It had been about seven years since I had been birding in the south of France and having done the Camargue and other areas in Provence, I was tempted by an alternative location. My available dates, given work and family commitments were a little constrained. I also wanted to pull in a quick visit to Texel for the Dutch Birding Festival, and as a non-driver/non-flyer, this would require quite a fiddly route on public transport.
I left Nottingham on the bank holiday Monday 6th
May and had an overnight stay in King’s Cross, in order to catch the first
Eurostar on the following day.
Check in was smooth and the train on time, and with at seat
refreshments in standard premium, the two or so hours to Paris seemed to pass
quickly, although listening to several week’s podcasts of Gardener’s Question
Time, helped in that regard. I also find wearing headphones deters any would-be
unwanted conversations from fellow travellers.
My connection time in Paris was fairly tight. I had walked
to Gare de Lyon in the past, but there certainly wasn’t time for that, so took
a taxi, thinking this was an easy option. With hindsight, I should have taken
the Metro, which would have been a five-minute ride. In the end, the taxi took
nearly 30 minutes to cover three miles, owing to road works and the apparently
inevitably clogged up roads of Paris. I caught my connecting TGV with five
minutes to spare.
The super-fast French trains (by British standards) - I think
they hit 200mph, make the 500 mile journey a very tolerable four hours. Also,
there’s some very pleasant countryside from about two hours in. After around 3 hours it is especially good as the line hugs the coast and slows down in
places (or it did on my journey) allowing a little birding from the train.
Being double decker trains; from the top deck, you can get a really good view
of the wetlands by the coast.
It was a few minutes after leaving Montpellier, that the
birding started, with a Short-toed Eagle hovering very close to the train. Among the various marshes I could also see lots of both Little Egrets and Great White Egrets. Then near Frontignan,
I had four Gull-billed Terns on a bit of salt marsh close to the sea wall. I expected these to be nailed on, but as it
turned out, these were the only ones on the trip. Afterwards the line headed in
land but I did get a few Black Kites and Common Kestrels but nothing any more
exciting.
I arrived in Narbonne in the early afternoon. I found my
hotel, checked in, dumped my gear and headed straight back to the station and
caught a train to Port la Nouvelle. I
had spoken to Phillipa Benson of Birding Languedoc, who had arranged my guide
for the following three days and it seemed like this was a reasonable option
with someone without a car.
From the station, I headed for the coast, which is a ten
minute walk. There is a small harbour here, where a fishing boat had just
arrived and was being mobbed by hundreds of Yellow-legged Gulls. This seems to
be the standard sea gull here, although unlike our Herring Gulls are totally
uninterested in coming to bread, or at least that’s true in Port la Nouvelle. I
followed the coast road towards the headland, where a light house sits on a
half mile long pier.
Scanning the sea, I was immediately drawn to a raft of dark
brown birds some way off, and with the bins alone I was unable to assign the birds to
any order, never mind species. Setting up my scope, I was delighted to see that
the birds were shearwaters. My impression was that they were rather bigger than
Manx but certainly not Corys’s. Being a muddy brown above, I am assuming that
these were Balearic Shearwaters purely from the location. However, having contacted Robert Flood, he thinks they could as easily have been Yelkouan. There were 92 birds
in total and in the hour and a half I was there, the birds never took flight. Despite this encouraging start, I added
little else, except for two 2nd cy Gannets and several Common Terns
and Sandwich Terns.
The Lighthouse at Port la Nouvelle
Common Tern
In the evening I ate around the corner from the hotel at restaurant Moli Mouli. I had the baked cod followed by Tarte Tatin. The main course was good, but not remarkable by French standards. However the dessert was spectacularly good. The staff spoke little French, though were very helpful and accommodating, as I speak poor, schoolboy French. I get the impression that the language thing is a big deal for the French. They speak more English often than they let on, but if you don't make an effort to speak their language they won't meet you half way. I know this from feedback from tourists who know no French and have found the language barrier an issue.
Morue en papillote
The morning of 8th May was dry but the whole area
was bathed in a dense low cloud. I was joined by two American birders Randal Hall (no relation) and his wife Connie Clarke and we
were picked up at 7am by Dominique Clement, who lives locally and is a
professional birder and conservationist.
Dominique's English is probably about on a par with my French, but he knows enough. Also, he doesn't know every bird name in English, but as we both know the scientific names, I was able to let Randy and Connie know what to expect before each site.
