Jonathan Kemp; A naturalist in the south of France

 Across the valley there appeared a huge, dark, shape, hanging  over the top of the peak in front of us. What we were watching was so still, so motionless, that at first I could hardly believe it was a real bird; no movement of a wing to keep itself poised in the air, neither advancing or being blown back, a demonstration of absolute control. We peered through our telescopes, and knew that it was an golden eagle. Then, just above, was a second silhouette, even larger, so the female eagle, likewise poised above her partner, both so still that we didn’t need to move our telescopes. Were they hunting, scanning the slopes below them for a late catch as the sun was setting? Well, it is a possibility, but what followed next convinces me that more was going on.  We’re at the time of year when the largest birds on the European continent are preparing for next year’s nesting season, amazing as that might seem as winter is only just taking hold. However these birds have mo...

One result of the shortage of rain this summer has been the reduction in flow of the tributaries of the main rivers, in our case the Aude. We live in a water mill perched above the Brezilhou stream, and not for the first time see why the original mill, dating from about nine hundred years ago, was built here. Upstream all the flow has gone underground, but whilst the waterfall that feeds the mill pond has slowed, it would have still supplied enough to keep the ponderous wheels turning.  Kingfisher dive   Somewhere upstream a pair of Kingfishers nest every year. I have not found this year's nest, the older ones of previous years have been washed away in the floods that will eventually come. This year we see a kingfisher nearly every day, there is often a spark of electric blue and the piercing cry as these brightest of birds make the kilometre journey down to the main river to hunt for their meals – and sometimes they stop at the millpond and try their luck here.    S...