Birdwatching Holiday In Provence (13/06/15 - 20/06/15)

This was my first organised birdwatching/nature holiday, courtesy of Wildlife Provencal and arose from a yen to extend my experiences in the South of France of two years ago, when I saw lots of interesting things, but did not manage a couple of my key targets (bee eater and wallcreeper).  The outcome was that I have now seen 52 new species of bird that I had not encountered before departing for Valence by Eurostar!

To deal with them all would very long-winded and a straight list would be boring, so here are the day-by-day highlights of my stay:

Sunday 14th June - The Baronnies

Spot The Shrike

After a quick check for birds of prey, we stopped at a meadow on the way up to the hills.  It had been raining earlier but this kind of worked in our favour as many birds took to the treetops and I particularly enjoyed spotting several red-backed shrikes, some corn buntings (I'd forgotten about them!) and an ortolan bunting singing its head off.  Also got a good look at a white wagtail that should aid future identification. We took a walk to the top of a craggy hill where there were very good views of griffon vultures cruising around and our leader, Andrew Hargeaves was clearly a bit excited when they were joined by three egyptian vultures, which have been the subject of a reintroduction project.

I saw my first white letter hairstreak as we started back and liked the way short-toed eagles hover a bit like a kestrel.

Monday 15th June - Camargue

Almost as soon as we got there after a two hour car journey, we were overflown by a number of glossy ibis. I started to wonder how come I didn't see them in 2013, but it seems they are not usually

Clouded Yellow - note the stripe

so prominent.  I was then pleasingly first to catch sight of some bee-eaters zooming around some oilseed rape fields, the first of several sightings though I would have liked to see them closer up.  I could also identify with assistance a great reed warbler - thought it looked a bit big.

In the wetland we saw a night heron in flight (not sure if I did two years ago or not) and then a pair of little bittern, which were being disturbed by a French group, whose leader was playing tape recordings of their distress call!

Down near the sea there were numerous gulls and waders.  I don't really like gulls but I did enjoy the kentish plover scuttling along.  There was also a blue-headed yellow wagtail and numerous flamingo fly pasts.

Tuesday 16th June - Mont Ventoux and Gorge de La Nesque

Up to now I have thought of the nightingale as a rare bird but they are all over the place in Southern France, except that, until today, it wasn't possible to see one. I also had never heard of the rock sparrow but that was the first bird we encountered on our way.

Apollo Butterfly - We have lift off!

On the Ventoux it was a good day for multi-coloured birds (and numerous multi-coloured cyclists) as we spotted in succession cirl bunting, serin and citril finch, which is rare but locally common. Walking through the woods, we saw the apollo butterfly and a scarce swallowtail.

Activities today were curtailed by incoming rain, but not before we had enjoyed excellent views of a pair of golden eagles hunting as we enjoyed a picnic lunch.  There were a few eagle sightings during the week, but this was definitely the best.

Wednesday 17th June - The Crau

Another long journey down to the former estuary of the Rhone, which is now a massive dry and stony habitat attracting some unusual species, and it sort of got better as the day went on.

Andrew was interested that another pair of egyptian vultures turned up in this area.  By this time we had already seen a number of little bustards in the long grass.  Rollers were around and I took a liking to the calendra larks, having given larks fairly short shrift in this account so far.

Bird On The Rocks

At lunch time I needed to visit one of the few trees and, to the amusement of my companions, was
observed by a great spotted cuckoo sheltering nearby. Just before lunch we had startled some pin-tailed sandgrouse - not an easy bird to sight.

Moving on afterwards it got busier. There were more larks of various kinds, some good sightings of red-legged falcons and a colony of lesser kestrels as well as a hoopoe.  Many birds were settling on the piles of stones that are all over the Crau, erected in wartime to prevent enemy aircraft landings.

Thursday 18th June - Vercours National Park

Heading east for a more alpine typography, we stopped again in the gorge we first visited to check for an Eagle Owl. Chunky and very flecked, he was clearly visible up in a small cavern.

Alpine Meadow

The trip to the Vercours was a little marred by the closure of one of the roads but we did see quite a few birds and some lovely alpine scenery.  On the way we stopped at a site where wrynecks could be heard, but were not showing themselves until I saw one briefly in a dead part of a tree. I saw a tree pipit for the first time later and was surprised at the way all the markings were concentrated on its chest, looking almost like a stripe.  We also managed to clarify that a butterfly we have seen a few times was a great banded grayling.

In the evening the plan was to revisit the eagle owl and watch him hunt.  He was soon spotted on the top of a crag and duly took off - but in the opposite direction.  So we then spent a half hour or so trying to track him down again, but to no avail.  Instead we headed back to St. Jalle and combed the back roads for nightjars, but only managed to hear one.

Friday 19th June - Baronnies and Eastwards

Short-toed Eagle

We stopped at an area of old shale workings and got a very good view of a short-tailed eagle, which may have been a juvenile waiting to be fed.  I got a clear view of a turtle dove and also a much better one of a wryneck, who hung around for a while unlike yesterday. We had a go at tracking down some rock thrushes (heard on Tuesday) but without success.

Over lunch we finally got a sighting of a couple of chough down on the meadow when we had been looking for them up in the rocks.  During this time, I heard what I thought was a mosquito but it turned out to be a funny little thing called a bee fly.  It looks like a minute carder bee with a thin probiscus it uses to probe flowers like a hummingbird.

With the winds rising considerably, it took more trouble than expected to locate a southern great grey shrike sheltering low down in a bush - the last new sighting of the trip.

Other First-time Sightings

Reverting to listmaking, here are the other first time sightings which for one reason or other are not mentioned above:

Little grebe, black vulture, mediterranean gull, slender-billed gull, black headed gull, yellow-legged gull, gull-billed tern, common tern, little tern, whiskered tern, black tern, alpine swift, short-toed lark, crested lark, woodlark, tawny pipit, fan-tailed warbler, melodious warbler, subalpine warbler, marsh fritillary, chamois

N.b. This exludes all sightings of birds etc. I had seen before!

Would-be first sightings also heard but not seen (by me anyway) were:

Green woodpecker, spectacled warbler, sardinian warbler, bonelli's warbler

There was a brief sighting of a golden oriole, which I neither saw nor heard.

Overall

I knew I would see a lot of birds on this trip without forming an idea of how many, and did.  The only real miss was the wallcreeper but I got an appreciation of just how difficult they are to see. Otherwise we did not see any of the smaller owls.  Scope owls are often heard in the village, but seemingly have relocated.

Some of the sightings are firmly lodged in my memory, whereas others aren't and I would struggle to recognise those birds on seeing them again.

I was often astounded by Andrew's and others' ability to identify birds at distance, both by sight and hearing. It made me realise that my abilities lag behind in comparison and, as I suspected, I need to be with people of greater expertise if they are to improve.

I had wondered how I would feel about six days' consecutive birdwatching and, brilliant as it was, much more would have been wearing.  What surpised me was how tired I felt during the week.  A lot was down to long days and fresh air, but I think that the strain of actively looking for birds and using binoculars for several hours a day was a major factor.

More Photos

Better ones actually, mostly courtesy of Andrew and Cyndy...

Egyptian Vulture Falcon in Flight More photos to follow soon - watch this space!

Red-footed Falcon Sandwich terns