Birdwatching is about decoding, taking the small pieces of information you receive – flight style, shape, sound, behaviour – and building a full picture that helps you to identify the bird in question.

So, birdwatching abroad can be like trying to understand a foreign language.

Here in southwestern France, small flocks of chiffchaffs (pouillots vélloces) move through the trees, even coming to the ground together to feed. This behaviour is normal here, but not something I’ve ever seen in the UK, which, for more minutes than I care to admit, had me wracking my brains over whether these really were chiffchaffs or some continental warbler species.

Great tits (mésanges noires) look identical to their British cousins, and behave in very similar ways, but their call can be entirely different. Their foreign accent can be confusing when you’re in a small copse trying to keep your eyes and ears on at least half a dozen small birds at the same time.

Birdwatching abroad always stirs in me feelings I had when I first began birdwatching in the UK – mystery the unknown, the art of the naturalist-cum-detective.