10 days to do a trip around France in the camper van. We started via Folkstone then took the Dover to Dunkirk ferry. A calm crossing with just a few Gannet, Kittiwake and a Great Skua until a couple of Grey Phalarope drifted by. A Grey Seal just outside Dunkirk harbour was a bit of surprise.
This bug was on board. A recent colonist from North America that arrived in Europe in 1999 and is now well established both sides of the channel.
Western Conifer Seed Bug Leptoglossus occidentalis
First stop was Versailles. A couple of nights in a wooded campsite with Ring-necked Parakeets flying over and Nuthatches calling among the oaks and sweet chestnuts. A day at the palace was minor let down. The buildings are opulent and impressive enough but the gardens were large and overly formal and a bit dull without the fountains going. The Queen's Hamlet was interesting though and there were a couple of Coypu grazing by one of the lakes.
Coypu Myocastor coypus
There were a fair few dragonflies about in the warm weather including Emperor and Common Darter.
Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum
Next stop was the Lot region. The fascinating caves of Padirac, with its impressive doline, underground river and calcifications (where bats leaving at dusk would have been a great option if the weather had been better), and Pech Merle, with properly ancient cave paintings and footprints, and the soaring citadel of Rocamadour, with its towering pilgrimage churches stacked one upon the other, Crag Martins constantly wheeling around.
The weather was better at Peche Merle and as well as some showy Nuthatches these butterflies were around. Clouded Yellows are a bit of a nightmare, especially females which this one seems to be. I'm inclined to think it might be Berger's Clouded Yellow based on colour tones and habitat but it's impossible to tell.
Speckled Woods on the continent are rather different to British ones. Pale areas are more extensive and yellowy-orange rather than whitish.
Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria tricis
Pushing further south we moved on to the amazing restored medieval city of Carcassonne. A hot day this far south resulted in some excellent insect and reptile action. I was particularly pleased with the Bloxworth Snout which I'd not seen before.
Bloxworth Snout Hypena obsitalis
Carpenter Bee Xylocopa sp.
Fire Bug Pyrrhocoris apterus
Mallow Skipper Carcharodus alceae
Geranium Bronze Cacyreus marshalli
Hummingbird Hawk-moth Macroglossum stellatarum
Common Wall Lizard Podarcis muralis
From here to Narbonne, the furthest south for us on this trip, things looked decided more Mediterranean. It was very warm at our campsite on the beach at Les Ayguades near the little fishing village of Gruissan. We hired bikes and cycled along past the coastal lagoons picking up plenty of common birds like Fan-tailed and Sardinian Warblers, plus the odd Kingfisher and a flock of Pallid Swifts. It was again the insects that provided a first for me though. Great Banded Grayling normally flies up to the end of September, which is why this late individual is rather tatty. However it was a large and welcome addition to the trip.
Great Banded Grayling Brintesia circe
Red-veined Darter Sympetrum fonscolombii
Second day here winds got up producing good seabirds. The drive home included Griffon Vultures and Red Kites and some more good seabird action on the ferry. A Grey Seal and 2 Porpoises were the highlight though.
Perhaps this is not the rarest of moths but it's not exactly common and when I had one in the garden moth trap 9 years ago it caused enough interest for a couple of people to come and take a look.
So it was a bit of a surprise when this was spotted on the roof of a tent at a big family camping do at Salhouse on the Norfolk Broads.
This year wildlife has taken a bit more of a back seat as we've been enjoying a series of brilliant music festivals. And it's on a very hot walk from our campsite to the Chacombebury Festival near Banbury that we came across these. There were also more Marbled White butterflies in the fields here than I've ever seen before but they were very active and I didn't get any suitable photos.
The way these pairs of White-legged Damsels sit while laying eggs is very distinctive.
A weekend camping in the van near Lathkill Dale in some rather poor weather. However it did clear in the late afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday so we got out for walks in the Dale on Saturday and at Bolehill Wood and Quarry (at Padley) on Sunday. The Dipper and lepidoptera were at Lathkill Dale and the Woodpecker nest and Pied Flycatcher were in Bolehill Wood along with Spotted Flycatcher and other woodland birds. Redstarts were fairly common in both places. The Mandarin was in the grounds of Padley Chapel.
