Camberley red
Well-known member
Southern Brittany 25-30 May 2003
Sites visited:
· Vilaine Estuary around Penestin;
· Guerande Salt-Marshes (just in Pays de la Loire);
· Parc Naturel du Briere.
The first two sites are mentioned in the 'where to watch birds in France guide (1994 reprint). However, I was surprised that the Parc Naturel du Briere was not mentioned as this is an excellent area to explore and continuously turned up new birds on the three visits I made during the week. Although this area of Brittany is better known as a great place for winter/migration time birding, late May was excellent for breeding birds and some usually difficult species showing very well.
This was primarily a family holiday therefore the birding was mostly done before breakfast and at odd hours in the day during hikes or visits to or from tourist attractions. Most birds were seen either from cliff top walks, old and new salt pans and the huge area of low lying fresh water marsh which is flooded each winter within the Briere national park.
We stayed in an Eurocamp caravan at the Parc des Illes at Pont du Bile near Penestin, a lovely quiet campsite right by the shore.
First impressions after the long and wet 5 hour journey from Le Havre down to the camp site was very impressive as a large bay spread out before us, as a huge gull roost was settling down for the night overlooking the oyster beds. The first morning produced just about all the common birds around the campsite and was just like being in Devon or Cornwall! in the afternoon we took our first trip into the Briere, and almost the first birds seen were a group of Sacred Ibis, this came as somewhat of a shock as the nearest breeding area is in Africa! (this French flock escaped from a zoo some years ago, we were to see many Sacred Ibis on our other visits to the park and the population must be over 50 birds, many had colour rings/bands). We hired a punt and set off into the marsh (it’s the local 'thing to do') and after a bit of practice we eventually got the boat under control, this was after loosing the wife after 10 minutes (she refused to carry on after several close shaves with speeding motor boats) and with my two trusty oarsmen (14 and 17 years old sons) we paddled off (approximately in a forward direction) into the marsh. After the initial frantic start, things settled down and we soon had a Black Kite (with a fish, that eventually got away after an amazing ariel struggle) and several Marsh Harriers drifting over our boat. A European Roller flew across the bow, and many Grey and a single Purple Heron hunted in the reeds. After 2.5 hours paddling we arrived back at the key side, met up with our castaway female member of the team and wandered over to a lookout mound. A solitary White Stork was feeding with several Sacred Ibis and dozens of Little Egrets way out in the middle of the marsh.
An evening walk near the camp site produced a few Black-winged Stilts and a couple of Greenshank and Redshanks, another surprise was a family of Coypu (these creatures appear to have colonised the old salt pans around Penestin.) The explosive song of Cetti's Warblers kept us company as we strolled back to the site at sun set.
An early start the next morning, I drove to the Guerande Salt Marshes in search of Bluethroats, apparently this site has over 100 breeding pairs? They certainly keep a low profile, as I cruised around the narrow roads which cross the salt marsh it reminded me of the North Thames estuary and much the same selection of birds were present, lots of Avocets and Stilts (not a regular in Kent!) the reeds alive with Sedge, Marsh and Reed Warblers giving good id. practice. After about 2 hours, I was starting to get hungry and a little frustrated at the lack of my target bird when there in front of me a beautiful male Bluethroat sat on top of a bramble bush singing for all he was worth, no time for telescopes but a great 30 second view in the bins of a birds about 20 feet away, wonderful. Back for breakfast with the family by 09:00 and my main target species for the trip in the bag. A quick walk with my younger son after breakfast down to a water meadow close to the camp site brought me my first Blackcap (the only one of the trip) and a family of long-tailed tits, it was getting very hot now and bird activity was very low so we returned to collect the rest of the family for a mif day walk (only mad dogs and Englishmen! plus one women). We went to the Vilaine estuary (near Penestin) for the walk, it was fairly close to low tide so no waders along the shore, however, a lovely male Serin was singing away in a low fir tree and gave splendid views, after about 2 hours walking just before getting back to the car, shore bird activity suddenly picked up and a small flock of Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwits appeared. Getting the scope from the car revealed small groups of Turnstones in amongst the Oystercatchers which had additionally turned up.
