French alps (1 Viewer)

Currently giving some serious consideration to atrip to the south of france probably late may next year.

This will be a weeks trip split between the Camargue area and hopefully some alpine birding too.

The main targets for the latter will be alpine accentor, alpine chough, citril and snow finches along with the likes of wall creeper, rock thrush and various raptors.

Not at all familiar with the area and there seems to be little information available.

I believe that griffons and possibly lammergeyer are possible in the gorges du tarn in the southern central massif but other than that I am in the dark

Any information, particularly with respect to accessible sites would be greatly received. We plan to fly to Marseilles or Nimes and hire a car when we get there, preferably staying in self catering accommodation. We do not mind relocating for the second part of the week and seeking alternative flights home if that is necessary.

I particularly like the Ecrins, but I can't help that much with gen. Having seen all the possible bird species several times before, I just go for walks and see what I see, concentrating on other groups than birds. I did see wallcreeper at Vallon de Selle and snowfinch, griffons, alpine choughs at Cold de Galibier

This may be of some use http://www.easybirder.co.uk/S_of_France_birds_book.html

Paul, it depends how long you want to spend in each area, you might want to consider returning from Geneva (although in Switzerland, the airport has a 'French' side' for car hire returns etc).
With Air B n B you might find accomodation options more flexible and stay eg, at 3 different locations, Arles area, Millau/Florac area and Annecy/Grand Bornand area.
So after your Camargue sojourn you could head up the A75 to Millau and strike off north east up the Tarn and then east into the Jonte gorge, where you should see Monk Vulture as well as the numerous Griffons. From there the superb Causse Méjean is not far away, the area around the village of Nivoliers is terrific, amongst other species there are Rock Sparrow in the village, Stone Curlew at dusk at the airfield a few kms to the north, breeding Rock Thrush, Ortolan, Orphean warbler, Tawny Pipit, Monty's Harrier, Bonelli's warbler and Red-backed Shrike on the southern edge of the village and vultures and Short-toed Eagle overhead.
If you then came up to Haute-Savoie the area around the Col de la Colombière has Lammergeier, Citril Finch, Alpine chough, Rock Thrush, Ring Ouzel alpestris and with a bit of walking you should hopefully see Snowfinch and Alpine Accentor, I think Wallcreeper breeds at a cave up there too but I am lazy and tick the one that winters in Annecy each year so I haven't been to the cave for a few years!
Hope this helps,

Richard

Steve Babbs said:

This may be of some use http://www.easybirder.co.uk/S_of_France_birds_book.html

Click to expand...

Thanks I will check it out

Richard

Some great tips thank you. From my brief scanning of the area on Google maps that is a big area to cover as we only have a week. Might consider a more central location that would be in striking distance of the gorges and Camargue rather than the original plan of basing ourselves in the Arles area. Of course if we don't manage to get everything in it does give us an excuse to come back.