Dipper Cinclus cinclus, Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major & Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca
A couple of videos from a visit to Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve. Huge numbers of common seabirds (except Fulmar, which were oddly scarce) going about the, occasionally violent, business of breeding. The continual noise from the Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and Gannets provides the backing track.
The reserve is also blessed with many Tree Sparrows around the fields along with a few Corn Buntings.
Look out for the crafty Guillemot towards the end of the Gannet fight in the first video.
Hugh Wright found these first thing today. A nice trip of 3 birds, 2 more colourful females and one rather duller bird. This particular field has a strange attraction for the birds and among several previous occurrences was a bird I found here 6 years ago almost to the day.
The beginning of April found us back in West Penwith again, this time in an amazing little campervan from Bumble Campers, a local firm converting a van for us at the moment. More of that another time but first some wildlife from the trip.
One of the best birds was my third Cornish Surf Scoter. This one was hard to see in the wet foggy conditions of Mounts Bay near Penzance, and certainly too hard to photograph. Once the sun came out we took to walking the coast paths and gazing out to sea from our campsite at Treen Farm. Gannets, Manx Shearwaters and Guillemots were on the move at sea with Fulmars on the cliffs, Sandwich Terns in Whitesands Bay and the odd Raven and Peregrine kicking about.
My first trip to Morocco this year was to the Fes area in the north of the country to visit three UNESCO World Heritage sites: the medinas of Fes and Meknes and the Roman site of Volubilis.
Meknes Medersa
Volubilis
As always though the wildlife got a look in. The highlight for me was around 10 Short-toed Eagles plus a few Booted Eagles and Marsh Harriers migrating north over our villa just south of Fes one lazy morning. Other migrants were fairly thin on the ground but it was nice to be among Swallows in early March and the vast numbers of Alpine Swifts around the towns were very impressive. The blue form of Moroccan Rock Lizard was also entertaining at Volubilis. Also there Moroccan Hairstreak was a first for me.
Caspian Plover, Brown Shrike, Hawk Owl, Snowy Owl. All mouthwatering prospects and at one point all available in the Netherlands recently. It was this tempting combination that got me thinking about making another winter trip to this superb birding destination. I hadn't been for some years but the combination of a large wintering population of quality birds, an active local birding scene and outstanding dissemination of news means it is always a good option. So when my sister, who works for Stena, said she had some free tickets for the Harwich - Hook of Holland crossing going begging I jumped at the chance.
I soon had a willing team of old friends together and a weekend selected for the twitch. In the meantime the Caspian Plover got eaten by a Merlin and the Snowy Owls were reduced to a single bird on Vlieland (an island impractical to get to on a weekend trip). That still left the Hawk Owl and Brown Shrike plus lesser goodies so the trip was still on.
Departure was after work on Friday and a 2 hour drive to Harwich International Port. We were soon checked in, boarded and settled in the Metropolitan restaurant on the Stena Hollandica for a slap up three course meal (included in the free tickets!).
After a comfortable night in the cabins and an included all-you-can-eat breakfast we were on the road heading north towards Zwolle and the Hawk Owl. On the way we stopped by the motorway at Nunspeet and had terrific, if damp, views of Short-toed Treecreepers and Crested Tits.
Generally reliable the owl had not been showing the previous day but had gone missing for a single day before during its long stay so we were fairly confident of relocating it. However after a couple of hours searching in the pouring rain it was clear all was not going to plan so rather than wreck the whole day we drove a short way towards the Ijsselmeer near Kampen and ended up watching Goosanders, many Smew, other wildfowl, waders and a magnificent pair of White-tailed Eagles all on the Vossemeer.
The eagles were amazing entertainment, at first flying into a huge dead tree and breaking off a large branch with their combined weight then the male flying off and catching a large eel and eating on the mud opposite attended by daring Carrion Crows who were eventually rewarded with the left overs.
White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla
Nearby one of the many Great White Egrets scattered across the Netherlands showed well enough for a record shot.
Great White Egret Ardea alba
Very happy with the haul of birds here we returned for another go at the Hawk Owl in drier and brighter conditions but it was not to be. So in the failing light we headed south to our hotel in the little town of Zeddam tucked up against the German border close to a bit of rare Dutch high ground. We spent a very pleasant evening in Zeddam finding a cracking little Italian restaurant run by a Sardinian family who provided some excellent food and drink and a very warm welcome. It was fun being Brits in an Italian restaurant on the Dutch/German border hearing people saying 'bon appetite'! An international occasion.
