Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts

Monday 10 April 2017

Last leg up through France, La Brenne revisited ...Osprey, Black Stork, Camberwell Beauties & a cracking Grey Ghost!




All a bit arse about face I know but my still damaged laptop means I can't access my pics from earlier on in the trip so here's the very last leg (March 31st - April 3rd) .. up through the middle of France towards Dieppe and a short but glorious few days back in La Brenne. (La Brenne info here)

Some of the best weather since leaving Spain and I was basking in 25c whilst I lounged around alongside a splendid 'etang' in a part of La Brenne I hadn't visited before (not difficult to do in this vast area of lakes and wetland). The area around Vendouvres & La Caillaudierre is generally referred to as the Foret de Lancosme. I found it to be a very quiet neck of the woods, very few people about, especially given that it was a w/e, but so rich in wildlife and although I had some difficulty in establishing which lakes were which in this watery landscape it didn't matter, it was all good. I mean when you wake up somewhere like this ...

Etang de Grand Brun, La Brenne, 03/04/17
 ... and the first thing you see when you poke your head out the window in the misty early morning sunshine is this ...
 
Great Crested Grebe, Etang de Grand Brun, La Brenne, 03/04/17

Osprey diving in for breakfast, la Brenne, 03/04/17
... and then the next thing you know there's an Osprey over your head ... its time to grab the camera and hope that, that Osprey is looking for some breakfast! I got lucky this time, nothing razor sharp but some great action shots ...

It must have been a biggish fish because after entering the water there was an obvious struggle and the Osprey was totally submerged at one point and stayed in the water looking 'preoccupied' for at least a minute before finally getting a hold on and launching free of the water.

Sadly he, or she, emerged without a fish. I think it was just too big to enable take off!






















Osprey struggling with a whopper, La Brenne, 03/04/17

Osprey struggling with a whopper, La Brenne, 03/04/17

Still struggling!

Getting there!

Almost there but its a slippery fish

Take off but I see no fish!

What a way to start the day .. took all of the above from out of the side window and have to say the van has been great for that this trip.

Flushed male Garganey,  La Brenne, 03/04/17
Moments later, kitted up and scanning across an equally good looking lake on the other side of the road I flushed a couple of Garganey and then spotted some more on the lake. I've been seeing these little migrant ducks all the way up from Spain and given their relative scarcity it was tempting to think that some of these individuals might be the self same as those I saw in eastern Spain.

Like little flying chocolates, that's the random thought that keeps coming to mind and I was pleased to get some decent flight shots of these dapper ducks.













Male Garganey in flight, La Brenne, 03/04/17


Male Garganey in flight, La Brenne, 03/04/17

Male Garganey in flight, La Brenne, 03/04/17

Garganey distribution map
Our Garganey's spend the winter months south of the equator in Africa and although a scarce breeder in the UK they have a broad range right across Eurasia.













Male Garganey, La Brenne, 03/04/17


Shy and easily missed, especially the females, early April is the time when one might turn up on your local wetland..
Female Garganey, La Brenne, 03/04/17


Bittern booming site, La Brenne
The same morning I added yet another bird to my trip list  - heard a Bittern booming several times from this nearby reedbed, and then around midday yet another with a lucky Black Stork looming in the sky when  I just happened to turn around and look up.

Black Stork over La Brenne, 03/04/17
 It didn't hang around and definitely drifting north .. heading for Germany?

Black Stork over La Brenne, 03/04/17
 As well as the above highlights there were Cuckoos aplenty, 4 Yellow Wagtails, a single Sedge Warbler (got to 200 species with this one), a Booted Eagle, scores of Great Crested & Little Grebes, 5 Black Necked Grebes and although waders were in short supply a count of 16 Green Sandpipers on on a dried up pond was a good record. All great birds and a great morning but 'blogwise' maybe a bit bird heavy and my eye wasn't focussed solely on feathers and wings, this lizard for example held my attention for several minutes, not sure if its anything other than a distinctively marked big Wall Lizard but  mighty impressive close up..
Lizard sp, La Brenne, 03/04/17
European Pond Turtle, La Brenne, 02/04/17
The previous day I managed a half decent European Pond Turtle crossing the track ahead of me and in such sunshine and warmth it was no surprise to see many butterflies on the wing with Orange Tips, Brimstones, Red Admirals & Speckled Woods commonplace and a new butterfly for me at least 3  Camberwell Beauties around the tracks alongside the Etang de Bellebouche.




Orange Tip, La Brenne, 02/04/17

Brimstone, La Brenne, 03/04/17

Camberwell Beauty, Etange de Bellebouche, 03/04/17

Camberwell Beauty, Etange de Bellebouche, 03/04/17
Not as vast an array of wild flowers on show this far north but field full of  Early Purple Orchids I stumbled across was an exception ..

Early Purple Orchid, La Brenne, 03/04/17
Other highlights from Le Brenne included my first and long awaited Whitethroats, a couple of Grasshopper Warblers, Bonellis Warbler, Pintail and still the odd Wigeon. From a photographic point of view I'm always pleased to get a good Sparrowhawk shot and this big female was a willing performer ..



