Calais Birding (1 Viewer)

I'm passing through France on my way to Germany tomorrow and was wondering if anyone had suggestions for good birding spots near Calais (preferably eastwards near the E40 and E42).

Are the pools west of the Aa River used for shooting and is it safe to visit them at this time of year?

Also, any suggestions as to what I could keep my eye out for would be much appreciated. Warblers, Golden Oriole, Crakes, Crested Lark and Night Heron are some of my target birds,

Thanks in advance for any help,

Take a look on http://nordpasdecalais.observado.org/index.php for recent sightings. Not much on there when I just looked.

The pools north of Honschoote (not far off your route) are excellent in spring but hunting may well have started.

Platier d'Oye is always worth a look too - both from the main hide near the car park and also along the road between there and Grand Fort Philippe.

Thanks William for the quick reply. The coastal stretch between Les Dunes D'Oye and Grand Fort Phillipe is exactly the stretch I was planning on visiting. However, if there is disturbance from hunters I may well head further west of the car park,

sadly hunting already started on the French coast last weekend and hunters are everywhere shooting at (almost) everything but you can still get good sightings.

Here's a map with some good spot : https://maps.google.fr/maps/ms?ie=U...809406,2.109375&spn=1.011826,2.900391&t=h&z=9

the good spot to visit :

- Les Hemmes de mark (better at high tide because the birds can be very far and dispersed at low tide) : can be very good for waders but don't go in the small pond (they're hunting there). There was 30 kentish plover at the end of July

-Platier d'Oye : there's a parking there and a nice hide overlooking the ponds
-Les Escardines : sightings possible from several places along the road (and one small hide)
-Plage de Grand-Fort Philipe : there can also be some waders there.
-Lagunes de Gravelines : new spot see here : http://nordpasdecalais.observado.org/gebied/info/140669
-bassin pétrolier côté institut pasteur : park your car before the small canal and watch the beach from there for waders (and sometimes seals). Some part of these beach are impossible to access wich mean it's good for resting waders
-crested lark spot : http://nordpasdecalais.observado.org/waarneming/view/77397296 they bred there
-Digue du Break : you can drive on that long concrete dam along the beach. It's a good spot for kentish plover (often roosting on the dam at high tide) and some other waders and tern (low tide)

Thank you very much for the info François, much appreciated. Unfortunately, I did not see your post until I got back from holiday. However, I will no doubt visit the area again soon (most likely next year) so I will try my luck for Crested Lark then.

Hi Samuel

It was not too long ago that Crested Larks were reasonably common in the Calais Supermarket car parks and the port car parks when waiting to load the ferries, not sure if that is the case anymore?

regards
Merlin

scfmerlin said:

Hi Samuel

It was not too long ago that Crested Larks were reasonably common in the Calais Supermarket car parks and the port car parks when waiting to load the ferries, not sure if that is the case anymore?

regards
Merlin

Click to expand...

No sure if they're present at the same spot at this time of the year but they're usualy very easy at the basis of the western jetty and beach in winter

Question for François Boyen

Hi François

My name is Jolien, I am currently writing an article about my paper. For my research, I collected waddings (holds the ammunition of a gun) on 3 different places (Belgium, The Netherlands and Platier d'Oye in France). My mentors have asked me to find out why the amount of found waddings in Platier d'Oye was significantly higher than on the other sites. I read a few of your posts and was wondering if you could help me out with getting an answer for my article.

Alvast bedankt voor al je hulp/Merci beaucoup pour tout votre aide!

Jolien

Hi Jolien

I have bird watched at Oye Plage and the surrounding area for many years, please can you confirm what information you need?

beat regards

Merlin