Canal du Midi Part 3

On the way back from an early visit to the market at Narbonne with some local honey, I encountered a chap fishing in the Canal de la Robine for zander with a spinner.

Today's run to Beziers involved various detours, one of which was self-inflicted as I took a wrong turning. A planned one took me past an old abbey which I wasn't much impressed with but I did see a lesser kestrel (apparently they nest on the abbey) hovering nicely above some scrub on the way, before it moved off to become a silhouette on the horizon.  It's frankly astounding to think that this was the only bird of prey the whole week. I checked the abbey for ravens but only saw crows and jackdaws, just like home.  One or two other birds were seen briefly but, as on other days, were quick to take flight.

Finally rejoining the Canal du Midi at Capestang, the weather was windy and the scenery much of a muchness.  There were no butterflies I hadn't already seen though this clouded yellow (below) is pretty interesting in comparison to the paler version seen on the first day.  Stopping at one point to feed the tiddlers with breadcrumbs, a couple of dragonflies turned up and I was particularly impressed by one that turned out to be a violet dropwing.

Clouded Yellow

Violet Dropwing

The last stretch to Beziers was quite tiring and the excellent ice cream sundae I found at one of the canalside harbours held my attention more than any further wildlife events.

Canal du Midi near Beziers

The last day of cycling was a tour almost to the canal estuary, and then through marshland areas near the western tip of the Camargue.  Flamingos and all kinds of birdlife were promised in the tour guide, but the extremely dry weather meant that results were massively disappointing.  After some lovely scenery along the canal (and a few mallards) the nearby marais de l'Estagnol was pretty much a misnomer as it had pretty much completely dried up and there was little to see beyond a couple of white horses.

Mallow Skipper

The area is a mixture of marshes and prosperous-looking seaside resorts.  Turning onto a cycle track near Portiragnes Plage, I did see something interesting - a mallow skipper, the only skipper I encountered on the whole trip, flying around some plants at the edge of a reed bed.

Grey Heron

The track eventually led up the side of the Lac de la Grande Maire, a massive inland lake which also proved to be totally dried out for a good part of its length. At the wider end there were a few gulls and I thought I might have spotted a couple of purple heron on the far side.  But they turned out to be (rather large) juvenile grey heron.

This was nothing like the experience I had cycling down the Navigation Channel during my holiday based in Arles in 2013. However that was in June rather than September.

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't spent time scouring the supposed marshes and headed straight for the conservation area at Les Orpellieres.  Here there was a good spread of vegetation and signs of butterflies and birds to add to the little egret I spotted in passing through.  It looked a great place to wander around on foot and the bottom end of the Orb river is also attractive.  There were several sizeable fish just beneath the surface and several fishermen trying their luck.

Unfortunately I was by then somewhat behind schedule and needed something to eat before heading back to Beziers to return the cycle I had hired.

Black Redstart

I spent an extra day in Beziers which turned out to be pretty rainy.  During a brief visit to the Parc des Poetes, I noticed a flock of sparrows working the trees that didn't seem quite the same as usual.  Wondering if they were spanish sparrows, I returned in the evening with camera but of course they were no longer around.  However there were some black redstarts messing around on the paths, and unlike the other small birds I encountered, they weren't particularly shy. They were also a good deal lighter in colour than examples I have seen in Germany

Canal du Midi - Part 2

The third day on the road was devoted to a round trip to Minerve, one of the oldest villages in France.  However I was at least as much interested in the huge gorge that stretches out to the West, as I reckoned there was a chance of seeing some wallcreepers, a bird I have wanted to see for a long time but isn't too predictable and varies its nesting sites.

It wasn't to be.  In spite of extensive work with the binoculars, all I could see apart from a few crows and other hirondelles was a good number of crag martins flying around the gorge, plus a fleeting sighting of a red-rumped swallow.  Notably the River Cesse was totally dry, so one suspects this may have had an effect. The absence of birds of prey was disappointing as some quite exotic species have been seen here in the past.

I got a bit distracted into looking at butterflies again in a flower meadow, where a wall brown, a grayling and another brown argus were to be seen.  The latter is interesting in that the black spot on the upper wing is encircled by white. This is normally a characterstic of the French version of Spanish Argus but other aspects of this worn specimen don't suggest any further similarity.

Wall Brown

Grayling

Brown Argus

After still not seeing interesting birdlife in Minerve itself, I managed to catch up with a couple of chalkhill blues 'at it' by the roadside. Again there are several subspecies to choose from but I think they were pretty much the standard offering.

Chalkhill Blue

After that the wind got up and I headed for the swimming pool in the B&B at Olonzac.

Long-tailed Blues

Day 3 was another canalside run through to Narbonne, some delightful scenery breaking up some of the more monotonous sections. Again the butterflies got active once the afternoon was underway, and there were a few nice common blues on the hook in the Canal just past Paraza. Then, on passing a lock just after Le Somail, I noticed some faster flying blues homing in on a single plant. They didn't settle very long so photographs were hard to get but the distinctive underwing pattern shows that they were long-tailed blues - even though one was hard put to see the actual tail, which is basically just a bristle.

