Saturday, 19 January 2008
Camargue area, Jan 08
Graham Catley, Kevin Durose and myself revisited the Camargue area for a few days. The weather was generally poor with plenty of rain and very little sun. Some quality birds were seen but it was very depressing to see the songbird shooting and much of this unique area disappearing under concrete. The same story right across the world. Click on photos for a bigger image.
Common Cranes
The bottom two photos show a Pair of Cranes watching a Fox as it works its way along the edge of the field.
Wallcreeper
Just one individual appeared to be wintering on the cliffs at Les Baux. I generally failed to get any decent photos although the underwing shot is an interesting view.
Black Redstart
The crackling sound at the beginning of the song is a weird and amazing sound and its hard to believe that its coming from the bird.
Brave French Hunters....
The sound of gun shots was ever present especially in the valleys around Les Baux. We watched one bloke shooting Thrushes and literally anything that moved.
Eagle Owl
A dusk visit to this low vegetated ridge eventually produced a very vocal Eagle Owl. Its also a good place for Quad bikes, dog walkers and hunters......
Terek Sandpiper
We paid a visit to the wintering Terek, present with a mixed flock of Grey Plovers, Ringed Plovers and Dunlin.
The Crau
This unique stony steppe habitat was once very extensive but is now being trashed at an alarming rate. Fruit Orchards, Agriculture, hideous Industrial Estates and Wind Turbines were all very obvious problems. We eventually found a group of Little Bustards and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (photo above), but the future for them in this region is extremely bleak.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)