Precision flying

The Swifts have arrived here in Mollans. As a boy growing up in south London in the fifties, I can clearly remember the Swifts (un martinet) careering around the house, screaming as they went. Now they seem much rarer in Britain. Here they are very plentiful; there is something very French sitting outside a café as the sun sets and the Swifts career about, yelling out loud!

Although not likely to be seen on a bird table, the warm nights have stimulated the midwife toad to commence calling. Called the midwife toad as after the female has laid her eggs, the male fertilises them and then carries them around his lower back until they are ready to hatch, when he deposits them in or near water.
Also called the bell toad, which is how one knows he is about, for he makes a beautiful ringing call which carries through the night. It's worth finding its call on the web; for a little toad it's a wonderful sound.

The nights are increasingly noisy, for as well as the bell toad the nightingales are singing away for most of the night. For me it's a wonderful sound, but you meet people who complain that it keeps them awake!

Recently in the garden I have seen examples of the level of control that birds have over flight. Some years ago, I decided to put chain-link fencing right round our garden, which with help from many friends we did (some 330 metres!). Recently, on two occasions whilst walking through the garden, I have startled a bird which made off at high speed towards the fence and at the very last minute folded its wings and went through the space in the chain-link, with very little space to spare, continuing to fly at the other side.

On neither occasion could I make out what the bird was, other than a sbj (small brown job), perhaps a robin? I measured the hole in the chain-link and it measures 5.5 centimetres square.

If I can find out what bird it is, I'll let you know, but it's a very clever piece of flying.

Adaptability & Exotica

On Friday I took Jo to Nîmes airport, as her mother should be moving from Northampton hospital into a retirement home soon (a proposed five days stay in hospital has now been 34 days!).

The French have a different approach to signposting airports. In the UK, we sign to "London Heathrow" or "Edinburgh Turnhouse". Here, the signposts just show the name of the airport which is invariably that of the nearest, often very small, village. To get to Marseille airport you must follow the signs to Marignane and to get to Nîmes-Arles-Camargue airport, its official name, you must follow the signs to Garons!

Nîmes airport is delightfully small, with a two story car park, one story underground and a second story above at ground level. To get to the top level you drive through the lower bit; you soon realise that the air is full of swallows! Every year since we've been using this airport, the swallows nest in the lower level car park in large numbers. To me it seems quite astounding; the headroom is not great between the nests and the cars, the car park is lit and muzak blasts out from many loudspeakers, yet for Mr.& Mrs. Swallow this is obviously a des. res. Perhaps they turn out the lights and music during the night?

Last week the first of the birds normally seen here and only rarely in Britain arrived, the European Bee-eaters are here. Flocks fly over our house, in one direction in the morning and back again in the evening. One evening last year about 40 landed in the trees at the end of our garden, allowing us to really appreciate their colourful plumage. (picture top left) Like most birds, when seen from below they tend to appear black, though the bee-eater has, I think, a unique wing shape as an aid to identification; a bit like a WW2 Spitfire with pointed ends!(small picture top centre)

The bee-eater is about the size of a starling and its main diet is bees, wasps & hornets. Perhaps its favourite food is different in France, as its called here a "Guepier" or wasp eater.

The other arrival for the summer is the Golden Oriole. Despite its bright yellow colour and size of a jackdaw, its quite difficult to spot as it hides in the tops of trees (picture top right). But you know it's around by the lovely burbling song, quite loud but both melodic and exotic. I haven't mastered the skill of adding sound to my blog, but a quick visit to an appropriate web site will demonstrate what I mean.