Just popped out to check on the hedgehogs and heard this …
the Nightjar
Has anyone actually seen a Nightjar ???
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I had one stuck in the radiator grille of my car, it survived - poor creature, I was terrified it would die of shock but no 
phew!
The trees around chez moi are simply seething with green woodpeckers at the moment, v jolly.
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You lucky person to have had a close encounter with such a secretive bird. I’ve been looking for it since childhood and my first Bird Book. 
Woodpeckers are such colourful fun. We sometimes find one flying alongside the car - as if keeping us company - then whoosh it’s off and away with a flash of its red bum. (Greater or Lesser Spotted)
We used to watch Green Woodpeckers digging for worms in our grassland back in UK
this video takes me right back there…
But I have never seen the Black Woodpecker (size of a crow, black with just a red head). It has been reported in the Limousin just north of us, so I live in hope.
We saw three green woodpeckers flying together the other evening.
Their dipping flight is very distinctive.
The nightingale is also singing its heart out and tge golden oriole was close to the house, I looked but couldn’t see it.
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I’ve only seen a Golden Oriole once - when it flew alongside the car.
OH was quite startled when I gave an excited yelp. Such a striking bird, I recognized it immediately.
That was several years ago and the GO gives us a wide berth now. 
Although, its song wafts along the valley …
The Spotted Nutcracker - anyone “spotted” this bird - I’ve only seen it once, here in France about 10 years ago.
The only time we saw nightjars was in Kenya many years ago. Never seen or heard one here. Kenya is a paradise for birdwatchers. We had a birdwatcher friend come to stay and he told us he saw more different birds just in our garden than he’d seen in years of bird-watching in the UK.
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Yes, normally they live in the Jura, but I did see one which our friends said was probably a young bird a bit lost.
We have started to see red kites which normally live in the Brionnais.
A Couple of our regular garden visitors - they give us so much pleasure - we have recently attracted a rather large magpie who steals the finches and sparrows food.
We also had loads of swifts and some swallows as the nearby foin was being cut and an amazing display from a dozen or more Kites (Milan) circling above .
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We have a pair of Little Owls nesting regularly under the church roof, just opposite. Sadly both their babies died quite recently- hoping they will have better luck next year.
More harvesting of Foin at the back of the house today and the opportunity to snap the rather rare but beautiful Black Kite circling above and diving for the unsuspecting field mice revealed beneath them
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They are beautiful birds.
We have a wide variety of raptors and watching their antics as they swirl up and down the valley - that is a wonderful way to relax away the cares of the day.
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Is it possible to attach an audio clip to a post? I have captured the sound of what I think is a bird on my digital recorder and I just wondered if I could upload it and someone could tell me what the bird is?
I’ve managed to video the bird sound. (If it is a bird) Anyone any idea what it is? Beyond the tree we have a ripe wheat field and it seems to be coming from there. It’s the tkk, tkk-tkk noise
Unknown bird sound
Sounds like a black redstart, I have them in my garden, but it could easily be something else I haven’t got here.
Do you see small dark birds with a relatively long, shaky tail about? The tail is a rusty red colour. They like nesting in woodpiles and suchlike.
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Thanks Vero for your suggestion, but I don’t think so. Unless their sound changes at this time of the year. We have stacks of redstarts - not least nesting in our loft and hallway!!! Certainly earlier in the year redstarts calls are much more complicated - including the sound of a baby’s rattle. This bird only seems to make these 3 to 4 almost clicking sounds, then pause, then the sounds again.
Mmmm… I’d plump for black redstarts. I catch sight of them sitting in the gutter (wherever) and they “chat,chat, chat” at me. Perhaps that is their “blast, she’s disturbing us again” noise - rather than other songs.
It was on “Tweet of the Day” this week.
Sorry, but this is MUCH simpler than black redstart calls in this RSPB recording. (You can hear the rattle noise) Even the click in the redstart recording is surrounded by other sounds and not a three click rhythmn. Also, our redstarts are in the garden. This is coming from the field. It’s a sound I’ve not heard (or at least noticed) before and I’m wondering if it’s a migratory field bird?
black redstart