We headed east to the Pissevaches area just south east of Fleury. On the coast are two lagoons, one small one and a huge one. Our arrival coincided with some drizzle but this produced a nice movement of Pallid Swift along with dozens of Common Swifts. There was relatively little on the coast but on the drive back to the main road we had a male Whinchat and two Stonechats, plus a few parties of Greater Flamingo on another lagoon. The nearby water treatment works, where I believe you can partly explore on foot were very rewarding. Dominique has a key to the gate that leads to one of the better pools. The rain had now stopped but it was still very dull. However, the birding wasn’t. We had two Black Terns and two Little Gulls and in the reedbed was an extremely close Great Reed Warbler, along with a Moustached Warbler and several family parties of Bearded Tits. Working our way around the perimeter, we discovered three Collared Pratincole (Dominique suspected that there was a bird sitting nearby.)
After taking a few record shots of the pratincoles, my battery went flat and I quickly inserted a new one. I switched on my camera, and as I looked through the view finder, a male Little Bittern flew through and I managed to rattle off a few record shots as it entered the reed bed!
Dominique's English is probably about on a par with my French, but he knows enough. Also, he doesn't know every bird name in English, but as we both know the scientific names, I was able to let Randy and Connie know what to expect before each site.
We headed east to the Pissevaches area just south east of Fleury. On the coast are two lagoons, one small one and a huge one. Our arrival coincided with some drizzle but this produced a nice movement of Pallid Swift along with dozens of Common Swifts. There was relatively little on the coast but on the drive back to the main road we had a male Whinchat and two Stonechats, plus a few parties of Greater Flamingo on another lagoon. The nearby water treatment works, where I believe you can partly explore on foot were very rewarding. Dominique has a key to the gate that leads to one of the better pools. The rain had now stopped but it was still very dull. However, the birding wasn’t. We had two Black Terns and two Little Gulls and in the reedbed was an extremely close Great Reed Warbler, along with a Moustached Warbler and several family parties of Bearded Tits. Working our way around the perimeter, we discovered three Collared Pratincole (Dominique suspected that there was a bird sitting nearby.)
After taking a few record shots of the pratincoles, my battery went flat and I quickly inserted a new one. I switched on my camera, and as I looked through the view finder, a male Little Bittern flew through and I managed to rattle off a few record shots as it entered the reed bed!
Back out onto the entrance track we paused to look for
migrants and found one Spotted Flycatcher and a single Tawny Pipit.
Greater Flamingo
Collared Pratincole
Little Bittern
Little Gull
From Pissevaches we drove to the village at Fleury. On the way, a
very forlorn and somewhat damp Short-toed Eagle sat a top a tree, fairly close
to the road. On any other day, I would have got a fantastic photo, but with my
bridge camera, the thick cloud was a killer and I was left with a record shot.
In the village itself, we stopped for coffee, while watching Lesser Kestrels
fly overhead. This was also only one of two places where I saw Black Redstart. It was a public holiday in France, celebrating victory by the allies in Europe and the local police and several villages were doing a little march down the road.
When it comes to Bank Holidays, we are the poor man of Europe with just 8 in the year, compared with 11 in France, 12 in Spain and 14 in Finland. I think 11 is about the average in the EU. Why can't St. George's Day, which is also Shakespeare's Birthday be a public holiday?! Okay, rant over.
When it comes to Bank Holidays, we are the poor man of Europe with just 8 in the year, compared with 11 in France, 12 in Spain and 14 in Finland. I think 11 is about the average in the EU. Why can't St. George's Day, which is also Shakespeare's Birthday be a public holiday?! Okay, rant over.
Short-toed Eagle
Following the refreshment stop, we drove along the plane of the river Aude, which is bordered by a network of fields and hedgerows along
the south bank of the river. Dominique parked by a field with a number of bee
hives and we had around 20 European Bee-eaters, which were gorging themselves
on the insects. Other species here included Golden Oriole, which happily
perched in the open, as well as Melodious Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and our
first Roller of the day. It’s also worth noting the density of Nightingales,
which is incredible! A 100 metre stretch of trees and bushes held around 10
singing males, which was typical of many areas we visited.
European Bee-eater
European Roller
Golden Oriole
Driving to the north bank of the river by a bridge, we
surveyed a protected area and added the first Honey-buzzard of the trip, plus
several Glossy Ibis, Great White Egret and a single Squacco Heron.
