Switzerland last week of May (1 Viewer)

[shorebirder]

Made my trip reasonably inexpensive by sleeping in my van. Chunnel £165 return, fuel and tolls (2100miles) around £ 300. Took plenty of food and cooked on a camping burner. Van is kitted out comfortably with sleeping bunk. Showered at service stations en route, many have shower rooms or with a summer shower in the van. A bit rough but bonus is cost and sleeping where you want. Total cost around £600 for the week.
Will write more soon, just getting ready for family holiday in Cyprus. Not in the van, wife won't have that.
Dave

 

[wolfbirder]

Ha ha , nice one Dave. Have a good Cyprus trip. Look forward to your next installment!

I definitely want to go to Switzerland next year or two, so snippetts of info for Nutcracker, Citril Finch, and Rock Partridge etc are useful.

 

[shorebirder]

Nick, I can send some GPS data when I have time if you like. By pm or email. Will continue trip report in Cyprus when I'm chillin!! by the pool

 

[Boro Birder]

Enjoyed that, Switzerland has always been on my wish list and was surprised it only cost around £600 quid, beautiful part of the world, look forward to your final installment.

Damian.

 

[wolfbirder]

Nick, I can send some GPS data when I have time if you like. By pm or email. Will continue trip report in Cyprus when I'm chillin!! by the pool

Would really appreciate that whenever you are able to do it Dave.

Damien, I reckon I could do a 3 or 4 night trip for about £500 at a push, Ryan Air flights to Basel, or Swiss flights from Brum to Zurich for about £150 if booked in advance, hotels booked via Booking.com or Expedia at about £200, car hire £100. Maybe the last £150 would be swallowed up in petrol and food. Nutcracker, Citril Finch, Snowfinch, Rock Partridge, and 'outside chance' Three-toed Woody would be lifers and prime targets. I wouldd definitely want to see the first 3.

But it is feasable, but the areas are so large you could still be in the wrong places. Of course those places can vary according to weather, snowfall, time of year, but as I say there are simply no reports on Switzerland I can find on the web other than a couple.

Enjoy your holiday Dave ! By the pool!

 

[wintibird]

The other problem is that many of the mountain birds are a bit nomadic. One year you see a Three-toed Woodpecker three times on the same tree, then you don't see or hear one in the area for the next five years. The same with Rock Partridge. You can spend hours at a given site with no results at all and bump into them somewhere absolutely unexpected......
Dave, could you PM me the GPS dates for your Rock Partridges? We are working on the new Swiss bird atlas and any info for that species would be much appreciated. Alternatively you could upload your record on www.ornitho.ch

André

 

[shorebirder]

Day 3 Arrived in Leukerbad early enough for the first cable car to the Gemmi Pass. Black Redstarts and Fieldfares were feeding young in the village. News of a lot of snow and limited walking on the tops made me worry for Snowfinch.
The weather was good and the cable car ride smooth. I was soon on the tops and within 100mts of the cable car station was the first Snowfinch on the first patch of snow. This soon flew over the edge of cliff and sang from a rocky outcrop. On the next rock was an Alpine Accentor, great stuff.

Lammergeier and Golden Eagle were seen, though rather distantly. A couple of Ptarmigan and several song flighting Water Pipits were all within 200mts of the station and Alpine Choughs were very obliging. Several more Snow finches were seen in the next couple of hours.

I decided on the 3 hour decent on foot and was only 15 minutes from the top when a stunning Wallcreeper landed on the cliff face only 20 Mts from me. It was as startled as I was and flew before I could reach for the camera. After a further hour at the site I had three sightings of 2 birds, including some very energetic chasing of each other often far out from the cliff side. Brilliant.

Alpine swifts and Crag Martins were around the cliffs and on the lower slopes Bonelli's Warblers sang.

Spent the late afternoon around Leukerfeld and managed brief singing Marsh Warbler, Great reed Warbler and calling only Bee-eater and Golden Oriole. A couple of Honey Buzzards and Black Kites were over the surrounding valleys.

Late evening was spent in the wooded slopes of Reideralp, it was rather quiet in the woods but I did stumble across a pair of Citril finches in the pines.

Superb birding day bagging all my target species in the one day!!

 

[shorebirder]

Day 4 Early (very) in the woods on the slopes of the Reideralp. Nutcracker's were early risers feeding on the tracks within the woods and calling from treetops, easy to see here. The woods were busy with birds. Crossbills, Crested Tits, Siskin, Great spotted woodpecker's but no other peckers to be seen . Again a brief pair of Citril Finches and a couple of Ring Ouzels as the woods began to thin out. Nutcrackers were still much in evidence as the woods gave way to meadow. The meadow produced another very obliging Citril Finch feeding on the ground and in low Willow and several Fieldfares. On the way back the woods were much quieter, go early for the birds.

Afternoon spent at Grand Dixence dam. A couple of Alpine Accentors at the top by the cable car station were the first birds to greet me. Water Pipits, Alpine Choughs were around and 3 Choughs overhead sounded just like red-billed birds but views were not good (not sure if Alp chough can sound like Chough?).
A Golden Eagle low in the valley soon rose to join 4 more over the tops with some extended spells of diving display. Black Redstarts, a couple of Crag martins and another Alpine Accentor on the dam finished off another good day.

 

[wolfbirder]

Excellent stuff ! :t:

Just what i hoped for.

 

[shorebirder]

Day 5 Dawn up the Derborance Valley. Crested Tits and Bonelli,s warblers in the low pines. Rock Bunting singing. Lammer overhead (3 sightings during the morning). Followed up a call and found Pygmy Owl 10mts in off the road, called regularly and was answered by another bird nearby. A walk up following a stream provided more Crested Tits another Rock Bunting, then calling from the top of a large Rock further up the scree was a Rock Partridge. Sat for a while and saw Golden Eagle high over the tops. Was rather startled when a commotion in nearby woods resulted in a Chamois thundering out of the woods being chased by another only 20mts from me. Amazing how they sped across the rough boulder scree with no difficulty with foothold.

Returning to the car park and yet another Citril Finch, this time with a juvenile.
Time to leave Switzerland and travel back through France. Great time there and all target species collected.

 

[shorebirder]

Traveling through France noted a few Honey Buzzards, Hobby, Golden Orioles at several stops including one hovering over a roadside hedge catching insects (when does that happen in the UK?).

Day 6 An early rise again in some woodland area (not sure where,details at home in UK). A couple of sightings of Black Woodpecker,
Lesser spotted woody,Green woody and plenty of Great spots. Hawfinch and Golden Orioles again. Lovely piece of mature woodland.
On the road back to Calais came across no less than 8 Montagu's Harriers in an arable belt, Quail calling there also.

Plenty of commoner species seen on trip
Short toed treecreeper
Grasshopper Warbler
Wood Warbler
Cirl Bunting
Etc....

 

[wolfbirder]

Nice one Dave. Get back to your sun bed and ya beer now B .

If you would' nt mind giving co-ordinates when you get back, especially for Nutcrackers at Reideralp and also the Rock Partridge, would appreciate it!