Summer in the Tarn, France

Hot and sunny in the South west of France in early july,fields of warm yellow sunflowers standout against the backdrop of a bright blue sky.
Small groups of black kites follow the harvesters, picking off small mammals and insects caught out in the open, while a short-toed eagle circles overhead.
We took a drive into the hills above Salvagnac and soon found a few pair of bee eaters hawking for insects from the power lines,and a honey buzzard soaring on the thermals.
Glad to see the hoopoes are back in the area,but are still very wary,one landed 40ft from me but was soon gone again.Lot of pairs of black redstarts feeding their young, some having already fledged.

                                    scarce swallowtail

                            humming-bird hawk moth

                                           bee eaters

Always plenty of interesting insects around including some very bright red dragonflies I've not seen before.
Butterflies of interest were the cleopatra brimstone,southern white admiral and the graceful scarce swallowtail.
A few warm evenings  spent drinking wine and watching the humming-bird hawk moths.