new sightings for me

[ethandron]

whilst in france recently i made eight new sightings to add to my list. in no particular order these are:
turtle doves, yellow legged gulls, long eared owl (3 babies and 2 adults), white throats, black winged stilt, blue throats, fantailed warbler, and most extrordinary 5 kentish plovers with chicks.
blooming marvellous :)

[Milvus]

Good spots. The gull is a new one to me. Like a herring gull, I've read. We are getting some in the South of England so time to look out for them.

[rowanwitch]

yellow legged gulls can turn up almost anywhere now.... whitethroats are also around had a great view of one last weekend but the others...nice additions to a life list

[ethandron]

yep, almost identical to a herring gull but the legs are marigold-rubber-gloves yellow, totally unmistakable. also saw a lot of mediterranean gulls which i had seen before but these were alongside black headed gulls and it was interesting to compare the two at close quarters.
the first spot was a turtle dove, such a lovely bird, the markings are beautiful. we heard it before we saw it, a purring sound which is unlike any other dove or pigeon.
it's really made me realise how birds are totally reliant on their own particular habitat, something which i was always aware of but it really did bring it home to me.
off to normandy in september to bay of the somme where there's a huge reserve. will be interesting to see what's there although we may be a bit early for any great numbers of autumn visitors.

[Chaffinch]

You lucky Bu**er, I go to France quite often, but have never seen a Turtle Dove!
woderful birds

[ethandron]

go to ile de re then chaffinch, you're certain to see them there :)
didn't spot one for the first few days but after the first one they seemed to then be round every corner. it was a british birder who we got chatting to while we were there who did the call for us and enabled us to recognise it immediately when we heard it.

[redman41]

Almost as good as North Wales ethandron, glad you enjoyed your Holiday !

[ethandron]

thanks redman :)
friends of ours are on anglesey at the moment and i really wish we were too. have you seen anything of note recently, to add to your list?

[keyholekatebaron]

The last time I was in the Charente fishing we saw Golden Oriele ,Hoopoe and once I saw a spotted flycatcher,on another trip Black Cranes flew over the fishery I think they were heading for Spain.
Regards Kate.