A two-day trip to la Brenne regional park to see Common crane
Guide: Tony Williams assisted by Karline Martorell
Participants: 11
Weather conditions: Cool, cloudy with some brighter spells in the afternoon on the first day and relentlessly foggy weather for the second day; temps ranging from 6°C to 10°C+
Highlights of the trip: Spectacular views of thousands of Common crane – feeding on harvested maze fields and flying to and from their roosts. Walks in the foggy woods to see a very cooperative Middle spotted woodpecker.
Our very first “Birding Languedoc On Tour” trip – with our lovely loyal day trip participants 🙂 We stayed at the Auberge des 2 Pierres in Migné and enjoyed meals at the Le Gab restaurant in La Gabrière – and the great thing about travelling in Autum / Winter is that we had everywhere almost to ourselves!!!
The Brenne regional park is the land of a thousand lakes (man-made but mostly in the Middle Ages) and in November thousands of Common crane stopover on the way to their winter grounds further south – although increasing numbers are stopping the Brenne. It really is a spectacular sight when thousands of these graceful birds move from the harvested maze fields where they feed, to the fields where they gather in a pre-roost, before heading off en masse to their roost!
The Lancosme forest has numerous well maintained tracks and if you look carefully at the dead trees you might just find a Middle spotted woodpecker! We did, and it was a lifer for many of us 🙂
You can read and download the detailed trip report and bird list by clicking on the link below.
