16th - A tour of  the Gimeaux area and Mas d'Agon today. Opposite the Mas des Barnacles there was the first evidence this year of young Black-winged Stilts feeding in the flooded rice field. At least 12 Bee-eaters were flying around their usual territory and both adult Night Heron and Purple Heron flew over the road. The other rice field held Little and Great Egrets plus a few Stilts and feeding overhead 6 Gull-billed Terns and 8 Whiskered Terns. I stopped by the Mas Neuf junction and found at least 8 Great Reed Warblers, of which 2 were juveniles, a Reed Warbler and a Stonechat. A pair of Sparrowhawks soared briefly overhead and an adult Short-toed Eagle was spotted perched on top of a telephone pole. At Mas d'Agon the usual Whiskered and Common Terns were present feeding over the lagoons. A Hoopoe flew into the woodland to the south and a Green Woodpecker also called and flew over. Only a single Collared Pratincole was seen today although the resident birds may have been here earlier. A real surprise was a Short-eared Owl that flew over the reedbeds and disappeared into some long grass, evidently after some tasty morsel. The only other notable sighting was a male Reed Bunting which have been pretty rare in the past couple of months!