We departed the Aude river and then drove a little way east,
and explored the various wetlands around Vendre. Among the more interesting
species in the area were Common Pochard, Common Shelduck, White Stork, Little
Grebe, Hoopoe and a few Mediterranean Gull.
At the nearby filtration ponds at Vendre village we saw three
Wood Sandpipers, plus a nice drake Red-crested Pochard, along with Reed Bunting and Willow
Warbler. Here. as is true of virtually every pool and pond in the area were several pairs of Black-winged Stilts and one flew in right next to the path, allowing me to get a nice photo. Peering down a culvert, our inquisitiveness was rewarded by a rather arresting Viperine Water Snake Natrix maura, which looked very snugly on his/her bit of concrete.
Black-winged Stilt
Viperine Water Snake
Working our way back to Narbonne, we paused by a flooded vineyard by the canal at La Matte, where we had super close views of two Whiskered Terns, another Wood Sandpiper, a Glossy Ibis and two Common Redshank. As we were departing, a total of nine Rollers flew past in succession, along with a single Great Spotted Cuckoo.
Whiskered Tern
We had spent very nearly nine hours in the field, and seen some really nice birds. I had enthused prior to the trip of taking advantage of the Mediterranean light; so it's a little disappointing that the light was so appalling that day, but you can't have it all!
We were dropped off at the hotel at just before 7pm. The establishment was the Hôtel La Résidence in a quiet part of Narbonne. This was recommended by Phillippa and was a good choice. The staff speak good English and the breakfast is quite a hearty buffet and will especially suit those with a sweet tooth, as custard tart and chocolate cake was on offer, in addition to scrambled eggs and bacon and more typical continental fayre.
Dinner that night was at a recommended pizza house just round the corner, tucked away in one of the many quaint little streets in Narbonne. I have to say, the food was spot on - thin base just as I like it. The beer, a local brew may or may not have had aphrodisiac qualities!
No comment
Almost as good as Italian
The 9th May was as different from the previous one as it's possible to be, with blue skies and a fresh breeze from the north west. After breakfast, Dominique picked me up and
we headed to the dry rolling countryside south east of Narbonne. We could hear
the thrush-like warble of Western Orphean Warbler, but my attempts to photograph the ubiquitous Crested Lark were unsuccessful. This species seemed incredibly wary and was even spooked by the car, which is normally a good mobile hide.
Although there was little else of note on the passerine front, we could see dozens of Honey-buzzards moving along the adjacent ridges and there was clearly a major movement in progress. We headed south towards the watch point between the Etang L’Ayrolle and the coast. I jumped out while Dominique parked the car, as Honey-buzzards were moving through, some of them flying really low. It was a truly exhilarating experience! We estimated that there were around 2,000 birds seen that morning, along with 500 Black Kites, single Osprey and Red-footed Falcon.
Although there was little else of note on the passerine front, we could see dozens of Honey-buzzards moving along the adjacent ridges and there was clearly a major movement in progress. We headed south towards the watch point between the Etang L’Ayrolle and the coast. I jumped out while Dominique parked the car, as Honey-buzzards were moving through, some of them flying really low. It was a truly exhilarating experience! We estimated that there were around 2,000 birds seen that morning, along with 500 Black Kites, single Osprey and Red-footed Falcon.
Honey-buzzard
We watched the Honey-buzzards until the main movement appeared to have reached a hiatus and I took the opportunity to photograph a Kentish Plover that was feeding on the shoreline. Unbeknown to me, Dominique snapped me snapping the plovers! I didn't realise my head was so shiny.
A walk along the etang produced several hundred Dunlins,
along with dozens of Sanderling and smaller numbers of Ringed Plover and a
single Little Stint. As we reached the dunes on foot, we added a ringtail Montagu’s Harrier in off the sea and an Icterine Warbler that was skulking in the low vegetation.
Returning to the car, we had a look at the marshes at
Grazen, where there were several Whimbrel and one or two Little Terns feeding adjacent to
the car.
