Booted Eagle yesterday near Ushant or Ouessant south of the Scillies!

[BBREE]

Hi there,
Yesterday Thursday a juvenile pale phase Booted Eagle definite was spotted on Ile de Sein near Ouessant also known as Ushant where Booted has previously been reported like Short-toed Eagle and Pallid Harriers.In fact STE and Pallid regularly summer in reasonable numbers in northwestern Brittany in the Monts d'Arree and hundreds of pairs of Booted breed in the Foret d'Orleans area west of Paris not far away as the Eagle flies in northern France.In the Loire estuary a Bonellis has just been reported so raptor watchers on Scilly or the south coast of the UK keep those eyes peeled as they are sure to turn up in the UK sometime these interesting Continental raptors!Bertram.E.B.BREE CNRS Mission Rapaces MNHN CRBPO France.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7LnU5Woro4W3McSgquWSN859sOA NANTES (AFP) — Des systèmes de production d'électricité à partir de la houle seront testés à partir de juillet 2010 au large du Croisic (Loire-Atlantique), sur un site d'essais en mer qui sera une première en France. Les partenaires du projet, Etat, collectivité locale et CNRS notamment, ont présenté à Nantes une "ferme expérimentale" qui sera installée sur le plateau du Four à une quinzaine de kilomètres de la côte. La zone (baptisée SEM-REV) va être équipée d'instruments de mesures et d'un câble électrique permettant de relier les systèmes expérimentaux au réseau électrique. Un local sera construit sur la côte pour contrôler et interpréter les données de la "ferme expérimentale". Longtemps restée à l'état de théorie, l'houlomotricité a connu ces dernières années un véritable engouement en Europe, leader dans cette recherche au niveau mondial. Elle vient s'ajouter aux autres systèmes permettant de récupérer l'énergie de la mer, comme l'usine marémotrice (barrage de la Rance) ou les hydroliennes (récupération des courants des marées) sur le site de Paimpol-île de Bréhat en Bretagne. Pour l'instant, un seul site d'expérimentation existe actuellement en Europe, au nord de l'Ecosse, appelé EMEC (European marine energy center). Mais cette zone est "saturée pour longtemps" alors que "on a besoin de sites d'essais pour la mise au point de ces machines", relève Alain Clément, chercheur au laboratoire de mécanique des fluides de l'Ecole centrale de Nantes et membre du réseau européen de recherche et développement de l'énergie houlomotrice. L'équipe d'Alain Clément a conçu l'un des systèmes qui sera testé sur le site du Four, qui pourra accueillir cinq à six prototypes en même temps. Le Searev (Système autonome électrique de récupération de l'énergie des vagues), développé depuis 2002 est une large bouée de la taille d'un chalutier (25 mètres de long sur 15 mètres de large) qui devrait produire entre 500 et 1.000 kilowatts, selon Alain Clément. A l'intérieur est installé un système de récupération du mouvement de la houle par pendule, qui entraîne un moteur hydraulique puis un générateur. Un ordinateur embarqué optimise la production d'électricité. Un kilomètre carré de mer équipé de telles machines devrait permettre de produire "7 à 8 mégawatts" d'alimenter en électricité "7.000 à 8.000 foyers, hors chauffage", a précisé Alain Clément. Et déjà au-delà de la phase expérimentale, la construction d'une ferme houlomotrice au large de l'île d'Yeu (Vendée) a été évoquée dès jeudi par la préfecture des Pays de la Loire et la région, qui vont financer à hauteur de 5,5 millions d'euros le SEM-REV dans le cadre d'un contrat de projet Etat-Région 2007-2013. Le seul projet d'énergie houlomotrice européen à être passé au stade industriel est le Pelamis, produit par Ocean Power Delivery (OPD). Ce système écossais constitué de quatre cylindres reliés par des articulations qui captent l'énergie de la houle a été mis en service il y a quelques jours au large du Portugal.

[BBREE]

