I had an absolutely fantastic day today despite the promise of that happening being very small.  The reason was the weather forecast was bloody awful, but it seems our gallic cousins weather forecasting prowess is not all that great.  I arrived at Lachaussée and the advancing wall of grey seemed to mean they had got it spot on, and indeed it absolutely pissed it down for about an hour.  Either side of the rain though the weather was ok and windy in the morning and then surprisingly the wind dropped and the sun came out in the afternoon.

The morning started well with a strong passage of Cranes evident.  This group was in fields near Lachaussée.

I estimate that this group contained about 500 birds.  By the time I had arrived at Lachaussée I had seen about 1000 birds.

First stop was the track down to the lake edge through the reeds.  As usual a large group of Lapwings had assembled opposite me, but with the water level now at it’s lowest they have plenty of choice where to go and small groups were scattered around everywhere.  As my luck generally warrants, pretty much the second I put up my tripod the rain started.  I almost gave up and went home in a huff but as I got in the car the rain seemed to ease off a bit.  I stopped by the roadside on the way back to the main entrance to the lake to look at a group of finches.  They were Chaffinches and as I had already had a few wheezing Brambling overhead I thought there would be some in the group.   Sure enough there was almost a 50/50 split between the two species including some cracking male Bramblings too, one of my favourite birds.  Views were great from the car as the gritted by the side of the road and walked around in the short vegetation in the field.

My spirits suitably lifted I headed to the main house at Lachaussée that overlooks the lake.  The Fete des Poissons was in full swing but another downpour kept people inside.  This soon stopped and I could dry off the optics and scan the lake.  There were large groups of Pochard on the water and a very large group of about 100 Snipe feeding on the mud.  4 Pintail were noteable.

I decided to pop back to the reeds again as I could see some smaller waders now in with the Lapwing.  A quick scan upon arriving revealed 6 Dunlin and a juv Little Stint.  A Golden Plover was also in amongst the Lapwing.  I then heard something chupping in the reeds and the sound was coming closer, almost immediately a bird with a long tail and short whirring wings landed in front of me, stopped chupping and started pinging, Bearded Tit, my first for the site and an excellent little bird.  It soon pinged off across the gap and I could hear it moving off.  A raptor that caught my eye as it drifted over the lake turned out to be a juv Marsh Harrier, a very late bird.  All this was with the evocative bugling sounds of Cranes in the background and from odd groups passing overhead.  A thin high whistle could well have been a Penduline Tit but I could not locate the bird that was calling from the reeds and it soon moved off in the opposite direction to the Bearded Tit, but I’m sure it was one!

I decided now to pop to Madine for a bit as I wanted to try out my new Canal+ tonight on Man U v Spurs so I only had an hour.  I went to the first small Etang by the holiday cottages and whacked my scope up near the reeds hoping to hear another Penduline.  This idea failed but the first duck I looked at on the water was swimming direcly away from me and it had a white arse!  It was an aythya too so my pulse quickened.  finally it turned sideways on to reveal a very dark brown back, peaked head, paler sided and a full white arse, it was a female or immature Feruginnous Duck, only my 3rd ever and my first in France.  I had looked for them without success all winter so to say I was very pleased would be an understatement.  Sadly my camera batteries died without me taking a pic of it.

The finale to the day was the Crane passage that then happened over Madine for about a half hour.  During this time, 2000 or so birds passed low right over me.  A fantastic end to the day that could get better if United can beat Spurs§

A bientot.

Finally, I have seen some Cranes!!  Two weeks after I saw a flock over Metz and thought, here we go, I have actually seen some more.  Only 7 mind, but there were plenty of others calling.  This was in the environs of Lachaussée this morning.

There is now a definate winter feeling in the air.  I have had to scrape ice off the car this week and it was below 5° this morning when I headed out into the wilds.

Lachaussée is now drained for the upcoming fetes des poissons so the number of birds there has rocketed although I seriously doubt I will see one of these there:

But you never know!!

As for birding in the real world, the build up of Great Egrets continues apace, they now outnumber Grey Herons!!  I estimated about 75 there today.

This was nothing compared to Madine later on!!

Meanwhile, back at Lachaussée, the acres of exposed mud have brought in the usual Lapwing flock, so far it is quite small at about 1000 birds, past reports note up to 5000 can be present and I have high hopes of finding a Sociable Plover!!  With them today were one Greenshank and 4 Dunlin.

Also noted here today was a Water Pipit, a few Brambling over with the Chaffinches were noteworthy as I did not see or hear a single one up until now in France and a surprise in the form of this female (immature??) Scaup that was keeping away from the Pochard flock that is starting to form now.

Next stop was Madine, but I did not last long here as it was bitterly cold with a biting wind that sapped my remaining enthusiasm.  Large numbers of Great Egrets were seen here along with flocks of Fieldfares and a few Redwings,and again one or two calling Bramblings over.  Yet again I drew a blank on Penduline Tit though.

Cheers

Bonjour a tous.  That time of year when they drain Etang de Lachaussée is upon us again.  They have just started this year or the water levels have been higher (which explains lack of Crakes) so there is a nice muddy edge exposed now around the reedbeds but not as extensive as last year.  It was still enough today to bring in a handful of Dunlin and a Ringed Plover in the small Lapwing flock.  A Greenshank was also present.

Just like last October, Great Egret numbers are really starting to increase now.  I estimated about 40 birds today.  Also a nice surprise was a Bittern which flew right across the lake and dropped out of sight into the sedges near a group of Crows that were then extremely curious about it, much to the Bittern’s disgust.

There is a real late autumn feel to the world here at the moment and that is reflected in the species around at the moment.  The annual Crane passage is up and running but I have not seen any birds locally yet, the weather up until yesterday was stunning for the last couple of weeks so whether they have been going straight through I don’t know.  I saw about 200 last Sunday over Metz.  I expected to see some today in the cold unpleasant weather but not a one.  Maybe tomorrow morning as I am determined to drag my lazy arse out of bed and try harder than today when a 1664 induced hangover forced me to retire early and seek paracetemol!

A bientot.