Birdwatching holiday weekends in southwest France

The birds in this part of France offer a great deal not just to birdwatchers, but to anyone who enjoys the birds in their garden but would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a short-toed eagle & a buzzard, or a swallow from a house martin. We have plenty of easily identifiable birds - you can hear the hoopoe's two-note call (hoop hoop) & see them on roofs, or often flying up from the ground on 'Hoopoe Lane'. The scops owl can be heard making an irritating sound like a mobile phone alarm, or you might hear the classic call of the tawny owl, or be lucky enough to see a barn owl in the late afternoon. Bee-eaters in little flocks nest not far away, & one year a roller nested in one of the trees leading into the village. Birds of prey do well, cruising the scrubby hills or hovering over the vineyards. Half an hour away flocks of flamingos feed in the shallow salt-water lagoons by the coast.

Hoopoes are timid too - but much more visible in the lane below the house. It's rare that they will let you get near enough to snap them.

This rather foolish young visitor spent an hour rummaging among the leaves in a corner of our courtyard, and let me get within a few feet.

It seemed more concerned with food and displaying its fine plumage than me - but its hoo-hoo hopeless song can become tiresome after a month.

I spotted this European Roller in the bole of a platane at the edge of the village. It was the long hot summer of '07 and it must have come north and west (from Spain or Provence) in search of food & water.

Early every morning for a week (before setting out breakfast for guests) I parked by the side of the road, got comfortable in the boot of the hatchback, and waited.

The walled garden is not very big: a pool, a lawn, the vegetable patch, the ornamental beds with mediterranean planting. The low retaining wall at the edge of the lawn divides the garden in two. The upper half was planted decades ago with trees to make a shaded little parc, but nothing much has been done to it since. Our neighbour's garden behind us is large & neglected, and next door's has plenty of trees, including fruit trees. This makes our part of the village an attractive place for birds, and every year between the middle of April and the end of May you can hear a nightingale sing in the garden. You can see it too - they sing at any time of day or night - a surprisingly small brown bird with no distinguishing features.

This is why we thought we'd offer a flexible long weekend in the middle of May. Minimum stay is two nights (€130 b&b per shared room per 2 nights - see rates & dates page for more details). We can offer plenty of advice about the region so that you can get the most out of your weekend, whether you plan on going for long walks or visiting a Cathar castle, or just relaxing by the pool.

I tried to film the hoopoe calling from its branch, just round the corner - but the instant it spotted me, it stopped singing and flew off, back to our garden . . .

It has a low-level, dipping flight - never much higher than the tree-tops. From the attic windows you can see it (or them, once they have paired-up) swooping past at eye-level on its regular flight-path.

Its visits were fleeting, and I missed many opportunities while easing my neck or adjusting the tripod - but the wait was worth it. It has never returned.