The Flying circus comes to Town
You do not have to live in wild and relatively remote countryside to witness fascinating wildlife. I hope that this post will encourage you to look and listen wherever you are, be it from your town garden or even on your balcony. A while ago I was sitting in a café in the square of the small town of Limoux in the late afternoon, when these enormous white and black birds came into view, circling just above the roof tops. Many people in the square didn’t notice, sublimely unaware of the extraordinary spectacle taking place 50 metres above their heads. It was a group of White storks ( Cigogne blanche) looking for a roost for the night on their long migration south after leaving their breeding grounds, mainly in eastern Europe. That year some of them settled on the gargoyles of the church steeple, others on neighbouring roofs, to pass the night before lifting off next morning as the sun created rising thermals enabling the 2 metres wingspan to climb high in the sk...