This is a particularly good area for Western Bonelli's Warblers in one of their more lowland habitats ...
... always rather reluctant to sing out in full view and preferring to stay within the cover of the foliage they did give some nice views and sang and called repeatedly ...
... these birds were producing two distinct songs ... first a rapid trill then a much slower version ... this is not something that I had noticed before when listening to the species in other areas ...
... neither is it a feature that the literature makes much of ... some sources do not mention it at all ... others say that the pitch can be variable while others mention variable frequency of the trill ... what I heard was not so much a variable frequency rather it was two distinct frequencies ...
... the sonogram here shows the two songs and the call at the end ...
Other birds were more showy in their song posts and a Redstart chose a particularly high position ...
... and a Woodlark foraged in a lush meadow with orchids ...
Then heading towards the Languedoc the village of Minerve had some impressive crags with Alpine Swifts ...
... and how nice to see good populations of Corn Buntings in the area ...
The woodland and fields adjacent to the Canal du Midi had Golden Orioles, Nightingales, Bee-eaters, a fleeting Montagu's Harrier ... but notably Rollers !
They perched on the posts in the vineyards to search for prey ...
... then from the tall plane trees one flew over calling and performed a dramatic rolling display ...
