Contributors

Saturday 15 March 2014

Off to France Thursday 13th March 2014



 
 


 
Thursday 13th March Chris, Christine, Bob and I took the 7.50 Eurotunnel and within an hour and a half we were in Crecy Forest which was alive with Bird song mainly Nuthatches. Spending 3 hours at various sites we had brief views of what we think were Middle Spotted and Black Woodpeckers, I also managed to get onto a Short Toed Treecreeper but the others didn't.
 
Our next stop was at Marquenterre 
 
Avocet

Spoonbills - 5 of the 40 plus seen

Close up Teal
In the Heronry Spoonbills were building nests and the Storks repairing theirs as they use them all year round as a roost.


After a lot of searching we found the pair of Night Herons hidden amoungst a Willow
Night Heron
There were still a few Whooper Swans that hadn't moved north despite the warm weather.
Whooper Swan
Staying over night at Mers Les Bains near Le Treport the plan was to visit the pools at Ault, however with thick fog along the coast we heade back to Crecy Forest but other than the common birds no Woodpeckers were seen or heard. Next we went to Sailly Bray a bit early for Bluethroats but we a couple of great White Egrets, Marsh Harrier, Med gulls, Cettis, and we all had good views of another Short-toed Treecreeper.

Next stop was at Stella Plage near Cucq for Crested Lark - this was a bit of a gamble as there were miles of sand dunes but once leaving the car park in the first dune a bird was spotted in the marrum grass. 
It soon disappeared but Christine relocated it and we all got a reasonable look but when it flew to the beach and then onto the car park we were happy it was a Crested Lark much larger than our skylark
Crested Lark

Crested Lark



A good couple of days with warm weather and good company

No comments:

Post a Comment