Tuesday 17th March 2009 - French birding

 

We didn't sort  the trip out until midday on Monday, so Steve Ray, Gadget & myself had very little time in which to get ready. We took the 05.48hrs "Le Shuttle" and were birding in France within 45 minutes! The usual stuff was noted as we travelled towards our first site, the superb Romelaere National Nature Reserve at Clairmarais, just outside of St. Omer. This area of wetland, set within agricultural market gardens provides varied habitat which, in turn, is home to a wide variety of birdlife during the year. Sadly, the timing of our trip was not best for peak migrant activity, being a couple of weeks too early. It didn't detract from our enjoyment and we saw enough to keep us entertained throughout the day. Highlights from the reserve included good numbers of Chiffchaff, 1 Sedge Warbler, 2 drake Garganey, 1 Egyptian Goose, 1 Black Redstart, Willow Tit, Tree Sparrow and Bullfinch provided the basis for our day list, which grew steadily as we wandered around. The activity around the "sinensis" Cormorant colony was hectic, viewed from the substantial hide, allowed us time to locate a pair of Marsh Harrier, Great Crested Grebe, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall and Common Buzzard. We were able to locate three Red-eared Terrapin sunning themselves on exposed logs around the margins of the lake.  A singing male White-spotted Bluethroat, halted us in our tracks as we passed the narrow strip of reed that it was in. Steve scoping the bird, a lifer for him. I got as much pleasure from this single encounter as anything else in the day, taking me back to the time when I saw my first Bluethroat at this same site back in 1994. They really are the most stunning little birds, so the fact that we failed to obtained any images was a bit of a disappointment. A male Siskin, feeding in alders next to the  reserve car park providing a bit of compensation. We also saw Edible Frog, which was a lifer for us all. Next stop was the adjacent Forret du Romelaere, which is not mentioned in the majority of birding itineries. We stopped at a couple of spots finding Nuthatch, Marsh Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Coal Tit, Common Buzzard, Great Spotted & Green Woodpecker, Little Grebe and Shelduck. Comma & Brimstone butterflies were found as we walked the well defined footpaths, cameras kept busy with the birds along our route. We then headed back towards the north coast and the reserve at Oye Plage. Parking at the main car park, we walked the short distance to the double-decker hide to view the pools. Avocet, Redshank, Common Snipe, Pintail, Wigeon, Sandwich & Common Tern plus a lonely Swallow were additions to the day-list but the weather was deteriorating rapidly, fog swirling in off the sea making it feel quite chilly in the brisk NW breeze. A quick drive to the hide about 1km to the east added Oystercatcher and Pied Wagtail to our total before we called it a day and headed back to the train and home. A Little Egret, perched dejectedly beside a roadside pool, was the only record of the day as was the Sparrowhawk that flew over the terminal as we queued for the Shuttle. 82 species without any effort - a brilliant day out and a change of scenery within an hour of Thanet; excellent! (Dylan, Gadget & Steve Ray)

 Photos from the Day Below