1st July - An early visit to Marais du Vigueirat today and a good early sighting of a Roller on the telephone wires as I drove down the D35. The wet wood was very quiet with only a few tits (Great, Blue and Long-tailed) hopping through the trees and single Cetti's Warbler, Nightingale and Reed Warbler heard. The rapidly drying marsh held a dozen Black-winged Stilts and a further 10 or so flew over. The resident Cuckoo was seen flying and calling as it patrolled the trees. The 2nd wooded area had singing Nightingale and Melodious Warbler and a fly-by Kingfisher plus a Blackbird giving its alarm call. The White Stork nest had 4 well-developed young in it with the female proudly standing guard over them. In an adjacent tree I had excellent views of a calling Turtle Dove which eventually was spooked by a Black Kite! The open marshy area had a single Wood Sandpiper, several Bee-eaters, male Stonechat and Whinchat and a few Sardinian Warblers. But the most unusual sighting was a female Orphean Warbler which climbed through a nearby tree giving pretty good views. This is the first time I've seen this species at Vigueirat! Raptors were noticeable by their absence but I did manage to see a Sparrowhawk, female Marsh Harrier and a pair of Black Kites in mating flight. The extensive woodland by the canal produced both Green and Great-Spotted Woodpeckers and I heard a Lesser Spotted calling. Wildfowl was limited to a few Mallard and a single female Shoveler.