Kentish Plover
Whimbrel
Little Tern
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
After lunch, we met up with Phillippa and spent the afternoon exploring the Narbonne commune, area, firstly around Ile St-Martin, where we added three Rock Sparrows, Cirl Bunting and had excellent views of a Woodchat Shrike and eventually Sardinian Warbler, which are not so easy to see well, despite their ubiquity. A note should be made about the number of Corn Buntings in the area. They're very common and the jangy song was a joy to hear as we birded the area. This is a species, which while decreasing is clearly doing very nicely thank you in the south of France. It's a Priority BAP species in the UK and it's not hard to see how our sterile countryside has decimated so many species.
Moving on to the paddy fields at Tournebelle, we saw several Whiskered Terns, two Cattle Egrets and a single 4th calendar year Caspian Gull. At the adjacent marshes at Tournebelle le neuf, we had a Spoonbill, Reed Warbler and a nice male Pied Flycatcher.
Woodchat Shrike
Sardinian Warbler
Pied Flycatcher
Caspian Gull
The 10th May was another sunny day and the plan was to have half a day inland from Narbonne around the rolling, pastoral country around Abbaye de Fontcalvy. Before this though, we returned to Pissevaches, as things are always dropping in there. We saw a similar set of species as on the 8th with the addition of single Squacco Heron and Purple Heron, a flock of 40 Whiskered Terns and several Mediterranean Gull.
Sanderling
En route to Fontcalvay, we had excellent close views of a Roller, which unfortunately flew off before I could take a photo. Around the main site, Corn Buntings, common everywhere as stated previously, were especially obliging and the one in the image, sat resolutely on his perch, singing away as I edged closer.
Corn Bunting
Our main target birds here, appeared on cue. Two Southern Grey Shrikes were seen, one perching briefly close to, before flying off. Two female Little Bustards were seen in flight and it appeared that they would fly right past us then banked and headed off away from us. Great Spotted Cuckoo appeared to be quite abundant here too, with several birds seen.
A singing Stone Curlew prompted us to search a known breeding area, but it remained consigned to the 'heard only' list. However, a male Little Bustard did eventually show and gave decent views in the scope.
We watched the bustard over lunch and as I ate on my sandwiches a Short-toed Eagle buzzed us at crazily low altitude affording some nice images before a Hobby zipped by, rounding off a nice morning's birding.
Short-toed Eagle
As we were an hour from Narbonne and with me having a train to catch, we headed back and I bade farewell to Dominique.
In the three and a bit days I had in Languedoc, I believe I only scratched the surface and I think at least five days is required to do the area any justice. However, it was a good trip and Dominique was a helpful and affable companion. Thank you to Phillippa Benson for arranging his services.
The train journey back to Paris was as efficient as the one out, and I finished a bottle of red wine from the previous evening on the train with a tub of Pringles. Arriving in Paris in the mid evening, I asked a fellow passenger, which line went to Gare de Lyon. She was so impressed with my rubbish attempt at French, she not only answered in English, but pulled out a Metro ticket from her handbag!
It was raining when I checked into my hotel around the corner from the station and it was raining heavily when I awoke the next morning. After grabbing a couple of croissants, I boarded the Thalys international train to Amsterdam, which stops at Brussels and Rotterdam only and does the 315 mile trip in just under four hours. As a regular train traveller in the UK, I cannot resist a rant about our trains. We're so far behind Europe, it's pathetic. HS2 needs to be scrapped now, our trains re-nationalised and the money being wasted on HS2 ploughed into updating our currently decrepit system.
After a local train to Schagen and then a bus to Den Helder, I caught the 1pm ferry and was met by my good friend Ger Monterey on Texel. As ever, tourists enjoy through bread to the seagulls and this allowed me to get a few nice shots of birds hovering off the bow of the ship.
After a local train to Schagen and then a bus to Den Helder, I caught the 1pm ferry and was met by my good friend Ger Monterey on Texel. As ever, tourists enjoy through bread to the seagulls and this allowed me to get a few nice shots of birds hovering off the bow of the ship.
Lesser Black-backed Gull
As there was nothing major to go for, we meandered up the east coast, pausing on Ottersat, where a hundred godwits of both species were feeding in a field next to the road. It was a treat to see these birds together and in breeding plumage.
Along Stuifweg a Spoonbill was feeding right next to the car, along with a Greenshank that had decided to go for a swim.
Eurasian Spoonbill
After having a coffee with Ger and his partner Aafke, I said hello to Marc Plomp and Chris Galvin at the Bird Information Centre and then plonked myself on the tip of the old jetty that overlooks the Wadensee at the end of Kikkestraat. Here, more godwits were feeding quite close and with the super late afternoon light, I got some decent shots.