Female Sparrowhawk, La Brenne, 02/04/17

Female Sparrowhawk, La Brenne, 02/04/17
Nice male Pintail, La Brenne, 03/04/17

Singing Bonellie Warbler, La Brenne, 03/04/17


Male Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17
I didn't want to leave the relaxing warmth of Le Brenne but my ferry back to the UK was booked and I had to push north. A stop off for the night somewhere near Maintenon, about 60 kilometres SW of Paris brought an improbable 2 new species in the shape of a Long Eared Owl across fields and Grey Partridge in the same spot the next morning, and best of all a pair of Hen Harriers floating around in the local fields the next morning as I was about to make my dash for Dieppe. Lucky for me I had time to spare because this beauty came right over the van! Such a perfect ending to my trip ....photographing this most iconic birds of prey with 206 bird species already in the bag. It felt like a job well done! Here's the results plus a few other random  shots from my return trip up through France.
Female Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17


Male Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17


Female Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17
Male Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17

Male Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17


Male Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17

Male Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17

Male Hen Harrier, nr Maintenon, 04/04/17
Miscellaneous pics from my northward drive through France



Male Marsh Harrier, La Brenne, 01/04/17


 
 


Cowslips, La Macherie, 31/03/17

Cowslips, La Macherie, 31/03/17

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (record shot), La Macherie, 31/03/17










 
 
 

 
 


Wednesday 1 March 2017

Still 'en Francais' - van travails, Jack Snipe & 1000s of Cranes

'Well I didn't far, in my beat old car, and I was fearin the worst' .. go the lyrics of a John Prine song I sometimes sing called 'Far from me' ... a familiar 'ear worm' for me and how it rang out loud in my head as my van, which had behaved impeccably all the way from East Yorkshire, started blinking warning lights on the dash some 50k south of Clermont Ferand.

This bloody van of mine has certainly caused me some grief, never known a vehicle like it, but like or not I'm on a road trip so we plow on and sort the problems as we go. Had a sneaky feeling I'd have to call on the RAC at some point but never imagined it would be so soon - I'm still in France for gods sake!

Net result is not good but I suppose it could be worse. I'm holed up in a hotel in Saint Fleur (at the RAC's expense) and van is in for repair. Initial diagnosis and estimates were frightening - head gasket failure (never good) and anything up to 4500 euros! Lots of updates later from the RAC ...such exquisite torture, and after 2 days I find out its a dead cylinder head plus a new radiator required - cost 2700 euros (ouch) but I suppose not catastrophic, still hurts big time like! I'll be on my way by the end of the week.

Firecrest, nr Amboise, 15/02/17
So before all that shenanigans I've actually had a good time a few good birds. On my way down from Dieppe I had the most enormous flock of Lapwings, somewhere near Bonneval - in traffic so couldn't stop but I reckoned on 4000+. First stop was somewhere nr Amboise, central France and a simple turn off into what looked like a good wooded area. It was! Lesser Spotted Woodpecker along with Greater Spotted and Green 'peckers', Firecrest, lots of Nuthatch and Chaffinches singing away in the sun.

In the same location I also saw 2 Brimstones and 2 Red Admiral butterflies. Its Spring!!

Next stop and berth for the night was an old haunt of mine from way back - La Brenne, nr Poitiers. Known locally as 'the land of a thousand lakes' I never quite got to grips with this place during my time in this part of France, mainly due the restricted access to most of the lakes but it remains a fascinating and complex web of wetland habitats.


I parked the van alongside one of the publicly accessible lakes - Etang de Mouton, and was immediately into many Common Cranes passing overhead. In total I estimated a staggering 2300 all heading NW within the space of an hour or so at dusk. Not sure if they were en route or simply coming into roost - either way, great to catch up with the annual mass movement of these majestic birds as they head towards their breeding grounds further north. I'm sure I'll see many more!

Etang de Mouton, La Brenne



Common Cranes, over La Brenne, 16/02/17

 In the morning I had more time to explore and came across 12 Jack Snipes all huddled together. So tricky to make out just what they were at first and quite odd I thought to see so many and they be the only wading bird present. Either way, although they're difficult to make out on the photograph, this was my best ever view of these usually very secretive birds.

Jack Snipes, La Brenne, 16/02/17 .. can you see em?


Great White Egret, La Brenne, 15/02/17





6 Water Pipits were the other highlights here, all in the same location as the Jack Snipes and I also had 4 Bullfinches (always a bit tricky to tick off in France), 16 Redwings and lots of Great White Egrets. I watched this one on the left for quite a while as it stalked its fishy prey, stamping the shallows and spreading its wings to disturb whatever lurked in the shallows .. and then it struck with that monstrous yellow bill!

Great White Egret, successful fishing!
Ah, it was all going so well! To me the van was driving ok, sleeping and cooking all ok and then with the blinking of a temperature light, disaster and an enforced stay in Saint Flour for a week. Major repairs are underway as I type and although I'd like to claim confidence for the trip ahead, I'm full of apprehension - what if the same or something similar happens again? It'll clean me out! Anybody want to buy a campervan? Had loads done to it!

Despite my pensive mood, Saint Flour is not a bad spot to be holed up in, especially since the weather has been pretty foul - snowing all day yesterday and it remains cold and blustery, so not a bad time to be hotel bound. I've walked around a bit, had a Crag Martin from said hotel which is perched at the top of the town with spectacular views over the Cantal region. Lots of Red Kites here and also added Raven, Woodlark and Marsh Tit to my species list so not all bad. Here's a few town & landscapes from roundabout and here's hoping my next post will contain nothing other than good days birding!

Great looking church, St Georges nr Saint Flour, 28/02/17

Saint Flour, 26/02/17

Saint Flour, 26/02/17

View from my hotel window in Saint Flour, 28/02/17