I caught a Ryan Air flight from Stanstead to Limoge on 13th July. Surprisingly, the flight was OK! Rob & Penny were there to meet me & I was soon whisked away heading south along the highway to Thiviers. They have owned a place in France for a number of years now, but I have never visited before. It is in a very rural area, with lots of woodland in a steep valley & a wonderful river running through the valley bottom.
Rob & Penny's house!
Hummingbird Hawk-moth.
Bumblebee, feeding on
Lavender.
The house itself is a substantial old farmhouse with quite a lot of land attached going right down to the river. It is a very quiet place, where you don't see many people, but a great spot for sitting on their terrace, enjoying a glass of wine & doing a bit of casual birding.
European House Martin
Black Redstart
Both Common Buzzard & European Honey Buzzard were daily visitors. On one day saw three different Honey Buzzards: they are starting to moult now, so easy to identify individually. Rob says they weren't present in spring, so are probably birds starting their long southerly migration. Saw Hobby on two occasions. Both Green & Great Spotted Woodpeckers were regular, as were large numbers of European Swifts & House Martins, which were breeding in good numbers at the nearby paper mill. Dipper was present on the river, with good numbers of Grey Wagtails. Melodious Warblers had young in the garden & Nuthatch & Marsh Tits common in the woodland. On one day saw for Golden Orioles in their garden. It was a very relaxing time, enjoyed by all.
Very French!
Over the weekend we visited a couple of local markets, as Penny is into West German pottery vases & she likes to wander around. Both places were very scenic & it was a nice couple of days.
Opening the bubbly!
The 15th July was five years since Carol passed away. We all sat in the garden & enjoyed some bubbles! It was Carol who first introduced me to champagne. She would have so enjoyed the day just sat chatting among friends in a very beautiful, tranquil setting.
The next day Rob & I enjoyed a trip up to La Brenne. This is an area of very old large fishponds among patches of woodland & old style time mainly pastoral farming. It is an excellent spot for birding. The height of summer is not the best time but we did see Great White Heron; Little Egrets' Squacco Heron; Purple Heron & lots of Grey Herons. Black Kites proved to be common & both Common Buzzard & Common Kestrel were dotted around. A Short toed Eagle was unfortunately very distant.
Red crested Pochard amongst other species.
Female Red crested Pochard with chicks.
Male Common Pochard
Female Tufted Duck with a chick.
Great crested Grebe with young.
On one lake was a flock of 45+ Red crested Pochard, among Common Pochard & Tufted Duck. Great crested Grebes were abundant. Common, Black & Whiskered Terns were hawking over the lakes, all breed locally here. We heard a Cettis's Warbler in the reeds & saw a few Red backed Shrikes along country lanes. We both had a great day out, but it was marred by getting food poisoning from a local restaurant, which stopped the both of us from doing very much over the next few days!
Female Red backed Shrike
All too soon it was time to say au revoir & I landed at Stanstead on 20th into a huge down pour! Thanks guys for a lovely relaxing week in a part of the world that I had not visited before.
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