A Brit abroad

Etang de St-Hubert/Rambouillet

This morning I joined Romain Lorrilliere and his girlfriend Sandrine for a walk around the Etang (Lake) de Saint-Hubert and the Foret de Rambouillet. The omens were good when I saw a vocal male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Pic epeichette) as I left the flat! Several migrants were seen or heard around St-Hubert including the three common hirundines (les trois hirondelles), Cetti's and Sedge Warbler (Bouscarle de Cetti et Phragmite des joncs), Nightingale (Rossignol philomele) and Cuckoo (Coucou gris). I was extremely pleased to hear the last two after an absence of three years. Among the waterbirds, the most interesting sighting was this distant Great White Egret (Grande Aigrette) standing next to one of many Grey Herons (Heron cendre).

We then drove to an open area of the Foret de Rambouillet surrounded by conifers - it reminded me very much of the Brecks or parts of the New Forest in England.

The good birding started from the car park - the first bird we heard was a singing Wryneck (Torcol fourmilier), my 7th species of woodpecker in France this year! Soon after we had a couple of flyover Crossbills (Bec-croise des sapins) and the first of many Tree Pipits (Pipit des arbres). While the few Woodlark (Alouette lulu) we saw were silent, the Tree Pipits were in full song, and doing their 'parachuting' display flight.

Willow Warblers (Pouillot fitis) were abundant, and good numbers of Linnets (Linotte melodieuse) and Stonechats (Tarier patre) were also present. A single Brambling (Pinson du Nord) was on the late side. On the way back to the car, we had great views of a/the Wryneck, although by the time I had my scope set up, distance and heat haze hampered any chance of a decent shot.

Back at home, I decided to put my newly-fixed oven through its paces by roasting some potatoes, red onion, courgette and aubergine. Here are the results:

It seems I wasn't the only one who thought the roasted veggies smelled good...

Posted by rjhall at April 9, 2006 3:48 PM