Return to the Alps - 5th to 13th September 2020

After leaving the Ile de Re we headed across France and back to my brother Mike's house at Morillon in the French Alps.

As a regular but infrequent visitor to the Haute Giffre area of the French Alps it not always easy to establish the distribution of individual species. One species pair I have struggled with are the Marsh and Willow Tits so when one of the pair took to visiting his garden feeders I was keen to see which species it was.

Marsh Tit - nominate race palustris

The lack of pale edges to the secondaries and white cheek fading to brown at the rear plus the long outer tail feather looking equal in length to the central feathers are all features of Marsh Tit. It's not very clear on this photo but the cutting edge of the bill has a pale edge towards its base which is another feature of Marsh Tit. Although I have seen Willow Tit in the valley bottom I come across them more regularly at higher altitude in the coniferous woodlands but can't recall having seen Marsh Tit in this habitat.

Marsh Tit - giving a better view of the pale edged bill and again the brown rear cheek

Willow Tit - race montanus with dark edged bill and pale secondary edges but showing some brown on the rear cheek and shorter outer tail feathers

Of course if you can hear the birds calling or singing that is a big help.

I always visit the Lac de Flerier and was placed to see a pair of juvenile Black Terns which are scarce passage migrants here.

Black Tern - juvenile

On the 11th September I walked up to the Col de la Golese a migration watch point just a few km SW of the more well known Col de Bretolet.

A Golden Eagle circling high overhead was a good start and was briefly joined by a Common Buzzard which made a good size comparison.

Golden Eagle immature with Buzzard (lower photo)

As I approached the col I could see several Griffon Vulture in the distance at the northern end of the Col de Cou, although they were about 3km away they could be readily identified and after some time a group drifted towards me. I counted 22 but I think there were quite a few more as some were landing on the peak. It's the most I've ever recorded in the area.

Griffon Vultures

Stood on the col I could hear Black Grouse calling in the distance as well as at least 2 Black Woodpecker plus several Great Spotted and Green. A few Coal Tit were also crossing the col, I counted 18, along with 4 Crested Tit  and I saw a large group of what appeared to be mainly House Martin flying south which I estimated at 600 birds. On the ground I saw several Northern Wheatear and Black Redstart and at least three Citril Finch. 

The highlight though was a group of European Bee-eater, a species I have not previously recorded in the valley. I counted 15 as they flew rapidly south over the col calling. They were almost impossible to photograph but I managed one shot that is just about identifiable as a bee-eater.

European Bee-eater

Mike told me of several Bearded Vultures that were being seen regularly at the Col de Cenise in the Bargy mountains. I've seen them many times on the other side of the mountains at the Col de Colombiere but the Col de Cenise was a new area for me.

Interestingly this is where the Bearded Vulture that visited the UK in 2020 was born so it had travelled a long way as a youngster and was perhaps now back in this area.

We walked up the col on 12th September with no sign of any vultures. Eventually my brother and his wife, Christine separated from us to try a different area. We had barely been separated for 5 minutes when Pam and I picked up a Bearded Vulture gaining height from below the rock face in the mountains. It was a long way off but was coming a bit closer when an adult appeared very close and crossed the col giving fantastic views. Whilst watching this bird the second bird, an immature also came over us. I couldn't believe our luck. It shows how easily these birds can pass by unnoticed when we met up with my brother again and they had seen nothing.

Bearded Vulture - adult

Bearded Vulture - immature perhaps 3rd calendar year with two ages of flight feathers

Bearded Vulture - the immature rising out of the valley

Bargy Mountains from the Col de Cenise

On our last couple of days I drove up to Samoens 1600 where the star bird was a Spotted Nutcracker a bird which I see on most visits but usually just one or two birds.

Spotted Nutcracker

Ile de Re - 27th Sep '21 to 3rd Sept '21

 After all the on/off COVID restrictions in both the UK and Europe Pam and I finally got away to France at the end of August. Following our usual overnight stay at Camping St Louis in Autingues we headed for the Atlantic coast arriving at Eden Villages Camping L'Ocean on the Ile de Re on the 27th.

