France Day 2 - 09/08

A reasonably start and a half an hour drive saw us at the Eurotunnel terminal near Foulkstone on the south coast. The crossing itself was as you would imagine pretty unimpressive, however just 35 minutes we emerged in France near to Calais and on the way out of the terminal the road passes some marshes next to a petrol station. We pulled over I quickly noted one, then two, then three Marsh Harriers hunting close by along with 2 Great Black Back Gulls, Coots and a few Mute Swans. The campsite we stayed at is in a town called Muides sur Loire, which as the name suggests is on the beautiful Loire river in the north of mid France. This is about 5-6 hours drive from Calais which gave me plenty of time to add more species to the trip list (I set myself a target of 75 species for the trip).

It soon became obvious that birds of prey are more common in France that here in Britain. There were Kestrels and Buzzards every couple of miles or so along with smaller numbers of Sparrowhawks and on one occasion a gorgeous juvenile Montague's Harrier. We also spotted a few mammals including plenty of Rabbits and a pair of Roe Deer that were feeding on the edge of a small copse.

Eventually we reached the campsite and our static caravan which would be home for the next 9 days. There were lots of tall oak trees between the caravans which proved to be a haven for small birds, with lots of Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinches, Wrens and lots of noisy Nuthatch's. Still no photos as I hadn't unpacked anything but there will be plenty in the coming posts.

France Day 1 - 08/08

Setting out from home around mid-day on the way to our overnight stop off in Maidstone before going on the train to Calais the next morning, light drizzle hampered the birds seen and the only things of note added between home and the motorway were a single Lapwing and a Buzzard. The rain continued on and off till about Birmingham where Swift and Sparrowhawk were seen but little else of interested was noted at all on the rest of the journey which was slightly disappointing.

Arriving at the Travelodge in Maidstone about 6pm me and my mum set out to Burham Down about 10 minutes away, a chalkhill area where I could have seen Silver Spotted Skipper and Chalkhill Blue butterflies. Unfortunately it was pretty windy and had also clouded over resulting in almost no butterflies at all, in fact 2 Meadow Brown were the only ones seen in half an hour of searching! A Green Woodpecker was a mild consolation as I was heading back to the car but didn't go far to covering the sadness of missing some great butterfly species.

I'm back

Got back from holiday yesterday evening so will be updating the blog very soon. I'm going to be doing a post about each day over the next couple of days to give you a good idea of what I saw. 84 species of bird in total including 3 new species for my world list, you will have to wait and find out what though.

Shut Down

In a few hours I will be setting off on a family holiday to France for the next 10 days so will most likely be unable to get much internet access and therefore won't be able to post on here very much. We are staying in Maidstone overnight tonight and I am hoping to visit a local site for Silver Spotter Skipper butterflies aswell as possibly Chalkhill Blue and Brown Argus. I am hoping to see Red Kite on the way down there and might even get a few lifers in France if I'm lucky. So till then Au Revoir and good birding.

Blackpool Air Show

No birds but a few pics from the Blackpool Air Show today. Highlight was the awesome avro Lancaster Bomber but the red arrows were as always pretty spectacular!

Wader Fest

Yesterday afternoon I checked down at Skippool Creek as the tide was coming in to watch the waders as they were pushed up into an area close to where I view from giving me good views and a good chance to find something more interesting amongst them. When I arrived the water was already pretty high so a large group of waders was already present and I set about grilling the Redshank and Dunlin flock. The total in the roost was:
1 winter plumage Spotted Redshank (same individual as a few weeks ago)
1 Greenshank
1 Golden Plover
2 summer plumage Black Tailed Godwit
150+ Dunlin (mixture of plumages)
80+ Curlew
1 Oystercatcher!
40+ Lapwing
400+ Redshank

More Butterflies from Yesterday

Just a few more photos from yesterday of the various species we saw: Small Copper, Small Skipper, Ringlet, Common Blue, Peacock, Scotch Argus, Dark Green Fritillary.