On the way to the estuary I noticed a nice area of brackish pools and reeds so decided that the following morning an early start was required to investigate further. Another beautiful morning found me at the marsh by 06:30, the reed beds were alive with warbler song and once my ears had tuned into the various known and unknown species the fun started. Suddenly instead of looking at the reeds, on top of a lone fir tree a yellowish birds was singing a little bit like a cross between a sedge warbler and Whitethroat, goodness a Melodious Warbler sitting right out in the open singing its heart out. How many fleeting views had I seen of these vagrants in the UK on previous twitches. No problems with id there right out in the open and full image scope views! Then another unfamiliar song and a Cirl Bunting came to sit alongside the Melodious Warbler, what a great sight (I saw the Melodious Warbler on the same tree (branch even) 4 days in a row, I think he was getting lonely??). After various forages along the paths and tracks around and into the marsh, I connected with another Bluethroat, these are really lovely birds and saw plenty of showy Sedge Warblers. Just as I was about to pack up for breakfast a small Phylloscopus type warbler appeared low in a fir tree, its call like the first half of a Willow Warbler plus a House Sparrow like chirp, a more delicate build than a Chiffchaff, I was somewhat puzzled. A quick flick through Lars Jonsson confirmed a Western Bonelli's Warbler, another surprise for the trip list.
After a couple of quiet days (temperature in the high 20's Celsius (80's Fahrenheit) cliff and beach walking another visit to the Penestin Marsh delivered a couple of Yellow Wagtails one of which I am fairly confident was the Iberiae sub species the other the nominate race flava. Another visit to the Briere produced a lone Cattle Egret found amongst the many Little Egrets and Sacred Ibis. On the last full day in Brittany, Tree and Rock Pipits were found along the Plage Mine-d'Or along with a very active Sand Martin colony and couple of Dartford Warblers were busy in the gorse bushes. Finally on the last afternoon along the coast near Piriac ser du Mer a couple of Lesser Whitethroats were found in the coastal scrub.
All in all a lovely family holiday and very productive bird list of 89 species, during the off season for the area birding wise. The location looks like a fantastic place for a spring or autumn visit when I am sure that well over a 120 species would easily be seen in a week. All that plus great local beer, cidre, cheese, bread, cakes and biscuits, we found the locals very friendly and I even saw a French birdwatcher!
Additionally, there is a good woodland area about 50-60 Kms inland (Gavre Forest) which I didn't get to see, however, it is said to hold 6 woodpecker species, which is another good reason for a return trip.
Thanks to my family for putting up with me carrying binoculars around all the time and waking them up at 05:30 in the morning!
For any other details or the bird list please contact me via private message!
Sites visited:
· Vilaine Estuary around Penestin;
· Guerande Salt-Marshes (just in Pays de la Loire);
· Parc Naturel du Briere.
The first two sites are mentioned in the 'where to watch birds in France guide (1994 reprint). However, I was surprised that the Parc Naturel du Briere was not mentioned as this is an excellent area to explore and continuously turned up new birds on the three visits I made during the week. Although this area of Brittany is better known as a great place for winter/migration time birding, late May was excellent for breeding birds and some usually difficult species showing very well.
This was primarily a family holiday therefore the birding was mostly done before breakfast and at odd hours in the day during hikes or visits to or from tourist attractions. Most birds were seen either from cliff top walks, old and new salt pans and the huge area of low lying fresh water marsh which is flooded each winter within the Briere national park.
We stayed in an Eurocamp caravan at the Parc des Illes at Pont du Bile near Penestin, a lovely quiet campsite right by the shore.
First impressions after the long and wet 5 hour journey from Le Havre down to the camp site was very impressive as a large bay spread out before us, as a huge gull roost was settling down for the night overlooking the oyster beds. The first morning produced just about all the common birds around the campsite and was just like being in Devon or Cornwall! in the afternoon we took our first trip into the Briere, and almost the first birds seen were a group of Sacred Ibis, this came as somewhat of a shock as the nearest breeding area is in Africa! (this French flock escaped from a zoo some years ago, we were to see many Sacred Ibis on our other visits to the park and the population must be over 50 birds, many had colour rings/bands). We hired a punt and set off into the marsh (it’s the local 'thing to do') and after a bit of practice we eventually got the boat under control, this was after loosing the wife after 10 minutes (she refused to carry on after several close shaves with speeding motor boats) and with my two trusty oarsmen (14 and 17 years old sons) we paddled off (approximately in a forward direction) into the marsh. After the initial frantic start, things settled down and we soon had a Black Kite (with a fish, that eventually got away after an amazing ariel struggle) and several Marsh Harriers drifting over our boat. A European Roller flew across the bow, and many Grey and a single Purple Heron hunted in the reeds. After 2.5 hours paddling we arrived back at the key side, met up with our castaway female member of the team and wandered over to a lookout mound. A solitary White Stork was feeding with several Sacred Ibis and dozens of Little Egrets way out in the middle of the marsh.