A little later I managed to identify at least one bird, a black redstart.  It was surprising not to see more of them in the wine producing areas which are common around here.

Riding past a woodland area next top the canal, I then caught sight of a swallowtail which didn't settle.  At first I thought it wasn't the stadard variety as it was flying rather delicately.  Past the Port de la Robine, I followed another for ages without it settling before I finally got a shot of a delapidated specimen, clearly a standard swallowtail.  Something similar was happening with coppers, as I thought, but when I got one to settle on the path, also just past the Port de la Robine, it proved to be, as far as I could determine, a sparsely marked spotted fritillary.

Swallowtail

Spotted Fritillary

Following a cross country diversion away from the Canal, I managed to see a couple of decent-sized fish, probably dace or carp but they bolted under a bridge as soon as they saw me and couldn't be induced to re-emerge by flicking a few sundry titbits into the water.

Canal du Midi Part 1

A good deal of time has elapsed since the last post, the reason being that I have spent a long time trying to verify the butterfly sightings on my latest trip abroad, a cycle tour along the canal du midi from Carcassonne to Beziers. I've actually been back just over a week.

Overall, the most surprising thing about the trip was the extent to which butterflies dominated the nature sightings. Apart from the hirondelles, there were remarkably few birds around and other cyclists said the same.  There were scarcely any ducks until nearing the Mediterranean and the only land animals I saw were a couple of goats playing on a woodpile in a timber yard.  I wondered whether the hot, dry weather was at least partly responsible.

The first day was a circle to the Lac de la Cavayere.  All the streams leading into the lake had totally dried out and I gradually worked out that the best place to look was the point where the streams flowed (or didn't flow) into the lake as there was here at least enough moisture to sustain some flowers.

This is where identification problems begun and it's possible I have made the odd error. I was quickly able to identify wood grayling*, clouded yellow, silver-washed fritillary, wood white, white admiral, bath white, spotted fritillary and brown argus. However I encountered some very bright blues that were larger than common blues (also present) and didn't open their wings on settling.  My thinking is that they may have been adonis blues although they lacked the white markings on the underside of the bottom wing.  One I photographed I suspected was more likely to be a chalkhill blue.

Apart from a heron, I did get a quick sighting of a firecrest at the far side of the lake.

Bath White	Black Tailed Skimmer	Adonis Blue?
Chalkhill Blue?	Brown Argus	Clouded yellow**
Meadow Brown***	Wood Grayling*	Silver-washed Fritillary
White Admiral

Spotted fritillary

Wood White

Notes:

* Apparently it is however impossible to distinguish wood grayling from rock grayling without detailed examination

**  The pale form opens up the possibility of Berger's Clouded Yellow or Paled Clouded Yellow, both of which are present at this time of year.

*** Not quite the same as our own version - probably the hispula form

The second day was a trip to Homps along the Canal du Midi and started in light rain - hopefully a bit of relief for the forest fire that could be seen burning in the hills behind Carcassonne.  On the way out of the town there was a chap setting up to fish for carp with some large boilies and heavy tackle, unsurprisingly suggesting that there are large carp in the canal.  But I never at any stage saw them feeding or topping.

Apart from a few finches in a tree on the other side and butterflies already noted yesterday, the only sign of wildlife today was the large number of snails that were clinging to plant stalks along the bankside.

Sunday 1st September

Long-tailed tits have made a couple of further brief appearances on the feeders.  Disappointingly, the flowering of the buddleia I replanted after it collapsed in the side passage has only attracted a few whites.  The weather has been quite windy, so visits from painted ladies, speckled wood and others have been fly pasts.

Last Friday I did a slow ride along the Derwent to the gym and back.  The idea was to look out for some interesting areas that might provide sightings.  Perhaps it was a little too late in the year, but it produced distinctly limited success. Just after the cycle tracks split there was a good stand of thistle where there were half a dozen painted ladies nectaring. A little further downhill a several oaks have been planted, which might make it a good area for purple hairstreaks once they have grown a bit.

Stopping along the Derwent above the site of the Crowley dam, a kingfisher went by in a flash, notable for the fact I haven't seen one for a long time, probably several years.

This Friday the Naturewatch group went to Cresswell Pond, Druridge Pond and finished briefly at Hauxley Reserve. At Cresswell there were a few ruff though not in summer plumage and, in the distance, a number of scaup. Most birds were far away sheltering from the wind but some nearby lapwing occasionally demonstrated their flying skills. There was a suggestion of a lesser yellowlegs, but I doubt if this will be confirmed.  To me it looked like a sandpiper.

Tree sparrows - and company

We didn't stay long at Druridge where it was very exposed - but not before seeing some black-tailed godwit and a couple of massive red admirals sheltering in the nettles. At Hauxley there was a good number of tree sparrows visiting of feeders and a few gadwall visible from the cafe, at first confusing us by their dark appearance in the mixed light. I was pleased to be the first to spot a deceased yellow underwing moth, a little egret and a single meadow brown on tree foliage, the few other butterflies being speckled woods. From the west hide we could also see more gadwall, some shovelers nad some brightly coloured little grebe.

These were just the sighting that caught my attention.  There were several others.

Little Grebe

Large red admiral