Normandy coast (1 Viewer)

Can anyone recommend good birding sites on the Normandy coast? We're staying near Arromanches.

From what I've read so far, heading west to the area around Utah Beach and Carentan sounds like a good bet, as does heading east to the estuary at Ouistreham.

Anything closer to Arromanches?

Gros Banc and Orne dunes

In the absence of any replies, hopefully this info will be of use to anyone planning to a similar trip.

Visit dates: mid-April 2017

We were based in Asnelles, a couple of km east of Arromanches. Birding was incidental to a family holiday.

Common species in Asnelles - Linnet, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Robin, Starling, Chaffinch. Walking around the village during the week, we also saw Serin, Siskin, Chiffchaff, Black Redstart, Blackcap, and a number of other species more commonly encountered in the UK (Blue Tit, Magpie etc). Plenty of Swallows too.

Don't expect to find much on the beach - GBBG, Herring Gull, Pied Wagtail and not much else whilst we were there. The gulls and a few Cormorants use the remains of the Mulberry Harbours to roost, during the day at least.

The eastern edge of the village, north of the D514, is mainly holiday accommodation. Early in the season, so not many folks around, so plentiful and relatively undisturbed birds.

At the furthest eastern edge of the village, where the houses meet the beach, there's a footpath at the back of the dunes along the edge of extensive reed beds and pools between Asnelles and Ver-sur-Mer. Unfortunately the marshes appear to be private land - there's a vehicle track (marked as Chemin du Marais on Google Maps) but it's gated where it meets roads or footpaths - so I was limited to what I could see from the dune path. This included a pair of Marsh Harriers and Lapwing, so it's a pretty safe bet there's more to be seen here. Viewing also possible from the D514, which is to the south of the marshes and elevated, but a scope would be required.

More to follow on sites visited further afield.

Hello,

In Caen, near the Caen Memorial, there is a small wetland bird sanctuary. I believe that it is 150 metres north of the Memorial in the park. There is a small car park there.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:

Gros Banc and Orne dunes

We visited the Gros Banc reserve during the week, to the east of the River Orne between Sallenelles and Merville-Franceville on the D514. See attached photo of the info board at the reserve, which is taken looking NE rather than North.

The info on the reserve implies there's a circular walk around the site, but this is misleading. The eastern side (the red and yellow lines in the picture) is a cycle/foot path with very restricted views of the reserve through trees. The western part of the circle is mostly along the sand at the edge of the estuary and cut off at high tide.

There's a tower hide at the southern end, close to the D514 and visible from the road. This had good views but the highest level was locked out of use and the whole structure was in need of some maintenance. A second smaller hide can be found at the northern edge, with more restricted views.

We didn't spend much time here, but we did see Avocet, Greenshank, Little Egret amongst others.

The car park marked on the left of the picture leads to a maze of footpaths through the dunes to the sea. The area on the upper left of the picture held two Cuckoos, and leads to a number of sandbars which emerge from the sea as the tide recedes. Here, we found a sizeable group of small waders, the highlight being 10+ Kentish Plover as well as Sanderling, Turnstone, Dunlin and Ringed Plover.

A longer spit heads out towards the ferry terminal. This appear to be a restricted area for breeding birds, and I didn't go any further than the fence. Further out, a young woman with a scope appeared to be conducting a bird survey.

Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin

We also visited a couple of parts of the vast Marais du Cotentin et du Bessin regional nature park.
http://www.parc-cotentin-bessin.fr/

The Maison du Parc is less than five minutes from the N13, just north of Carentan - follow the signs for Maison du Parc. From the visitor centre, there's a 2km walk visiting three hides around a secluded small-ish lake. This site provided the absolute highlights of our birding during the week. We were the only visitors, and had grandstand views of a Black Winged Stilt on an island in the middle of the lake, less than 10ft from a pair of Garganey taking a nap, whilst another pair of Garganey were on the water between the island and the hide. Several otters made brief appearances too. Magic.

The area is home to a small population of breeding White Stork. A couple of these were circling high overhead, and we later saw another in a field next to the road.

The reedbeds here were alive with Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler, regular groups of hirundines overhead, and a pair of Marsh Harriers.

From here, we drove back over the N13 following the D913, and followed signs for the Utah Beach museum, before turning sharp right through Utah Beach village and following the minor road to the Domaine de Beauguillot - car park on the left as the road takes a sharp right turn. This is a straight out-and-back path to the sea, passing two hides overlooking the reserve, where we saw a further pair of Garganey, a Great White Egret and a number of Coypu.

I'd imagine this latter site is pretty special over winter, as it looks to be perfect wildfowl habitat.

Hopefully the info in this thread is of use to someone, at some point.

Thanks for the informative trip report Rob, i often pass through this area when visiting friends near Domfront, as do most people I guess when visiting France, I will check this area more thoroughly on my next visit.

Thanks from Mark

markspirito said:

Thanks for the informative trip report Rob, i often pass through this area when visiting friends near Domfront, as do most people I guess when visiting France, I will check this area more thoroughly on my next visit.

Thanks from Mark

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Thanks Mark, hope you find some goodies, they're clearly out there on that coastal strip.

Thanks Rob, we'll give it a try in early June and post results. We usually have a couple of hours to spare before the Cherbourg ferry and in the past have gone to the coast and been disappointed so a new option is very welcome - thanks again.
David

dragnil said:

Thanks Rob, we'll give it a try in early June and post results. We usually have a couple of hours to spare before the Cherbourg ferry and in the past have gone to the coast and been disappointed so a new option is very welcome - thanks again.
David

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Thanks David, I'll look forward to reading how you get on. Let me know if there's any further info you need and I'll see if I can help.

Well the best laid plans... We'd planned a couple of hours on the way to Cherbourg but on the way Brittany Ferries sent a message to say the sailing time was being brought forward because of bad weather - so we only had time to eat lunch on their lawn. The site looks good though and we'll try again in September.