noisy night

[Tag]

Last night was perhaps the noisiest since leaving London. Frogs all round, owls, cattle and my lovely nightingale, maybe a fox barking. Plus another bird I haven't yet identified. Who ever talked of country tranquility?

[cooperlola]

I had 20 years of this in England before moving here so was prepared.  Our only neighbour went abroad a lot and used to get the chainsaw out at 10 o'clock at night and start chopping up logs for his wife to use whilst he was away.  Oh, and then he'd let the dogs out just before going to bed - they then barked solidly for half an hour.

Just wait 'til harvest time when the tractors are out from 5 in the morning until midnight!

[Pierre ZFP]

Don't forget the foxes making whoopee then trying to snack on the chickens afterwards.  Or the 2 pet sheep next door which also get upset at the foxes and most of all the bruddy cuckoo which is going 23 hours out of 24.  Still, I love it and would never swap for city noise or traffic ever again.

[cooperlola]

Moi non plus, Pierre.  But you're right about that cuckoo!

[Ford Anglia]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Don't forget the foxes making whoopee then trying to snack on the chickens afterwards.  Or the 2 pet sheep next door which also get upset at the foxes and most of all the bruddy cuckoo which is going 23 hours out of 24.  Still, I love it and would never swap for city noise or traffic ever again.[/quote]

I've NEVER heard a cuckoo call in the dark, in all my life. That's amazing.

[Pierre ZFP]

This one does, way after dark and starting again before first light.  Can't seem to pin down exactly where the nest is, it's one of two trees .........

[Tag]

Cuckoos dont make nests nor do they hang around to watch over their brood. But they do call when they have laid I think. Funny, never heard one at night though. Couldn't be a sheep imitating a cuckoo could it?

[cooperlola]

Or an escaped budgie?  Our chap(ess) certainly is very noisy at dusk.

[Framboise]

We have got a Turtle Dove that does a brilliant impression of a Cuckoo.     Also a Spotted Woodpecker who demolished a chunk of rotten tree over Christmas, bashing away at it for hours to leave a pile of shavings on the ground.   There are loads of finches of all types, a sweet little Robin who sits on our roof singing, Blue Tits squabbling over the cast iron baguette I chucked out on  the grass and several Wrens, who despite their size are the noisiest of all.  Sadly I have yet to see a Blackbird or a Thrush in our garden but I live in hope.    We frequently get a pair of Buzzards circling over the fields too and were fortunate enough to get a fleeting visit from a Red Kite last year, but  my favourite are the Swallows whom I hope will be back in residence when I go back to our house next week.    We had to seal offf their access to our loft over the winter beginning our renovation upstairs, but my husband installed some shelves made from oak off-cuts high up in the barn-end of the house so I am rather hoping they will adapt to their new deluxe nesting sites and raise some more babies this year.   We spent hours watching them dropping from the sky straight through the narrow gap over the barn door last summer - lovely!

Anyway, I hope we will get even more birds when we move out to France permanently because our dogs will deter the feral cats who prey on them - that and a chunk of cast-iron baguette aimed at their backsides should do the trick!       

[Winegum]

Crikey Tag! I hope you're not right about them calling after they've laid! If it is then the blighter that lives

round here must be laying eggs by the dozen! He/she never shuts up. In

fact quite often there are two at it on either side of the valley, and

initially I thought it was an echo! I keep hoping the buzzards will

pick him off! I'm not fond of the marauding bag of feathers because of

all the baby birds he murders. I know it's nature but it's unkind. I've

just discovered a Robin's nest in the garden and am quite glad that fat

Mrs Cuckoo would be too big to squeeze herself into Robin's petite

maison.

Jude [:)]