WATCHING the BIRDS
Although I am not strictly a bird watcher, I find watching the birds fascinating. Many a time when in the car on a vital mission, I stop to gaze and wonder at an unusual bird that I had not seen before, and then cannot get home quick enough to look it up in the bird book.
I have chosen these few birds as examples that never fail to amaze me, and live here in the beautiful countryside of southwest France.
Buzzard
It is often quite difficult to identify which bird of prey you have seen, buzzards seems to vary in plumage and wing patterns. They can suddenly appear close by you, as they land on the grass verge. Or can be seen sat on a tree stump, or gliding effortlessly on wind currents. |
FieldFare
A distinctive coloured bird, with grey head and tail, and brown wings with speckled chest and belly. They do not seem to mind the company of other birds and can often be seen in large flocks on open fields. |
Lapwing or Peewit
From a distance the Lapwing appears black and white, but closer observation will reveal the upperparts as a beautiful iridescent dark green and purple. The breast and cheeks are white and under-tail coverts are orange-brown. |
Black Redstart
Your attention will be brought to this little bird firstly by the birdsong that sounds like noisy crisp packets being scratched together. My first vision was in the barn, where this little red tailed bird could often be seen, hopping along the beams, making its scratchy song and building its nest of feathers in the barn wall. |
Redwing
About the size of a small Thrush this bird is a ground feeder, and it is not unusual to find a group of Redwings with Fieldfares in open fields. Can also be seen in hawthorn bushes feeding on the berries. Red flanks are visible on a white breast with light brown back and wings. The red under the wing is more visible when the bird is in flight.
Swallows
Familiar to us all, this is a bird that does not mind getting up close and personal. With having a lot of grass to cut a ride-on mower is a must. Swallows just love to play with you, circling and swooping, and dashing in front of you. They line up on the overhead cables and groups of swallows take it in turns to feed on the insects that come out of the grass as you are cutting it.
Sparrows
If you had ever wondered where all of the sparrows in England had disappeared to, the answer is here, in France. A lot of them live in our garden – the noise they make while nesting in the hedges can sometime be deafening. It is just like having an aviary in your back garden. Both house and hedge sparrows can be seen any time of the day and are great company with their amusing antics as they spar with the tits, robins and finches as well as each other, for a place on the seed balls, or on the ledge where bread and cake is available.
