Monday 30th April (La Brenne)


Sunday 29th April (Mr. Kite is on Tour in the Rain)

From Thursday 19th April until Friday 27th April Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window onto a pond in La Brenne in the village of Rosnay. Often with a nightingale singing in the ditch behind The Joint and a hoopoe hooping from a nearby tree and a cuckoo flying over. One morning Mr. Kite looked out of the window to see thirty cattle egrets feeding by the pond.

To cut a long story short it rained every day in La Brenne and Mr. Kite got cold feet and wet clothes but he still went cycling, walking and bird-watching. So here are a list of the birds that Mr. Kite watched. Great tit, chaffinch, blackcap, common redstart, cattle egret, black-headed gull, mallard, starling grey heron, pied wagtail, wood pigeon and collared dove.

Soon Mr. Kite was cycling around the area looking over ponds and into woods. On the first complete day in the area Mr. Kite watched the first barn swallows, hoopoe, ring ousel, night heron, nightingale, purple heron, red crested pochard, greenshank, tree pipit and cuckoo.

The more common goldfinch, chiffchaff, tufted duck, house sparrow, blackbird, jackdaw, jay, cormorant common pheasant, skylark, gadwall, coot, little egret, mute swan, teal, great crested grebe, pochard, Canada goose, kestrel,  common buzzard, long tailed tits, greenfinch, common redshank,  northern pintail,marsh harrier were spotted.

Mr. Kite continued his cycling and walking tour of La Brenne visiting the Maison du Parc and acting like a man on holiday. It was Saturday 21st April before Mr. Kite spotted his first great white egret, northern wheatear, common whitethroat, stonechat, cirl bunting, black-necked grebe and sedge warbler.

Mr. Kite enjoyed the rain as he watched little grebe, magpie, moorhen and mistle thrush.

On Sunday 22nd April Mr. Kite cycled to La Gabriere where more than thirty black terns flew around in a variety of black and white shiny plumage. With so many birds it was interesting to see the variation. Nearby a short-toed eagle hovered and glided before leaving the area. Not a good day for a hungry eagle because the grass snakes were well and truly hiding.

On Tuesday 24th April Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window to see that swifts had arrived and were joined by house martins.

On Thursday 26th April Mr. Kite completed a circular walk around Rosnay on a showery day where the clouds rolled in and the rain came down but it was a good day. Red deer wandered leisurely in front of Mr. Kite, golden orioles piped a fluting tune, a pair of turtle doves cooed and what looked like a hawfinch made a brief appearance. Hoping to watch the local woodpeckers in action Mr. Kite sat in a few woods watching but only a passing greater spotted woodpecker was a certain.

Mr. Kite enjoyed La Brenne although the cold wet weather was not to his liking. With more than seventy species of birds watched Mr. Kite felt happy as he headed off to sunny sunny Espana.