July 25, 2008
Final French fling
Last weekend I headed down to Montpellier for what will probably be my last visit to France in the near future. Much of the weekend was spent eating, drinking and sightseeing, sans scope or even binoculars. Nonetheless, we managed to see some interesting stuff. In the riverside town of Sauve, this Black Kite (Milan noir) flew over carrying a fish.
A Grey Wagtail (Bergeronnette des ruisseaux) was foraging in a stream here.
As the day got hotter, we decided to drive up into the Cevennes, with a stop in the Gorges de la Jonte for vultures.
As usual Griffon Vultures (Vautour fauve) were easy to see overhead.
Also seen were a wheeling flock of Red-billed Chough (Crave a bec rouge) and best of all, a well-grown Black Vulture (Vautour moine) chick in a nest just opposite the vulture-watching station. The buddleia bush here was swarming with butterflies, including a Great Banded Grayling.
Screaming families of Common Swifts (Martinet noir) were filling their crops with the abundance of flying insects.
Next day we lunched at the Lac de Ceceles, where this young Sylvia warbler was foraging in bushes beside our table. I assume it was a young Subalpine (Fauvette passerinette), but would welcome second opinions...
Many interesting insects were seen here. The male Southern Demoiselle has a dusky pink body, but it wasn't until this one started to flick its wings and raise its abdomen that I noticed the brilliant pink patch at the tip.
This Southern Swallowtail had lost one of its tails.
I took several photos of this blue butterfly to look up in the books later, and after leafing through several plates of the Collins Guide came to the conclusion that it was the same Common Blue that I see in the UK all the time!
No ladybirds were noted on this trip, but this ladybird mimic was locally abundant.
The next morning I returned to the source of the Lez, where I'd previously located a Golden Oriole nest. The youngsters have now fledged and the birds were relatively easy to see, sunning themselves in the early morning light and calling frequently.
The male with a large cricket, or perhaps one of the many cicadas which were buzzing at the same spot.
Several Rollers were about, but remained generally elusive in the canopy.
The afternoon was spent sightseeing around Arles and Aigues Mortes, and our route just happened (ahem) to take us past the Etang de Scamandre and along the edge of the Camargue. Drive-by birds included all 3 egrets, 2 Squacco Herons (Crabier chevelu), Purple Heron (Heron pourpre), Bee-eaters (Guepier d'Europe) and Gull-billed Terns (Sterne hansel), but the only species I managed to photograph was a White Stork (Cigogne blanche) at the nest.
Two years living there and umpteen return visits since brings my French bird list to 317, but with many localised breeders still to see I dare say I'll be back. A la prochaine, alors!
Posted by rjhall at July 25, 2008 12:02 PM