Hi there,
On Ile de Sein the juvenile pale phase Booted Eagle is still present and also a Yellow-browed Warbler was caught and ringed.On Ushant a Short-toed Eagle was showing well as was a host of rare migrants including numerous Yellow-browed Warblers and the usual haul of birds like Richards Pipit plus a good fall of Pied Flycatchers and other interesting passerines.In Deux Sevres on the wet coast of France a Black-shouldered Kite was well viewed with photos on the surfbirds website.
In the Vilaine estuary in Brittany at least fifty Sabine's Gull were present with
a good selection of otherr interesting seabirds. A Frigatebird was noted off the north coast of Jersey to add to the selection of seabirds present in the area.On the 5th October 2008 is a seabird watch down the Channel coasts of France will make it worth comparing with passage on the day from UK waters as well as off the Channel Isles and from ferries offshore.Worth keeping in contact with Continental birders as thousands of Coal tits are funneling towards the UK at the Somme estuary area as are big numbers of Great Egrets with some Cattle Egrets and Spoonbills. Even a White Pelican has been roaming around the French mainland which have recently bred at the Loire estuary wetland reserve at Grand Lieu near Nantes where a pair laid eggs on the reserve which has a thousand Cattle Egrets, 200 pairs of Purple Herons, 200 pairs of Great Egrets and a good colony of Spoonbills which also breed in the Briere wetland nearby Nantes on the Loire estaury. The Briere has a superb reedbeed area with a hundred pairs of breeding Spoonbills, 200 pairs of Black Terns in summer alongside Whiskered Tern which breed in numbers exceeding a thousand pairs at Grand Lieu reseve nearby which will soon be opened as the newest and best European wetland birding reserve at the new centre Maison Guerlain after the perfume magnate benefactor who purchased the wetaland reserve centre when I was a youngster and stayed with him and his celebrated guests who were passionate about the largest plain lake in France the Lac du Grand Lieu near Nantes home to all nine breeding species of ardeaidae in Europe plus rare migrants like large numbers of Aquatic Warblers and wintering White-tailed Sea Eagle and six million starling which roost togetherr here a superb sight swirling at dusk over tens of thousands of wildfowl on the lac run by the SNPN who also run the Carmargue wetalnd birding reserve in the Rhone delta and who hope to make a new nature reserrve near Monaco in the Plaine des Maures home to Heerman's Tortoise and large numbers of Shrikes. Near the Lac du Grand Lieu is the Marais Breton with a reserve centre the Ecomusee du Daviaud worth a visit to see the sixty pairs of breeeding Montagus Harriers, Tawny Pipits breeding, Elegant Tern, Ruff, snipe, Stilts, Hoopoes, and Short-eared Owls which breed here. Noirmoutier nearby has a superb birding centre at Mullembourg which usually has summering Slender-billed Gulls, seabirds, waders and rare migrants from the south in spring.Ile d'Yeu nearby is also a superb hotspot for migrants on this prety islands visited by many superstars from the silver screen in particular Hollywood stars. The Briere has the birding reserve of Rose near Ile de Fedrun interpretaion centre for the three thousand thatched cottages in this wetland paradise for breeding Bluethroats, Stilts and Savis, Fan-tailed and Cettis Warblers which call as booming Bittern call in the background in April whn the reserve at Rose haas its Pierre Constant bird reserve six bird hides used by birders who come to comee eye to eye with the Bluethroats of the smallest race 'namnetum' which I was lucky enough to ring on my CNRS CRBPO course ringing near hee recently.The Terre du Sel centre in the Guerrande salt marshes nearby does birding walks throughout the year if you contact them they will charge you a small fee for superb birding outings around the salt pans where when I was there there were bird like Stilt Sandpiper, hundreds of Whimbrel and Stilts and hundreds of Avocets plus hundreds of Great Egrets and Spoonbills. A sight like a vision of heaven in the warmth of a microclimate similar to the south of France in a very rich area for birding.A base in the SEPNB gite of Bois Joubert home to resident Hoopoes, Golden Orioles and Nightingales is great aat a cost of a mere twelve Euroa a night with hot showers and great huge kitchens plus nature walks and eco friendly food including goats cheese and homemade bread and patisseries which you can learn to cook yourself from the resident baker and cook who will take you on nature walks also and you can go hose rinding here with the young lady who runs the gite north of Montoir de Bretagne oposite the Briere in secluded countryside superb for nature walks around the surrounding marshes with young Coline the lady who looks afterr the gite and the horses on it. A pair of White Storks sit on theirnest near the road near here.Hope you may see it for yourself sometime as well as the wildlifee of Brittany nearby where in summer at the Monts d'Arrree on the north-western tip of France summer allows enjoyment of summmering Short-toed Eagles here together with breeding Curlews and some summering raptors like Pallid Harriers which oftern turn up a littledisorientatedhere as on Ushant where even Lesser Kestrel has turned up.
Black-shoulderd Kite even turn up sometimes in northern France around here and Booted Eagles are often turn up along northern France just southof the UK. Booted Eagles breed in hundreds just west of Paris in the Foret d'Orleans and are sure to cross to the UK as their numbers contiunue to rise in the coming years with better protection from raptor preservation organisations in France like FIR and Mission Rapaces.One to look out for soon in the years to come!