this picture of a Ewe with lamb (pic below) would normally be unremarkable had it not been taken on Dec 17th!

Ok folks that's my year with some of my best pictures. It seems fitting to end the post with an end of the day shot and here's a nice shot of reeds at my nearest wetland habitat, L'etang de Beavoir.

Martin Simpson

A very quick post because I'm definitely suffering the after effects of too much fine food and wine last night ...... why does Christmas always have to equal excess?!

My mum sent me some CDs in the post, some she thought I would like .... she picked well because one of them was by Martin Simpson, one of my favourite guitar players. Nice one mum!

Said I'd post one of his songs on here by way of thanks as I think she's tuning in today, so here he is performing 'Never any Good with Money'

Boared no, Wild .... I was livid!!!

A few days a ago I was visiting a big local forest, not expecting anything big at this strangely quite time for bird and animal life in rural France, just out with my camera, the dog Balloo and my trusty legs. Like many of the vast woodland areas at this time of the year it's pretty hit and miss as to what you see. Why, I'm not so sure, maybe it's simply because this country is so large that everything is more widely distributed than it is say in the UK. Its still mild too so none of the mass influxes of birds from further north one might experience in other years.

Anyway, I digress! There I was, tramping along the edge of the forest with Balloo skipping along merrily ahead, nothing much doing - a few finches, tits and woodpeckers here and there and some impressive numbers of lapwings overhead, otherwise fairly quiet. All of a sudden Balloo starts going mental, frantically running back and forth along a high perimeter fence, sniffing the air and making funny squeaking noises ... something is making him very excited! And then I spot movement on the ground in the trees about 30 meters away .... Wild Boar, not one, not even two but about a dozen of them! Animal Magic!

They were running away of course but here's the thing - maybe it was Balloo, maybe it was because they had a few young in the groupor maybe they just wanted to make a point, but 3 or 4 of the bigger ones (and they were BIG!) turned around and started snorting at us and doing a few mini charges! Glad of the perimeter fence I whipped camera out, used the fence to steady the lense, zoomed in ... 2 wild boars head on filling the frame, great composition with the trees, focus ..... press the shutter and ........ MEMORY CARD FULL blinking at me in red!!!

Now let this be as big a lesson to any budding wildlife photographer as it was to me that morning - I'm not sure if I'll ever get a better chance to photograph these beasts, let alone 2 that were wanting to charge at me! Yes of course I hastily deleted images but what with Balloo going crazy and me fiddling about they took off. Hey look it was a awesome experience but I found it very difficult to come to terms with not getting the shot, still do!

I cant find any photos on the net that come close to the shots I had primed but these come close and this is what I wsas a memory card away from shooting!

In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarznegger - I'll be back!

Bird Report Nov 2011

Okey, dokey not exactly hot off the press but with a trip to the UK, Open University commitments and Christmas presents buy and parcel off to its been an unusually busy time ... oh and I got engaged too (more about this wonderful life event at a later date, when I've decided and consulted on how best to blogify!).

Maybe I've been a bit preoccupied but it seems to have been a fairly quiet month. In common with the rest of Western Europe its been unseaonably mild with winds mainly from the south and west - great for us warmth loving, sun craving humans but frankly rubbish for the usual mass movement of birds, they've simply not had anything to escape from!

Stand out highlights from earlier in the month and already reported here was of course the Common Crane passage with my last Southbound flocks overhead on the 18th, and the 200 or so I saw on that day brought my own personal tally to almost 6000! There may have been others after this date but I was UK bound the same day so I'll never know. I've already devoted a whole post on these magnificent winged creatures (Common Crane Migration ) but one can't get enough of the old grus grus so here's a couple more of my best pics of this years passage.

Staying with wetland birds, a trip out to Le Bren on the 11th brought about 50 Great White Egrets (pic right) in and around the various lakes I visited. Not sure about the migratory status of this bird, I suspect they disperse south and west after breeding but many breed around here and they are increasing as a species across France.

