StuartReeves
Local rarity
Day 2 11/10/13
Day 2 was a little harder work, being overcast with stronger, still north-easterly winds. I opted to explore a new area and headed north towards Plage de Yuzin. A couple of Bonxies flew overhead as as I arrived, but there was nothing of note on the beach itself, and despite this initial promise, seawatching proved unproductive. Turning back inland, I checked a sheltered garden and spotted a movement in the middle of a bush. Unexpectedly, this proved to be a Water Rail, sitting there about a metre off the ground! Around the corner, I got a brief glimpse of a thrush, which I managed to convince myself looked quite small. When it eventually reappeared, it wasn't quite small (or American) enough, being a pretty straightforward Song Thrush. After that, I headed west, I checked various interesting patches of bushes around Niou. I decided that at least one of these would hold either a Red-flanked Bluetail or an Isabelline Shrike, but I failed to find either of these, or indeed anything else.
It was a little sunnier after lunch so I left the bike at the hotel and started walking west along the coastal path. This soon produced my first (and only) Dartford Warbler of the trip. A little further along, a patch of close-cropped clifftop grass held a feeding flock of Choughs, then a little further along I saw a pale looking plover on the short grass. I didn't immediately recognise it, and hoping that it might be something rare, I reached for my camera to get a few record shots. Unexpectedly at this point it got up and started to walk towards me! As it got closer, the penny dropped that it was a juvenile Dotterel, and a very obliging one at that! Excited by my 'find' I sought out the nearest birder who turned out to be a rather taciturn Frenchman; to my excited explanation that there was a Pluvier Guignard nearby, he just replied “Oui”! Once again I clearly wasn't the first person to find this bird!
Day 2 was a little harder work, being overcast with stronger, still north-easterly winds. I opted to explore a new area and headed north towards Plage de Yuzin. A couple of Bonxies flew overhead as as I arrived, but there was nothing of note on the beach itself, and despite this initial promise, seawatching proved unproductive. Turning back inland, I checked a sheltered garden and spotted a movement in the middle of a bush. Unexpectedly, this proved to be a Water Rail, sitting there about a metre off the ground! Around the corner, I got a brief glimpse of a thrush, which I managed to convince myself looked quite small. When it eventually reappeared, it wasn't quite small (or American) enough, being a pretty straightforward Song Thrush. After that, I headed west, I checked various interesting patches of bushes around Niou. I decided that at least one of these would hold either a Red-flanked Bluetail or an Isabelline Shrike, but I failed to find either of these, or indeed anything else.
It was a little sunnier after lunch so I left the bike at the hotel and started walking west along the coastal path. This soon produced my first (and only) Dartford Warbler of the trip. A little further along, a patch of close-cropped clifftop grass held a feeding flock of Choughs, then a little further along I saw a pale looking plover on the short grass. I didn't immediately recognise it, and hoping that it might be something rare, I reached for my camera to get a few record shots. Unexpectedly at this point it got up and started to walk towards me! As it got closer, the penny dropped that it was a juvenile Dotterel, and a very obliging one at that! Excited by my 'find' I sought out the nearest birder who turned out to be a rather taciturn Frenchman; to my excited explanation that there was a Pluvier Guignard nearby, he just replied “Oui”! Once again I clearly wasn't the first person to find this bird!
