I had the most photos and videos for this day, so the other
posts will be shorter, I promise!
16th
The night before I left for France, I had a great
evenings moth trapping near Guildford, at the workplace (which happens to be a large garden) of
an old friend from college. We got one
new macro moth for me, in the shape of an Ochreous Pug, and had great sightings
of a roosting Tawny Owl, and a probably bat-hunting, Hobby. As we packed up, my first Nightjar of the
year was heard from the adjacent Whitmoor Common. This evening may have caused me to have been sleep-deprived
for my trip the next morning, but it was worth it!
17th
The next day, After a 10 hour journey involving four trains
and a minibus, I was quite knackered. I’d
already noted Black Kite and Hobby from the train by the time we got to
Valence. Spirits were high in
anticipation amongst our group of 11, as we approached the heart of The Barronies, on the edge of the Alps.
As we were driven by our guide Andrew, into the small
village of St Jalle, it was just getting dark, but we were still welcomed by a
singing Nightingale. On the short walk
down to our accommodation, in a number of ‘gites’, we heard the odd call of the
Scops Owl going on. A promising start!
18th
I attempted to have a lie-in in order to catch up on sleep,
but my body clock wasn’t having it, and I couldn’t get back to sleep once I
awoke at 6. Oh well, may as well go
birding then!
It was a beautiful morning, and all the birds were
singing. The most prominent being the
very numerous Serin…
…and the Black Redstart, which seemed to be singing from
every roof-top throughout the week.
On top of those, an odd song led me to some pines towards
the centre of the village. The two notes
at the beginning of this Common Redstart song, was unlike what I was used to,
and heard on their own in the distance sounded like nothing I immediately recognised.
Also just around the village, I saw a distant Turtle Dove,
heard a Melodious Warbler, and saw Woodlark, Black Kite, Corn Bunting, and Cirl
Bunting. What a place!
On arrival back at the gites ready for departure, I found out that
someone had found a Scorpion in their accommodation! Rather than being disgusted as many people
would be, us nature lovers considered this to be brilliant! What a strange lot. The beast was only about 2 inches long, and I
later discovered it to be a young Euscopius flavicaudis, which is often found
inside buildings.
We did eventually tear ourselves away from the village, and
headed for the first proper wildlife stop close-by in the lower Barronies. Worth the visit for the view alone.
As soon as we rocked up, I spotted a Tawny Pipit sitting on
a post by the road. Lifer number two (if
you count the heard-only Scops)! We went
on to see a few of these throughout the walk, often giving their rather
unimaginative song.
Also right by the van, Andrew heard a Western Orphean
Warbler singing, sounding like an unenthusiastic Blackbird. It eventually showed well, or be it distantly. This turned out to be the only one of the
week.
This area is the place to see vultures, so it was no
surprise that almost as soon as I started scanning the mountain ridges, I
picked one up. What was a surprise
though, was that mine was in fact a Black Vulture, by far the rarer of the two
larger species, identifiable at
long-range by its drooping wing-tips.
We started walking through some lovely scrubby, rocky, and
grassy habitat, and soon came across a number of interesting butterflies. These included the bright orange Spotted
Fritillary, as well as more familiar species like Small Heath and Speckled
Wood, or be it the more rufous southern form.
Interesting birds continued to show left, right, and centre. A fantastic Ortolan Bunting sung its
Yellowhammer-like song, and a Red-backed Shrike came increasingly closer.
I continued to scan for raptors, finding a distant Goshawk
(merely an also-ran on a day like this!), two brief, probably migrating, Honey
Buzzard, and finally some of the enormous Griffon Vulture.
Butterflies were everywhere, even though it was only
mid-morning. The Blues were particularly
mesmerising, but those I did ID were Mazarine, Adonis, and Common Blue (one of
which rested on my scope, and then my hat, for half the journey!), as well as a
few Small Blue.
As we were scanning the wheeling groups of Griffons, someone
spotted a whiter bird with them. An
Egyptian Vulture! It drifted closer and
closer, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not get it in the camera in the
featureless blue sky.
