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| The Camargue from Les Baux |
I booked a trip once again with Naturetrek to visit The Camargue in France mainly to see a European Roller as after 13 years of birding it had eluded me, and it wasn't to be as easy as I had expected.
Leaving home on Thursday 4th May at 3.00pm I drove to Heathrow airport connecting with the M25 and after a stop start journey arrived at the Terminal 2/3 car park 2.45 hours later. Eventually finding a parking space the bus transfer took me to Terminal 3 where I then took the free Elizabeth Line shuttle to Terminal 4.
From the lift off the platform into departures I walked the covered walkway direct to the Premier Inn and checked in.
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| Premier Inn Room |
Having stayed in several across the country when waking up have to think where am I and where am I going. An evening meal a good nights sleep and a full English Breakfast I got the train back to Terminal 3 on Friday 5th and checked into British Airways for my 10.40 flight to Marseilles.
Taking off about 20 minutes late we arrived on time, although passport control was slow, eventually the group met up with our tour leaders of one I recognised. We had the chance of getting a snack before departing and I realised that Neil (the Leader) had stayed in a chalet next door to us on Scilly several years ago.
Once all the luggage was loaded into the mini buses we set off to our accommodation but stopping en route at Bene De Fare Airfield
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| The Airfield |
Our target bird here was a Little Bustard, it wasn't long before Neil found one. But through the fence and in the heat haze it was a challenge to see and photograph but a great start to our trip.
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| Little Bustard |
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| Little Bustard |
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| Little Bustard |
After about half an hour of watching the bird, and seeing Serins we headed off in heavy traffic to our guest house Les Granges on the outskirts of Arles.
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| Les Granges Guesthouse |
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| My Room |
After dinner several of us set off to Les Baux where an Eagle Owl was known to have a territory. Immediately Neil spotted one after hearing its call. Although distant we enjoyed scope views and then it flew to another position where we think it was joined by another.
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| Eagle Owl at Les Baux |
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| Eagle Owl at Les Baux |
Other birds heard but not seen were Cirl Bunting, Blackbird, Nightingale and Nightjar. We returned back to the guest house once the light had gone.
Saturday 6th. Some of us met at 6.30am for a walk along the near by farm track unfortunately thick fog greeted us and was unusual for this time of year, we could hear a Little Bustard and eventually saw it and a Roller (Hooray) was visible with imagination on a distant wire, complimented by a Melodious Warbler, several Sardinian Warblers, a couple of Nightingales and a Black Kite.
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| Black Kite |
We returned for a substantial continental breakfast at 8.00am.
Neil and Lol (our other leader) went shopping for our picnic lunch returning by 9.15 and we all set off promptly for our full day of birding. First stop was at Marais du Viguerait, a nature reserve. By now the fog had cleared and it was hot and sunny around 25 deg C. A walk around the trail we enjoyed birds and beasts of the Camargue.
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Camargue Black Bull |
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| Camargue White Horses |
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| Camargue White Horses |
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| Coypu |
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| Great White Egret - breeding plumage with black bill |
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| Green Lizard |
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| Gull-billed Tern |
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| Pond Turtle |
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| Purple Heron |
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| Red-crested Pochard |
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| White Stork |
Having done a circular walk, we unloaded the mini buses and set up our picnic lunch of bread, cheeses, meats, salad, fruits, cakes and chocolate plus plenty of refreshments including wine.
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| Lunch for me |
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| Wine for me (local of course) |
After lunch we set off south to Salin de Girand - salt pans where we saw some Flamingos, plus Gulls, Terns, and waders
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| Salin de Girand |
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| Slender-billed Gulls |
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| Yellow-legged Gulls |
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| Yellow-legged Gull |
In addition we saw med Gulls, Gull-billed Terns, 2 Caspian Terns, Sandwich, Common and Little Terns, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Dunlin and Little Stints. Our next stop was Plage de Piemanson, a quick look on the pool behind the beach found nothing new.