Equally good numbers of Grey Heron (c70) and Little Egret (c30) and it was good to see a couple of Water Rails at the Etange de Sous - ungainly and often overlooked, its always a red letter day when you see one and I was lucky enough to get a reaonable photograph from the hide (pic left)

Plenty of the ducks around at Le Bren with decent numbers of Teal, Shoveller, Gadwall and Tufted Duck as well as the more common Mallard. On to wading birds and those traditional winter wanderers Golden Plover were present in small numbers at Le Bren (c60) along with good numbers of Lapwing but generally a poor month for waders.
Better fare on the raptor front though with some good late Red Kite passage on the 10th with 3 passing through the Rouflamme Valley single Marsh Harrier at Le Bren on the 11th, a single Marsh Harrier over Le Bren on the 11th, a Peregrine Falcon at the Etange de Beavoir on the 14th and a general increase in the number of Sparrowhawks and Common Kestrels around Le Macherie whilst Common Buzzards remain as prominent as ever with a high of 13 seen on the 12th in the Rouflamme Valley; and why restrict this to France, Baggins is after all a traveller by name ... I had a superb male Merlin perched on a hedge whilst I was driving intrepidly across the Yorkshire Wolds on the 22nd - if i'd stopped the car to attempt a photograph it would have flown, so I just drooled and nearly drove into a ditch (that sort of thing is always nearly happening!)


Winter thrushes normally arrive in droves mid to late November, there again I'm normally in the UK so this all very interesting in a 'non thrush' sort of way. Plenty of Blackbirds, in fact a very noticeable influx and a smattering of Song and Mistle Thrushes but what we're after is Redwings and Fieldfares .... seasonal foragers of late autumn fruit and berries. Sadly though, apart from one flock of 40 Redwings nr Moulismes on the last day of the month I had a total of 8 around here in November and not a single Fieldfare! Obviously we're now into December and things have a got a little better, but not much ... .ah well, i'm such a bird nut that I even find their relative absence interesting! I'm sure there are more in the UK and it just goes to show what a great place for overwintering birds my native island is. Not my pics but these are handsome birds that should be adorning fields and hedgerows right now ... have you seen any?


If there were a god of birds (John James Audebon? Roger Tory Peterson? or maybe even Bill Oddie or Chris Packham?) what he doth takes he gives away, and
although I still think it was a quietish month in terms of winter arrivals there were still plenty of surprises in the locker - like the 70 or so Crested Larks in local fields around here and the stunning Water Pipit at La Gabriere on the 11th, whilst big flocks of Sylarks, Meadow Pipits and Cirl Buntings is becoming the norm once again as they mass together in search of food. Its great to be still seeing warblers around the village with a Blackcap on the 14th and a Chiff Chaff on the 28th.

A surprising bird to begin appearing in numbers has been the humble Reed Bunting, another bird that is often overlooked but I think very handsome - this pic was actually taken this month when even more arrived.

Other things to report - Firecrests are Europe's smallest bird and if you look closely and keep your ears peeled (something I find increasingly tricky!) you can see lots of these midget gems over here. Again, not my pic, really struggling to get a good a good shot (pic right) but aren't they little darlins?!

Jays seem to be absolutely everywhere, gathering nuts and making a racket in the woods. Less obvious and less in almost every way, the usually shy and retiring Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are a bit more obvious now the trees have shed their leaves. Never an easy bird to photograph and this one isn't very good as it was taken at distance back in the Summer (pic left) but this is many a fair weather birder's bogey bird!




Ok that's November done, might seem like a strange thing to say but we hope for a cold snap or two to bring in the birds in numbers! Already well into December and dont think we've had a frost over here yet!

Balloo - a short movie featuring mainly sticks and water!

Here he is again, by popular request, the canine star of the year, and this time he gets a short movie casting opportunity, its the one and only BALLOO!!!

Before you play this folks I have to say that this is not the short movie I had expected ...not withstanding that I am a very amateur film maker, I've had serious issues with windows movie maker and when I played it back it paused in the middle (missing one of the best bits .... aaargh!) but just fast fwd ok!

Born at the right time



I love this song, it could almost have been written about me ..... except I don't really get the whole fishing thing!

Thinking of covering it when I play my first solo gig next month