An evening walk near the camp site produced a few Black-winged Stilts and a couple of Greenshank and Redshanks, another surprise was a family of Coypu (these creatures appear to have colonised the old salt pans around Penestin.) The explosive song of Cetti's Warblers kept us company as we strolled back to the site at sun set.
An early start the next morning, I drove to the Guerande Salt Marshes in search of Bluethroats, apparently this site has over 100 breeding pairs? They certainly keep a low profile, as I cruised around the narrow roads which cross the salt marsh it reminded me of the North Thames estuary and much the same selection of birds were present, lots of Avocets and Stilts (not a regular in Kent!) the reeds alive with Sedge, Marsh and Reed Warblers giving good id. practice. After about 2 hours, I was starting to get hungry and a little frustrated at the lack of my target bird when there in front of me a beautiful male Bluethroat sat on top of a bramble bush singing for all he was worth, no time for telescopes but a great 30 second view in the bins of a birds about 20 feet away, wonderful. Back for breakfast with the family by 09:00 and my main target species for the trip in the bag. A quick walk with my younger son after breakfast down to a water meadow close to the camp site brought me my first Blackcap (the only one of the trip) and a family of long-tailed tits, it was getting very hot now and bird activity was very low so we returned to collect the rest of the family for a mif day walk (only mad dogs and Englishmen! plus one women). We went to the Vilaine estuary (near Penestin) for the walk, it was fairly close to low tide so no waders along the shore, however, a lovely male Serin was singing away in a low fir tree and gave splendid views, after about 2 hours walking just before getting back to the car, shore bird activity suddenly picked up and a small flock of Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwits appeared. Getting the scope from the car revealed small groups of Turnstones in amongst the Oystercatchers which had additionally turned up.
On the way to the estuary I noticed a nice area of brackish pools and reeds so decided that the following morning an early start was required to investigate further. Another beautiful morning found me at the marsh by 06:30, the reed beds were alive with warbler song and once my ears had tuned into the various known and unknown species the fun started. Suddenly instead of looking at the reeds, on top of a lone fir tree a yellowish birds was singing a little bit like a cross between a sedge warbler and Whitethroat, goodness a Melodious Warbler sitting right out in the open singing its heart out. How many fleeting views had I seen of these vagrants in the UK on previous twitches. No problems with id there right out in the open and full image scope views! Then another unfamiliar song and a Cirl Bunting came to sit alongside the Melodious Warbler, what a great sight (I saw the Melodious Warbler on the same tree (branch even) 4 days in a row, I think he was getting lonely??). After various forages along the paths and tracks around and into the marsh, I connected with another Bluethroat, these are really lovely birds and saw plenty of showy Sedge Warblers. Just as I was about to pack up for breakfast a small Phylloscopus type warbler appeared low in a fir tree, its call like the first half of a Willow Warbler plus a House Sparrow like chirp, a more delicate build than a Chiffchaff, I was somewhat puzzled. A quick flick through Lars Jonsson confirmed a Western Bonelli's Warbler, another surprise for the trip list.
After a couple of quiet days (temperature in the high 20's Celsius (80's Fahrenheit) cliff and beach walking another visit to the Penestin Marsh delivered a couple of Yellow Wagtails one of which I am fairly confident was the Iberiae sub species the other the nominate race flava. Another visit to the Briere produced a lone Cattle Egret found amongst the many Little Egrets and Sacred Ibis. On the last full day in Brittany, Tree and Rock Pipits were found along the Plage Mine-d'Or along with a very active Sand Martin colony and couple of Dartford Warblers were busy in the gorse bushes. Finally on the last afternoon along the coast near Piriac ser du Mer a couple of Lesser Whitethroats were found in the coastal scrub.
All in all a lovely family holiday and very productive bird list of 89 species, during the off season for the area birding wise. The location looks like a fantastic place for a spring or autumn visit when I am sure that well over a 120 species would easily be seen in a week. All that plus great local beer, cidre, cheese, bread, cakes and biscuits, we found the locals very friendly and I even saw a French birdwatcher!
Additionally, there is a good woodland area about 50-60 Kms inland (Gavre Forest) which I didn't get to see, however, it is said to hold 6 woodpecker species, which is another good reason for a return trip.
Thanks to my family for putting up with me carrying binoculars around all the time and waking them up at 05:30 in the morning!
For any other details or the bird list please contact me via private message!