On Sunday we were out at dawn to find a much drier, brighter, but hellishly windy day. Not the best conditions for locating a shrike and sure enough after a couple of hours we were facing the prospect of missing out on both main target birds. But birders are made of sterner stuff and we were consoled for a while by the sight of a Goshawk, which few see often in the UK, and again decided to take a break from the search, this time to do some birding in the nearby Bergherbos woodland. This holds Black Woodpecker which is a good bird by any standards. Unfortunately the wood is very popular with dog walkers, joggers and mountain bikers (being on a slight hill - a novelty for the Dutch) on a Sunday and the wind was not helping, so a distant call is all we encountered of the big woodie. Willow and Marsh Tits, more Short-toed Treecreeper action, Nuthatch and a few Siskins and a Great Spotted Woodpecker would have to do, although a small party of Common Crossbills were a nice addition just before we left.
Soon it was back to the search and still there was no sign of the shrike. So I made a decision to return to the hotel and use the wifi to check the news to see if the owl had been seen that morning. We could easily give up on the shrike and return to Zwolle if it had. It hadn't, but the shrike had. There had been a sighting shortly after we'd left for the wood. Rats! Nothing for it, we would have to go back for a third time and try again. There had been other birders there looking on and off all day but this time we met up with one of the patch workers responsible for finding and reporting the bird. Despite some pretty ropey optics he managed to refind the bird within about 30 minutes! Were we just rubbish or was it a case of the weather improving and knowing exactly where to look? In any case we were very grateful and all enjoyed good if rather distant views of a Brown Shrike that should have been wintering in South Asia, where I might see more of them in a few weeks time.
Our ferry home wasn't until late that evening so we had time to play with and decided geese were the best target. We'd already seen plenty of Greylag, Canada, Egyptian, Greater White-fronted, Pink-footed and Barnacle Geese everywhere and a couple of suspected Bean Geese had passed over us while we searched for the shrike but there were two rarer geese that were also tempting.
Our first site just south of Utrecht was unsuccessful apart from yielding our only Pheasant of the trip :). But we were luckier with the second. With not much more than an hour of useful daylight left we arrived at the goose-mecca of Strijen. This small area of polders west of Dordrecht can be a bit daunting at first. Confronted by thousands of Barnacle and White-fronted Geese it can be hard to see how you are going to pick out the tiny number of rarer species among them. While searching we got good views of another Goshawk, hunting the open wet grasslands in habitat UK birders would not expect to find them, and plenty of Brown Hares.
Brown Hares Lepus europaeus
Then we struck lucky when I picked up a group of 3 small grey geese on the edge of a Barnacle flock. These were soon confirmed as Lesser White-fronted Geese before they flew a short distance to join a fourth bird. A lifer for some of the crew it was good to see them, especially as Chris and I had just missed them on our trip to Northern Greece a couple of years ago.
Finally while scanning the last Barnacle flock Chris located a Red-breasted Goose emerging from one corner of the flock. You could see just how hard it can be to pick these out as the tiny goose was there one minute then vanished among the flock the next. Another lifer in the bag for some. A second Goshawk, a male giving us the best views yet of a species that I've only seen once or twice in the UK, was the last notable bird sighting before we headed back to the ferry port on the last fumes of the hideously expensive Dutch unleaded.
Our timing was perfect and we rolled straight onto the Stena Brittanica and were soon celebrating in the Metropolitan restaurant before retiring to our cabins for another comfortable crossing of the North Sea and the early morning drive back to work in Peterborough on Monday morning.
My thanks go to the rest of the team, Mike Weedon, Chris and Lloyd Park for making this such an enjoyable weekend and especially to my sister Jane for the opportunity to travel in style on the Stena crossings.
This is a screen grab from the video below and shows many of the salient feature that separate this species from the very similar Marsh Tit: the wrap-around white cheeks, dull black crown and lack of pale base to the cutting edges of the mandibles as well as the very clear pale secondary panel.
More distinctive though is the call which is how I picked up the bird in the first place.