I was briefly distracted watching a Dingy Skipper, and found
myself left behind by the group. I took
one last quick scan of a nearby mountain-top, and found not one, but two
Short-toed Eagle circling around! I had
to film them even though they were distant.
But, what should appear out of the blue, but the Egyptian Vulture! The 'Shorties' showed well in the end.
The Egyptian was the only one of the week.
Moving on, we entered a small wooded area, mostly made up of
young Oaks. This had a Southern White
Admiral flicking around, and several singing Western Bonelli’s Warbler.
There was also this pretty Jewel Beetle.
We’d already heard a Subalpine Warbler earlier, but finally,
a male posed on a bush for us. Also, I managed
to spot some distant Alpine Swift. They
did eventually come closer, but not easy to film!
The plants were impressive also, with Lady, Lesser
Butterfly, and Woodcock Orchids.
We made it to the ‘Rock of Cairo’, so called because it
looks like a pyramid at some angles.
From here, we had amazing
views of the Griffons flying beneath us, and Andrew showed us one of their nests
on the adjacent cliff. Around this nest,
I noticed a lot of hirundines flying about.
These were Crag Martin, which were also nesting in the vicinity.
On the insect side of things, I had this unidentified Scarab
Beetle land on me…
…and there were a lot of both Scarce and Common Swallowtail
butterflies flying around, though they were hard to capture on film. This one a Scarce.
We made our way back to the bus for lunch, but I was
constantly being distracted by various insects, and got left behind
somewhat!
There were a lot of these impressive Carpenter Bee about the
place.
More of the familiar butterflies noted were Wall Brown and Brown
Argus. I also however, identified this
Red-underwing Skipper.
On the way back past a stand of pines, I could swear I heard
a Crested Tit, but it remained hidden.
Finally back at the bus, and there aren’t many places where
you can eat lunch surrounded by the songs of Western Orphean Warbler, Ortolan
Bunting, and Tawny Pipit, whilst circling over you are Alpine Swift, Short-toed
Eagle, and these impressive beasts…
It was at this point my camera battery went flat!
Later, we had a short walk up a mountain track, where the
wind was a tad stronger. Indeed, we
struggled to see any small birds at all.
Nonetheless, in a meadow by the van was a smorgasbord of
interesting insects, including these Ant-lions, Libelloides coccajus.
We were supposedly heading for a viewpoint overlooking a
Golden Eagle nest, but as it turned out, we needn’t have gone as far as that. Because, we had views of the pair of eagles interacting distantly
over a nearby mountain, before drifting off.
Also among the interesting insects here were a Small
Purple-barred moth, a Bath White butterfly, and an unidentified small yellow
butterfly/moth with a black border which baffled me. More Spotted Fritillary were about, as well
as the more familiar Pearl-bordered Fritillary.
Also here were a lot more Lady Orchid.
After that successful stop, we headed back to base through
some beautiful farmland.
We came to a halt in the middle of some cereal crops, where
this rare Pheasant’s-eye grew.
The main reason for stopping here though was for the
farmland birds. A Red-backed Shrike and
two Turtle Dove were immediately in view.
A bit more scanning and the vice-leader Craig found a Montagu’s Harrier
quartering nearby. It was a young male,
and it put on a bit of a show for us, or be it fairly distantly.
While at this spot, I noticed a distant sand-bank, and I
could swear the two birds flying about over it were rather Bee-eater-shaped.
We drove on, only to come to a quick stop again, as the two
Bee-eater were flying around over the road!
What stunners!
We finally made it back to the accommodation that I
appreciated properly for the first time.
This was part of my room, based in an old Nunnery. Rustic!
And the view from my veranda.
Just outside the building were a number of Lizard Orchid, or
be it none of them in flower yet, as well as this huge Prickly-pear Cactus.
After a lovely meal at the local restaurant, we retired for
the night, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow! What will tomorrow bring?
