I biked upriver to Vaire-le-Petit to have dinner with the in-laws, stopping for birding on the way of course! Goosander families seem to be low with at least 2 chicks and a female by the cascades at la Malate and a female with just one chick on the canal before Roche-lez-Beaupré where a Goldfinch chick was seen with at least 4 adults, feeding on Japanese Knotweed. Several Black Kites and a Kestrel were seen. By the farm at Chalèze there were at least 6 Collared Doves and a pair of Woodpigeons. In the reeds behind the papermill at Novillars, there were at least 3 Reed Warblers singing and a male Cirl Bunting fed on the path. Nightingales and Serins were encountered in suitable areas along the route. A Black Redstart fledgling was being fed at Vaire, where a pair of Common Redstarts were busy at a nesting site. A Short-toed Treecreeper seems to have chosen an old barn wall for a nesting site, which also contains one or two pairs of Tree Sparrows.

Today (26th) at least 6 House Martins were gathering mud from a puddle next to the playing fields behind Lycée Pergaud.