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Map of the area
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A look out to sea was hazy and several Shearwaters sp were seen
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| Plage de Piemanson and the Med Sea. |
Sadly while watching the birds Andrew (not me) had his rucksack stolen from behind him.
We returned to the guest house tired and changed ready for dinner but not before grabbing a beer!
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| Local Rice beer. |
Sunday 7th A shower around 5am just cleared for our 6.30 am walk, we saw all that we had the morning before and there were 2 Rollers on the wires briefly but no nearer, The Melodious Warbler was a bit be-draggled but still singing. A Nightingale showed itself and a Zitting Cisticola put in an appearance.
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| Nightingale |
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| Zitting Cisticola |
Another hearty breakfast was had and we left around 9.30 for Les Baux en Provence
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| Les Baux en Provence |
The area was heaving with tourists, we did a circular walk around the base of the ancient village, hearing and seeing a Common Redstart, Black Redstart, Alpine Swift and Crag Martins plus a Blue Rock Thrush up on the cliffs
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| Blue Rock Thrush |
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| Common Redstart |
Also seen a Scarce Swallowtail as we reached the village.
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| Scarce Swallowtail |
Neil treated us all to a coffee, and the ladies dispersed for a bit of retail therapy. We returned to the mini buses and went to De La Caume - a forest where we set up for our picnic lunch. Whilst doing so several Swallowtail Butterflies were around.
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| Swallowtail Butterfly |
After lunch the plan was to go to an area of wetland known as Mas D'ago. Dropping the ladies back at the guest house so they could rest and have a swim we headed off. I was in Lol's minibus along with Andrew and things didn't go to plan! Following Neils white minibus a white van merged in front of us and un-be knowing to Lol he decided to follow after about half an hour we reached the seaside town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and the white van turned off leaving us in the french equivalent of Margate.
After a couple of phone calls and answer messages we should have been on a road named Rte du Mas d'Agon. Eventually I found it on Google Maps and together with the rest of the passengers we guided Lol to the site where we met up with Neil about an hour late. (Although we had missed out on a Black Stork and Bee-eaters our diversion was part of the humour of the trip )
A walk along the road with wetlands either side held numerous birds, including Grey, Purple, Squacco, Black-crowned Night Heron, Common and Whiskered Tern, numerous Glossy Ibis, Monty's Harrier Black Kite, Great Reed Warbler, Bearded Tit and several Collared Pratincole.
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| Great Reed Warbler |
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| Bearded Tit |
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| Glossy Ibis |
Storm clouds were heading our way so we set off back to the guest house, a lovely day with a lot of humour. Dinner was fish so I opted for the vegie option which was a vegie burger perhaps not the best choice.
Monday 8th. Today turned out to be my favourite day. Once again we met for our pre-breakfast walk at 6.30, seeing the usual and the Little Bustard was in the usual place, Nightingales singing along with Zitting Cisticolas and the Melodious Warbler. I opted to stay by the wires hoping to see the Rollers but alas it wasn't the case in fact I should have returned with the group as they found a female Red-backed Shrike.
Another hearty breakfast before setting off at 9.30 to La Petite Camargue. First stop was where a few Bee-eaters were on wires, being in the back of the minibus I had to admire them through the window.
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| Bee-eater through the window |
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| Bee-eater through the window |
A little further down the road we stopped at a Stork's nest that was being shared with Starlings and House Sparrows, some Tree Sparrows were also around. Next stop was at a site where a Purple Heron was nesting and several Western Swamp Hens were seen.
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| Western Swamphen |
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| Western Swamphen |
Further along the road we caught site of a Turtle Dove and then a close Squacco Heron
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Squacco Heron
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Heading off to our next stop for lunch and the afternoon we stopped at a roadside pool where this Wood Sandpiper was near bye.
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| Wood Sandpiper |
And across the road several Camargue Black Bulls
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| Camargue Black Bull |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
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| Black-winged Stilt |
Several Coypus were also seen.
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| Coypu |
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| Coypu |
There was also a very vocal and tame Nightingale around the toilet block.
