Birdwatching

This region of the Vienne is an area of lower rainfall than is usual in the UK.
The warmer climate produces a variety of flora, fauna and birds of the region.
While you will see many of the same birds found in many rural areas of Britain, you will certainly also find others never, or rarely, seen there.

Regularly seen at different times of the year are;

Buzzard	Red Kite	Hen Harrier	Barn Owl	Tawny Owl
Stone Curlew	Quail	Golden Plover	Turtle Dove	Cuckoo
Hoopoe	Nightingale	Stonechat	Wheatear	Fieldfare
Redwing	Nuthatch	Serin	Hawfinch	Brambling
Short-toed Treecreeper	Golden Oriole	Cirl Bunting	Ortolan Bunting	Siskin
Melodious Warbler	Lesser Whitethroat	Pied Flycatcher

In any local hedgerow you are likely to see Cirl Buntings and in the summer, Serins and Ortolans will be flitting along the same hedges and across the farmyards. Stonechats and Yellowhammers will be on view beside the fields where groups of Linnet and Goldfinches are likely to be feeding.

One common species, much less so in Britain, is the Black Redstart and they will be found nesting in houses and barns everywhere. Their unusual call, which sounds like someone scrunching up cellophane, can be heard constantly.

Hoopoe will be calling through the spring, along with Cuckoos, Nightingales, a variety of Warblers and countless species of small birds. While Swallows will be everywhere there are few Swifts and Martins around, but they are not far away, living in the local towns. Watching Swifts fly straight at a stone wall, only to fold their wings and disappear into a crack in it at the last moment is one of the particular pleasures of their brief summer here. An occasional Heron or Little Egret will pop up out of a field ditch to be mobbed by Pipits or Skylarks.

The winter will bring flocks of wintering northern thrushes, Redwings and Fieldfares along with Brambling and an increase in Hawfinches, odd ones of which are here all year. Flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover will be roosting on bare fields around the village.

One of the highlights of the region is the number of birds of prey to be seen Buzzards, of course, but also Kestrels, Sparrowhawks, Kites in the summer - Black and Red if you are lucky, Hobby, Peregrine, maybe a Honey Buzzard or a Booted Eagle on a very lucky day, Hen Harriers quartering the fields and occasional Montagu's and Merlin in the winter.

This page courtesy of our friend and birdwatcher, Roger Outlaw.