birding beaumonts

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10th April

Another RING OUZEL (plastron), a REDSTART (rougequeue à front blanc) and at least one singing NIGHTINGALE (rossignol) in the rain this morning.


8th April

A GREEN SANDPIPER (culblanc) flushed up from the pond at dawn and a WILLOW WARBLER (fitis) sang briefly. A bit later this RING OUZEL (merle à plastron) performed well, showing lots of white spotting around the head.

Star birds today were at least 2 CURLEWS (courlis cendrés) which flew over in the night, annoyingly at the same time as a passing aeroplane - and what are the chances of that these days ?





6th April



Great view of this MARSH HARRIER (busard des roseaux) this morning.












5th April

Very cold and grim out there this morning on the hill but the birding was better than yesterday - a few PIPITS going over, 2 RING OUZELS (merle à plastron) flying north together and an excellent MERLIN (émerillon).



1st April


A COOT (foulque) and a GREEN SANDPIPER (culblanc) flew over in the night but there wasn’t a lot happening in the early morning apart from a fly-around REDPOLL (sizerin) which probably landed on site somewhere.

This was the litter-strewn scene by the pond - gives you an idea about some of the local riff-raff...






31st March

The pair of MOORHENS (poule d'eau) was there again this morning, apparently trying to build a nest in the tiny patch of reeds in the middle of the pond. However the water tap's been on these past few days and the level is slowly rising - when this happened last year the birds quickly gave up and went somewhere else.

Otherwise nothing much to say, although the first WILLOW WARBLER (fitis) of the spring was singing.


28th March

Excellent skywatch from the cascade with Remi today though we probably stayed out there too long (10 hours!) in the sun for our own good. Isabelle joined us briefly at lunchtime and Arnaud was there for a while in the late afternoon, both of them unfortunately missing the star bird, a super BLACK STORK (cigogne noire) which glided straight northeast at 13h50.

Also today were two WHITE STORKS (cigogne blanche), a couple of BLACK KITES (milan noir) and a good passage of 9 MARSH HARRIERS (busard des roseaux). Actually there were really 10 MARSH HARRIERS today, but the last one was spotted afterwards from the bus-stop just outside the park, thus failing to meet the strict and very serious criteria for acceptance on the day-list.

Strangely few passerines though today....where are all the CHAFFINCHES (pinson des arbres) ?

 

26th March


Record shot here of the first MARSH HARRIER (busard des roseaux) of the spring flapping over in the early morning. Quite a few high-flying THRUSHES were migrating north but not much else.

Arnaud found a STONECHAT (traquet pâtre) later in the day, an extremely good year-tick these days, but the best birds today were surely these PINTAIL (pilet) recorded flying over in the night






25th March

A pair of MOORHENS (Poule d'eau) at the pond early morning.


24th March



Great views of 4 FIRECRESTS (triple-bandeau) milling around a sunlit tree at the cascade this morning. Nothing much migrating again apart from a few CORMORANTS, but it was a difficult, cloudless blue sky.









23rd March

A couple of photo triumphs this morning : after years and years, at last a half-decent shot of a LINNET, this one here one of 4 near the cascade at dawn, before people and dogs arrived to flush them off. And later in the morning a WHISKERED BAT (vespertilion à moustaches) appeared and fluttered around the pond for several minutes.


Not a lot moving today although the first migrating BLACK REDSTART (rouge-queue noir) of the spring flew over, and a noisy FIELDFARE (litorne) was on site at dawn, surrounded by a cluster of silent REDWINGS (mauvis).



4th March

Excellent brief views of a WOODCOCK (bécasse des bois) today, well spotted by Remi.


27th February

3 COOTS (foulque) and a MOORHEN (poule d'eau) flew over in the early hours but the most exciting thing was this rare COMMON GULL (goeland cendré), its single yelp coming several seconds after calls from BLACK- HEADED GULLS, as if it was lagging behind and playing catch-up.


24th February

A distant flock of migrating LAPWINGS (vanneaux) this morning. 


23rd February

A few ROOKS (freux) today and singing BLACKCAPS (fauvette à tête noire) and CHIFFCHAFFS (véloce) on site. The first COOT (foulque) of the spring few over in the evening.


19th February

A sign of spring this morning with a low-flying SKYLARK (alouette des champs) heading north.