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| Nightingale |
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| Nightingale |
Leaving the park around 5pm we went back to the guest house for a wash and change before dinner. It was decided that for those who wanted to have another go for the Eagle Owl at Les Baux we would have to miss our dessert, it was only Creme Brulee and Jan offered to have them rather than them go to waste.
Dinner ended up being later this evening and as we left the light was starting to go, half way to the site we came across a couple of Rollers on wires but they didn't hang around, a bit further on another couple and after stopping they flew off . In all we saw eight and I managed to get some record shots of a couple but with bad light, distance and me being over excited and not checking the camera settings the photos are a bit disappointing.
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
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| Roller |
Eventually reaching the Eagle Owl site the light was almost gone but there were no sounds or sightings, so we returned to the guest house but my purpose for the visit to France was to see a Roller and I had now been satisfied with what I had seen - job done!
Tuesday 9th our last day - we had the usual early morning walk and the little Bustard was once again at the far side of the field, there was nothing to add to our early walks and the Rollers didn't appear - thank goodness for last night.
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| Little Bustard in his usual place to the left of the post |
With our bags packed we left the guest house a little later than normal and headed to La Crau. It wasn't long after stopping a Golden Oriole was heard singing, but couldn't be seen. Eventually a brief glimpse was seen of a stunning male.
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| Golden Oriole trees |
On the near-bye lake a pair of Red-crested Pochard were seen and a Great Reed Warbler was singing in the reeds.
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| Red-crested Pochard |
From there we went to an area of flat and stoney terrain. On one side of the track were Skylarks singing and on the other Greater Short-toed Lark but neither were really visible. A Southern Grey Shrike was seen distantly on bramble
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| Southern Grey Shrike |
A few Black Kites were around with a distant Hobby, and plenty of Butterflies which were Bath Whites, Western Marbled Whites and a tatty Knapweed Frittillery.
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| Bath White |
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| Western Marbled White |
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| "Tatty" Knapweed Fritillery |
Also present was some Odanata
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| Banded Demoiselle |
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| Banded Demoiselle |
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| Copper Demoiselle |
We had lunch back at the Oriole site, sadly no body was drinking wine today so I had to finish off the bottles we had.
Our next stop was at the other side of La Crau, a walk along the track and there was a possible flock of Lesser Kestrel, we heard a Sandgrouse but couldn't see it, I did spot a Hoopoe the first for me on this trip. Rain was now moving in so we headed back to the minibuses and started our journey to the airport. By popular command rather than visit another birding site a coffee was more wanted by others so we went into a town I think was Martigues and eventually found a cafe with inside seating. This was full of locals and probably the best Cappuccino I've had, while we had 2 hours to kill before getting to the airport we all had another one. On arrival at Marseilles airport we were disappointed to learn that our flight was delayed by an hour and a half (due to thunderstorms in the south of England). Eventually we landed at Heathrow around 11.15pm. As usual my bag was one of the last off the conveyor. We all said our farewells and I headed for the underground to get me to Terminal 4 for my stay again at the Premier Inn.
Unfortunately I had missed the last train by nine minutes, a kind underground worker who was coming off shift said the best way to get to the hotel was by walking to Terminal 2, taking the underground to Hatton Cross and then getting a bus. I was not keen on the idea but would give it a go. A 20 minute wait alone on the platform at Terminal 2 after 2 trains out of service passed through.
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| Terminal 2 Platform for Hatton Cross |
A couple of minute ride and I was at Hatton Cross, outside the station there was about 8 bus stops and eventually I found the one for Terminal 4, In the half an hour wait I was joined by a couple of tired travellers also wanting to get to Terminal 4 and then the correct bus turned up which stopped outside the Hotel door. After checking in etc. I got to bed at 1.40am. (Would almost have been quicker to drive home) The next morning I made full use of the "Full English Breakfast" then transferred back to Terminal 3, got the bus to the car park and arrived home at 11am.
I thoroughly enjoyed this trip, we had a lovely group, superb weather, great food, plenty of wine but best of all was Neil or tour leader, with his excellent birding and social skills, and was so well organised.