I had arranged to meet Wietze Janse at 6pm, who had booked a table at De Robbenjagger, so I made my way north, birding en route. Around the pool and marsh at Renvogelveldt I had nice views of a Meadow Pipit and a male Yellow Wagtail.
Along Stuifweg a Spoonbill was feeding right next to the car, along with a Greenshank that had decided to go for a swim.
Bar-tailed Godwit
Greenshank
After having a coffee with Ger and his partner Aafke, I said hello to Marc Plomp and Chris Galvin at the Bird Information Centre and then plonked myself on the tip of the old jetty that overlooks the Wadensee at the end of Kikkestraat. Here, more godwits were feeding quite close and with the super late afternoon light, I got some decent shots.
Bar-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Common Redshank
I had arranged to meet Wietze Janse at 6pm, who had booked a table at De Robbenjagger, so I made my way north, birding en route. Around the pool and marsh at Renvogelveldt I had nice views of a Meadow Pipit and a male Yellow Wagtail.
Meadow Pipit
Yellow Wagtail
Dotterel
Kestrel
It had been a long day, so after sharing a Famous Grouse with Ger, I turned in, ready for birding the next day.
After breakfast, I was picked up by Wietze and we parked at the north end of the island and walked around the area known as de Tuintjes, which can be good for migrants, although there was little passerine migration going on. However, it was a nice walk with a few trip ticks added to the list, including Northern Wheatear and Bluethroat, while commoner species like Stonechat, Linnet and Common Whitethroat were present in good numbers.
At de Robbenjager, I had my favourite - hake and chips. Hake is an under-rated fish in my opinion. It was popular from memory in my childhood in the 70s, so I don't know why it's so hard to come across now in the UK. To follow, I had the 'walking chocolate cake' which is actually the literal translation of the Dutch for chocolate fondant. I suppose it's because, if done right, the chocolate sauce walks out of the sponge - kind of.
An awesome Dutch pudding.
After dinner, we headed south to Oorsprongweg, where a trip of Dotterel were reported to be showing well. This was no exaggeration, as a total of 17 birds, mainly females were coming to within 10 metres of the car. These northern birds, which breed on mountain tops are such good value and it was a rare treat to see them so well. At the same site, a male Kestrel sat oblivious to our presence as Wietze wound down the window and we had some nice shots against the bright mid evening sun.
Dotterel
It had been a long day, so after sharing a Famous Grouse with Ger, I turned in, ready for birding the next day.
After breakfast, I was picked up by Wietze and we parked at the north end of the island and walked around the area known as de Tuintjes, which can be good for migrants, although there was little passerine migration going on. However, it was a nice walk with a few trip ticks added to the list, including Northern Wheatear and Bluethroat, while commoner species like Stonechat, Linnet and Common Whitethroat were present in good numbers.
Linnet
Stonechat
Hearing that a Wood Warbler was still showing well in the south of the island, we headed to a wooded area on Tureluur Pad, only to find that the bird was nowhere to be seen or heard.
However, a pleasant distraction was a Spotted Flycatcher, which was feeding next to the path and then Wietze had an alert for a Wryneck about 10 minutes walk into more open country with scattered bushes. There was another Northern Wheatear here and we were told that the Wryneck had just showed some way off in a clump of bushes about 70 metres away. After about 15 minutes the bird began to call and then perched out in the open, albeit more distantly.
We returned to the original spot where a Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-Moth Hemaris fuciformis, could be seen zipping around the Ragged Robin Lychnis flos-cuculi that lined a little stream.
I left Wietze to get better shots of the insect with his superior camera, and went to check out the Wood Warbler, which had re-appeared in the area where it had been reported the previous day. I got some fantastic views of the bird, even with the naked eye, but alas, getting the bird to stay put when the camera comes out as ever, was a different story and I got one record shot. Also at this spot was Lesser Redpoll and Short-toed Treecreeper.
Wood Warbler
Broad-bordered Bee-Hawkmoth
I was re-joined by Wietze, and he decided he would call it a day, after getting coffee and cake at de Robbenjagger. I said cheerio to my friend and then spent a pleasant few hours walking around de Cocksdorp, before catching my train back to Hoek van Holland and the overnight ferry to Harwich.
Turnstone
Trip List
