Far too many people with fishing rods and guns for my liking - I wish they'd all bugger off.       Stock Dove passage continues with 31 this morning, also twelve Great White Egrets and five Meadow Pipits . The lack of Chaffinches is disturbing. A few newly arrived Song Thrushes were dotted around the gravel pit, including one unfortunate bird that was stunned on the road. I put it in a quiet spot and hopefully it has recovered. One Water Rail is the first for a good long while as there is no good habitat at all with the low water levels. A juvenile Goshawk was seen again with a Carrion Crow in pursuit. Once again, all three 'spotted' woodpeckers were present.      This time last year there was a bloody juvenile Red-necked Phalarope there for an hour - that was nice... bugger all today so we remember last year's Red-necked Phalarope

      As usual - not a lot - the lack of passerine migration is shocking - normally at this time of year Chaffinches are on the move in hundreds if not thousands and the first Brambling is usually expected around the 29th/30th. No Chaffinches moving today but the first two Meadow Pipits were seen. A Sedge Warbler , one Greenshank , one Osprey and a juvenile Goshawk were the best birds today.

      The dire birding continues - seven Red Kites and seven Stock Doves, four Teals, eight Snipes, one Black-headed Gull, one Marsh Harrier. 

    A young male Pintail , a Gadwall and two Shovelers gave a bit of hope in the variety department. Two Black-headed Gulls added to this effect but in fact there was bugger all else!

      Still nowhere near as exciting on the patch as it could be in September - Stock Doves were on the move with 70 going through in small groups. Two Pochards and ten Greylag Geese wisely didn't stop as there was a bloke hunting birds this morning. Misère the Purple Heron got up close with a Grey Heron . The two Dunlins remain.

      Another quiet day with only a Peregrine and two Dunlin being new. Misère the Purple Heron remains and is getting more confiding. The absence of some usually common birds is perhaps more noteworthy - there were zero Coots today! A Wildcat was seen to catch a small prey item.     The best moment of the day was having both Great Spotted and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers together. An hour and a half later a Middle Spotted Woodpecker visited the same tree. It was good to get a record shot of the first two in the same frame but the possibility of having all three together is quite exciting! 

       Cooler and windier than it has been, I was glad of my coat.  Yellow Wagtail passage picked up with about 35 passing through in the morning. Plenty of Swallows still and House Martins were more numerous on passage than they have been. Three Crag Martins were seen, also 13 Kestrels , four Hobbies , one Honey Buzzard , one Osprey and eight Black Storks . A Chamois gave very close views inside the fort.

       Early start - too foggy to count the Corn Buntings properly as they left the roost (about twenty or so seen), a Dunlin was a new bird as the fog lifted, Misère the Purple Heron was still there. I saw a few more Blackcaps  than in the previous days.       Indeed it was all rather crap until 10:35 when out of nowhere a migrating male Pallid Harrier zipped close and rather low over the water, over the trees  and out of sight. Luckily it wasn't a female type bird as there is no way I'd have managed to clinch an ID on such a brief view. I managed to pick it up again over the fields near the railway line being mobbed by the local Carrion Crows but the views were now distant and from behind. Within a minute the bird had gone. This is now the sixth Pallid Harrier I've seen in the Ognon Valley around Pagney, they are getting to be more and more frequent while the once common Montagu's Harrier has become quite rare indeed.    ...

       Anybody who has had the immense pleasure of going birding with me more than once will confirm that I have a reputation for being negative, cynical and pessimistic. They are right. Indeed I have two well-known catchphrases. "Fuck a pig!" is an exclamation of surprise and/or joy and "Il y a rien, c'est nul" (There's eff all, it's shite) for everyday use.       This Autumn (so far) has been the crappiest of all Autumns on the patch, not just for the low numbers of birds but also the poor variety of birds and the fact they take one look at the site and then bugger off almost immediately. Some rather good birds recently that have been quick fly throughs include: Two Caspian Terns, two White-winged Black Terns, two probable White-winged Black Terns that flew through and off with their backs to me, three Avocets that didn't even bother losing any altitude to check the place out, opting to carry on to somewhere else instead. And the list goes ...

Really not the best day ever at Pont-de-Roide. Apart from a constant flow of Swallows in the morning (1370 counted myself, out of a few thousand total) there was bugger all really! The best I saw was a group of four Black Storks . Other nice things included three Hobbies , five Honey Buzzards and a Black Kite . Fingers crossed today was the worst day and the pace will pick up soon!  Hobby

       An early start on the patch to enjoy the time left before the guns arrived. About 50 Corn Buntings left the roost just before 7am. They left in a tight group so it was impossible to count them accurately. A minimum of five Yellow Wagtails  that had also roosted in the reeds left at the same time.      The 80 or so Mallards that were on site flew off before it got light. Maybe they knew what was coming!       Compared to when I started birding at Pagney more than fifteen years ago, the number of hunters has declined considerably and so this morning only seventeen gunshots were heard and the two hopefuls that came to have a look around the place didn't find anything to shoot and moved on.       The number of bird species that are still on the quarry list in France is disturbing and far higher than in any other EU country. Species present at Pagney today that risked their lives were: Mallard, Teal, Moo...

       A Saturday on the local patch. I had to wait for the fog to lift before seeing much but I could hear a Greenshank calling as it buggered off elsewhere - a sensible move as tomorrow sees the start of the hunting season at this site and France still allows Greenshank to be shot. Fourteen Corn Buntings could just be made out as they left their reedbed roost making a dry "pt" sound - like the noise you feel when you touch an electric fence. In the past week the roost has had up to 71 birds in it which isn't a bad number at all. Misty Morning         Two Marsh Harriers and an Osprey passing through gave a bit of hope for some migration but apart from the numerous Swallows , the only other movement was a group of five Stock Doves . Bird of the day was a rather obliging Ringed Plover - quite the scarcity on the patch it's the first in two years. I have named it Charlie. Charlie El Chorlito.              ...

    Following  migrating birds at the Franc-Comtois migration hotspot of Pont-de-Roide has never been (nor ever will be) my favourite activity. Despite this, every Autumn I often spend my Fridays either freezing my arse off or baking under the hot sun counting birds of all shapes and sizes as they pass through. Coordinated counts have taken place here since 2008 and I've helped as and when I can (and feel like it) since 2018.       Today was my first visit to "Le Caillou" this season. I admit I had't been very motivated to make the journey this year as many days have been hot and windy under a blanket blue sky - far from ideal conditions. In the end today wasn't too bad for the weather, not extremely hot, very slight wind and a good few clouds in the sky to offer relief from the sun and useful markers to help others get onto the birds.      Upon arrival at 7am I almost regretted not waiting another week as there was bugger all seen or h...