The Isle de Re is located about mid-way down the French Atlantic coast and is connected to La Rochelle by a spectacular road bridge which cost €16 for a car but there is no toll on leaving the island. Once on the island a bike is the perfect way to get around as there are cycle tracks all over the island.

Black-winged Stilt

The L'Ocean camp site was an ideal base and we spent most of our time exploring the salt pans and marshes west of the camp site but did make a couple of trips to the main town Saint Martin de Re.

Ile de Re: 1 Camp site, 2 Lilleau des Niges Reserve, 3 Phare des Baleines, 4 Tidal mudflats

We recorded 110 species during our week on the island with a good mix of resident and migrant species. All our records are on eBird under Isle de Re. For some reason the subsidiary sites on eBird for Isle de Re don't link to an island total so I entered everything as Ile de Re. 

There are some regular French birders who also put records on eBird so it's fairly easy to get an idea of what occurs where and when.

Salt pans close to Ars en Re

The campsite itself held a variable number of passerines with Firecrests, Pied Flycatchers and up to 3 Melodious Warblers.

Firecrest - male looking rather worn

Melodious Warbler

A couple of Black Redstart frequented a restaurant on the Chemin du Jardin du Boutillon. A small wooded area close to the coastal mud flats at 46.2073 -1.4915 held more migrants with Common Redstarts and several Common Nightingale giving their distinctive, autumnal croaks and whistles. As usual they were a lot easier to hear than see!

Common Nightingale

There was a small passage of birds of prey with Honey Buzzards on 29th (2), 1st (6), and 2nd (2). I also saw a Short-toed Eagle on 1st September which is close to the northern edge of its range in France and must be scarce on the Ile de Re and an Osprey flying south over the sea on the same day. Single Hobby were seen most days with three on the 1st.

Honey Buzzard - adult male top and juv 

Osprey -juv

Eurasian Hobby - adult

Marsh Harrier - male with Belgian wing tags

Living inland I was interested to see what gulls were present on the island. Around the salt pans there were individual Yellow-legged Gulls with a maximum of 10 counted. I also encountered several groups of Lesser Black-backed Gulls of the western race graellsii and up to 40 Herring Gull. Great Black-backed Gulls were seen in single figures and appear to be resident birds from the reports on colour ringed birds I saw. I counted 94 Mediterranean Gulls which favoured a small pool by the harbour at Ars en Re. Several birds were colour ringed and whilst some had been ringed in France two were from Hungary.

Yellow-legged Gull with darvic ring

Mediterranean Gull with French colour ring

The various salt pans held a few waders, particularly at high tide but there were many hundreds more out on the mud flats which must be an important feeding area for migrant shorebirds. 

I counted over 800 Black-tailed Godwits from a photo when they were disturbed over the mud flats but I only saw two Bar-tailed Godwits.

Black-tailed Godwits

There were many hundreds of Ringed Plover but I was unable to find any Kentish Plover which are here in small numbers. Amongst the Dunlin I found a couple of Little Stint and Greenshank were seen or heard every day.

I was pleased to see migrating Turtle Doves most days but three was my best day count. News this year that France has now banned the hunting of Turtle Doves is very welcome and gives some hope for the species future.

Turtle Dove

On 31st August I noted 47 Spoonbill on the mud flats in area 4 which increased to 58 the following day. As I was watching a group of 30 the following day they all took flight and flew directly over my head which was quite a spectacle. From photos it looked like at least one bird had a metal ring and several birds had coloured Darvic rings (see photo below).

Eurasian Spoonbill

Eurasian Spoonbill - lower bird with coloured leg ring

I only made one trip to the Phare des Baleines lighthouse area which is the best place for sea watching. I managed Gannet and several Sandwich and Common Terns with Sanderling and Turnstone on the beach. There were more Pied Flycatchers in the wooded areas and I had several Serin and calling Cetti's Warblers nearby.

Phare des Baleines

Since returning from the Ile de Re I have found a detailed write up by the Pajot family on the Cloud Birders web site of a year spent on the Ile de Re where they saw as many species as possible travelling on foot or by bike. They managed 250 species with a good selection of rarities so its well worth a look if you are thinking of visiting the island.