Cigognes - storks, rest in Montblanc en route to Africa

I had no plans to write an article this week as we are so busy in the office. However, the event last night made me change my mind. After a busy, busy day I sat outside on the terrace with David to relax over a relatively simple meal and a glass (or two) of wine.

We had just finished desert when David's attention was caught by an amazing sight. What seemed to be a large flock of birds were flying low, and in a rough formation, over the trees in the garden towards our house. As they got closer David said they were flamingos, but no, when they were really close I could see that they were cigognes - storks in English.

To see so many large birds gracefully gliding and swirling around was a truly wonderful sight. They circled the house three of four times before swinging northwards towards the centre of the village.

The next morning, Renée et Laurent Martinotti, friends of ours in the village, sent this photo they took, showing the cigognes as they perched on the Montblanc village church, settling down for the night after a long flight during the day.

Resting on Montblanc village church for the night

The cigognes are on their annual migration, coming from the north-east of France, probably Alsace, and are on their way to Africa for the winter. They are large birds and, because of their body weight, like eagles, they rely on gliding and soaring with thermals. Although we are only about 12 kms from the Mediterranean, they will not fly direct to Africa that way due to the lack of thermals over water. Instead, after resting for the night, they will continue their journey southwards, soaring over the Pyrenees into Spain, and then fly all the way down to the Straits of Gibraltar, following the coastline and choosing to cross the Mediterranean at it's narrowest point. Altogether, this is something like a 4,500 kms return trip - each year!