A Brit abroad

DIY and Camargue birding.

It's not often that I get to boast that I spent the best part of the weekend screwing! Andrew has just moved to a new unfurnished flat north of Montpellier, and injured his back in the process, so I was put in charge of assembling a dinner table and chairs, a coffee table, a desk, office and bedroom drawers, comfy chairs etc etc. In light of this, and having to endure Ikea on a Saturday, I was treated to a half-day's birding in the Camargue. Lots of Rollers (Rollier d'Europe) still adorned the wires by the roadside, but frustratingly never in a good place to pull off and photograph. Our late morning arrival in the north of the Camargue paid off with a close view of a thermalling Short-toed Eagle (Circaete Jean-le-Blanc).

After checking in at La Capelliere, we decided to head to Salin de Badon in light of several interesting reports. On the entrance trail we had good views of a female/imm Pied Flycatcher (Gobemouche noir) - about the only passerine we saw here! The majority of the bird activity was from one hide: this feeding flock of Spoonbills (Spatule blanche) immediately caught the eye.

Careful scanning amongst the mass of Spotted Redshanks (Chevalier arlequin) and smaller numbers of Black-tailed Godwit (Barge a queue noire) yielded this Marsh Sandpiper (Chevalier stagnatile). It spent most of its time asleep, only occasionally turning its head to allow us to admire its needle-thin bill.

A mediocre lunch in the town of Salin de Giraud was compensated for by the sight of thousands of shorebirds at the Baisse des 500 Francs. Distance and lighting made observation a little tricky, but it was great to see summer-plumaged Dunlins (Becasseau variable - believe it or not, a French tick!), a few moulting Curlew Sandpiper (Becasseau cocorli)...

and many Little Stints (Becasseau minute).

Heading on to the beach, we were treated to a bathing flock of Sandwich Terns (Sterne caugek)...

... which were happily joined by this immature Slender-billed Gull (Goeland railleur).

On the drive out we enjoyed the spectacle of a massive Caspian Tern (Sterne caspienne) fishing by the roadside - a nice reward for a weekend of hard labour!

Posted by rjhall at September 12, 2006 7:29 AM