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



























Thursday 2 February 2017

Another road trip to Spain planned ... music en Francais & birding en Espana!

Another road trip through France and into Spain beckons and not before time; Had everything gone to plan then I would be there now (lounging about in the south of France somewhere near the Camargue), but my plans started to go pear shaped well before Xmas with an ill advised move to another campsite and then went totally tits up after the new campervan developed seriously bad and expensive engine problems!

France / Spain road trip 2017 - rough outline
Hopefully now though we're all sorted. I'm back at my old site at Fangfoss and the van is behaving quite nicely - It probably needs a long trip to let the new head gasket, water pump and timing belt to settle in and I have just the trip for the old gal!

Nothing is set in stone of course and this is just a rough idea of my likely route based on previous trips but as always I'll follow the weather and the birds, take it easy and enjoy every minute of the journey, especially after a hellish couple of months of stress and trauma in Baggins world.














Unsurprisingly I've not had many opportunities to point my camera lens at very much at all over the New Year, and when I have made the effort the light has never been good enough for decent pics, its been a dank, damp January so far this year. I hung around for 2 hrs in the company of about 50 twitchers hoping to get a glimpse of the York recording area's rarest bird to date - a nice male Pine Bunting at Dunnington (just down the road from me) - no show on that occasion but apparently its still there so I'll try again this week. Best pic to date (courtesy of Josh Jones) of this elusive mega rarity
Pine Bunting, Dunnington, nr York, 22/01/17
























Only 50 other UK records of this fine looking bunting but many new records on the continent suggest that it may be on the wander and given their close allegiance to our own Yellowhammer you can be sure I'll be double checking the reasonably decent flocks of the latter I get around Fangfoss (its only 6 miles away as the bunting flies!)

Hen Harrier, undisclosed location, 13/01/17
My only other decent birds in what has been a very fallow month were a flock of 50+ Bramblings roosting on a regular basis at the campsite of hell nr Allerthorpe and a superb male Hen Harrier, again roosting, at an undisclosed location in Yorkshire.












Rarities aside, a few local common birds caught my attention on the odd day that the sun did shine, none less so than these nice Robin shots taken over the Christmas / New Year
European Robin, Fangfoss, 28/12/2016

European Robin, Allerthorpe, 30/12/2016

European Robin, Fangfoss, 28/12/2016

European Robin, Fangfoss, 28/12/2016
European Robin, Fangfoss, 28/12/2016
A team day out with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust at Spurn Point was bracing and good fun, short on birds but this shoreline Golden Plover was a good 'un.
Golden Plover, Spurn, 14/12/2016
 Not much to shout about on my work patch at Askham Bog with both Siskin and Redpoll numbers way down on last year but this little Goldcrest was entertaining as I shivered in the cold
Goldcrest, Askham Bog, 31/12/2016
 
Siskin, Askham Bog, 02/01/2017
Just an isolated bunch within a big flock of Skylarks flying over my local fields around Fangfoss but they made a nice shape!
Common Skylarks, Fangfoss, 29/11/2016
Male Stonechat, Strensall Common, 10/01/2017
 And lastly, a nice male Stonechat on a different part of Strensall Common than is usual - they cling on there and maybe this is a another prospective breeding site.


So its onwards to France later on this month for a long overdue catch up with these guys - my sis, partner Mark and no doubt various other musos and reprobates.
Beyond the Gap promo pic, May 2012
Crikey, nearly 5 years since that pic was taken - how time flies, but age is no barrier when it comes to music, I can still strut my stuff and looking forward to doing a bit of this while I'm over there ...

Beyond the Gap live, Fargasso (french pyrenees), 09/07/2012


  After that I'll head south into Spain for a bit of this...

Short Toed Eagle over the Straits of Gibralter, 02/03/2015


and a bit of this too ...
Miles away from it all in my old Tranny, Belchite steppes, Nov 2013
That van was ace, looked great, went anywhere and felt solid. I don't feel quite the same about my newly acquired T4 but maybe I'll feel differently if it gets me there and back in one piece and without any further serious inroads into my bank balance! Hmm .. we'll see!