Fingers crossed. It’s the most difficult time for baby birds and their parents, when they are first on the ground.
My little bird is a nestling and should be in a nest it seems. The advice given is to make a makeshift nest in nearby vegetation, and I have plenty, but prefer to try an open-topped-cage with a nest inside, and wait and see!
I left it outside the workshop for a while on the edge of vegetation, but very soon it appeared to be wilting in the heat. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow. Baby bird is safe for now.
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Did my best with baby blackbird. We got off to a good start after it had cooled down. There were lots of chirping, feeding and pooping but last night he/she went downhill suddenly and was lying peacefully in the nest, this morning, life expired.
Tried earlier to coax communication with parent birds but despite the sound of adult blackbirds about, the the little thing responded to none of them.
Looks just like the one in the photo above. RIP.
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:sad emoji:
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Saw a tiny (perfectly formed) house-martin sitting quietly on the pavement outside the mairie this morning. I spoke to it gently from a distance and it seemed to be breathing.
Birds were swirling overhead, visiting the nests under the eaves.
It was still in the same spot, moved its head vaguely as I went by again…
Someone leaned out of the window and told me “it’s nature’s way”… ie it will either be alright or it wont.
I went back home, trying not to imagine the fracas/horror if the bird is still there when one of the local cats/dogs come on by… 
I have twice had dogs who tried to rescue birds. The first was Rupert, a Breton Spaniel/Collie X who presented me very gently with a completely naked tiny Robin chick. I put it back in the nest, not far away in grouned covered ivy, and as gently as I could told him not to bring it again.
The second was our English Setter, Tosca, who, equally gently, brought me a distressed Jay. I put it in the shade on a stump in the forest but later I saw it dead on the ground. Nature’s way is not always an easy way.
Happier news is that the, now Identified Swallows, have taken to frequently flying inside my shady front terrasse and often resting for several minutes on the shutter tops. 
We used to have swallows fly in and out of one of our outhouses and each year they would (re)build their nests. This is a picture of one set of baby swallows. Unfortunately we blocked up the hole during a restoration programme for the outhouse and haven’t seen any swallows in any of the adjoining buildings since then.
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That looks like a real chorus.
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David, I remember when Stuart was taking this photo. It’s actually one of about a hundred he took on the day. He didn’t want to get the parent in the shot so he kept on clicking and clicking. We actually entered this in our village ‘l’insolite dans mon jardin’ competition. We also submitted these:
but the swallows won it for us!
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At our lake, Stuart saw what he thought was a polecat. But looking at images on the internet, we can’t identify it exactly. So the best way to describe it was that it was like a marbled polecat with a black and white tail but it had a black (only) face. It was really beautiful looking but he got the idea that it could be viscious if cornered or attacked. We have seen pine martens at the lake but it definitely wasn’t one of those. Any ideas please ?
It could be a fouine (stone marten). They can come in all sorts of colours (well not all, but black, white and all shades of brown and a mixture of them all) and patterns.
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Have a look on this site http://www.planetepassion.eu/
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I love the picture of the Mantis, and to @Wozza, I haven’t looked at the link yet but wasn’t that Chris Luck who used to post from there in a forum many, many moons ago? For some reason he has popped up on my FB ‘people you might know’ list.
I spent some time in my front terrasse this afternoon but the swallows did not show up once, the day before they drove me dizzy flying backwards and forewards and all around it. 
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Yes …
here’s a not-so-colourful mantis. But just look at those eyes …
And over the years, we’ve sent photos of birds, reptiles, butterflies and many others to Chris Luck. Some of them we knew what they were - others we weren’t so sure. Here’s one we had no idea of what is was - any of you know? Answers on a postcard please 
p.s. we do actually know what it is but want to know if anyone else does…
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I don’t know but yesterday and again this morning while up at the pond there was a very large butterfly swooping around. It was rust coloured, just like that and, on closer inspection, I saw little black specs all over the wings. 
Ooo! A Lappet moth. Don’t see them where I am in the limestone south because too dry here. I love that they resemble oak leaves, such an ancient design 
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Yikes! Hopefully not this
These are the invasive species _ Papillon Paysandisia archon ravageur des palmiers
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I know exactly what it is, as I caught sight of one on the ground only this morning…
I was pottering to the bins before the heat became tooo ghastlyand was a little concerned to see this butterfly on the ground, very listless (possibly suffering from heat/dehydration).
I approached gently, wondering how I could help and chatted gently to keep it calm (yes, I know it’s not a dog/cat/horse/whatever but that’s how I behave when something seems in distress)
anyway… the situation resolved itself… the glorious butterfly turned out to be a crumpled leaf bundle 
So now you all know… I’m nutty as a fruitcake …
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No definitely not, rusty colour all over with tiny black dots.