Calais this weekend (1 Viewer)

We are going for a day trip to France (and Belgium) at the weekend. I was wondering if there are any interesting birds in the Calais area or further north at the moment (Great Northern Diver, Geese, Grebes, Glaucous/Iceland Gulls, Twite, Shore Lark, Lapland/Snow Buntings, Rough-legged Buzzard or anything else).

Any help would be much appreciated.

take a look at
www.waarnemingen.be , and insert the latin name at the top right for a search e.g. Larus Glaucoides. Click on the name, and you have the most recent observations.
Last weekend, Snowy owl (street: schaerebrugstraat, uitkerke) was still in the Uitkerkse Polder (together with at least 3 Short-Eared Owls, street: koeistraat, uitkerke)), Great Northern Diver was on the draaikom in Dudzele (street name: Herdersstraat), but at the moment, best chances are north of Brussels. Iceland and Glaucous Gull are in the Ostend harbour (Iceland mostly at sea, 1st or 2nd pier east of the harbour entrance, Glaucous mostly on the roof of the 'vismijn' (big building where they sell the fish, street: vismijn, Oostende). Scan the roof from the seadyke. Twite could be had in the 'voorhaven' in Zeebrugge (street: caxtonweg, brugge), check the big group of finches that is swarving there. Shore lark, lapland and snow are all quite scarce at the moment. Rough-Legged was seen in De Haan two days ago, and also at the Snowy Owl site. Geese you will find there as well, but no Red-Breasted, Lesser White Fronted nor Snow Goose. Those you will find higher up in the Netherlands (www.waarneming.nl)
Keep your eyes open for Redpolls and Waxwings...

Send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you my site guide/notes for birding around Calais (earlier versions are floating round on the web under 'Cross Channel Birding' but I've since made a few updates/revisions). Anyone else interested are welcome to contact me too,

Thanks for the detailed into. Great day today with Snowy Owl showing very well, Long-legged Buzzard, Glaucous Gull......


John - I've got your notes. Very good. This time I just was after some gen.

GMS said:

Thanks for the detailed into. Great day today with Snowy Owl showing very well, Long-legged Buzzard, Glaucous Gull......


John - I've got your notes. Very good. This time I just was after some gen.

Click to expand...

I've sent them to so many folks that I've lost track! Great trip!