Birding Languedoc

Winter Wallcreeper Break 2024 Trip report

Another successful winter birdwatching trip looking for Wallcreeper in the Languedoc!

The 2024 edition of our Winter Wallcreeper break has extended our success rate of finding the elusive Wallcreeper for a fifth year. This alpine species migrates to lower altitudes with some individuals over-wintering in the Languedoc between November and March. Thanks to the group’s collective scrutiny of rock faces (and our skillful guide) we managed to find three individuals at three different sites, which allowed all members of the group to get distant views! The new extended version of this trip now includes a wider range of habitats and offers some very varied birding and spectacular landscapes. During this fun 6-day trip in early March with a very international group, we managed to chalk up a grand total of 95 species – not at all bad for this time of year!

See the Winter Wallcreeper Break 2024 Trip report for more details and the bird list.

If you are interested in joining the 2025 Winter Wallcreeper trip, please contact us here.

BL Autumn social gathering 2023

The 2023 Birding Languedoc Autumn Social Gathering

Many thanks to all the lovely of people who attended our second annual gathering at the village hall in Saint Frichoux on Sunday November 5th, and sorry that some of you couldn’t make it! After coffee and biscuits, Philippa gave a presentation about Birding Languedoc / La Nature du Sud, with a quick recap of the highlights of 2023 and an overview of what is planned for 2024. The 2024 programme includes 12 birding day trips, (bookings are now open) and three (possibly four) residential trips. Also various Escapades (short trips away) and possible extras such as a Wildlife Photography course and a Pelagic trip. This was followed by a very interesting presentation covering 20 years of results of an annual survey of common birds called the STOC (Suivi Temporel des Oiseaux Communs). Karline Martorell (our main BL guide) teased out some of the more surprising results – highlighting some of the species in decline and the ones on the rise. She also highlighted the difference between the results for France and the results for Occitanie. The results were a bit scary… but interesting nonetheless. You can download a copy of Karline’s presentation here. We are also keen to share information about what the general public can do to help curb the decline in some species. More on this soon!

If you weren’t able to join us this year, we very much hope you can make it for our annual gathering in November 2024!

Wildlife Occitanie – a great success

At last year’s meeting we all agreed that it would be good to have somewhere to share what we have seen. This gave rise to the very successful Wildlife Occitanie Facebook group page, where those interested in all kinds of wildllife can share photos and ask for help with identifying what they have seen.

An unexpected range of habitats & species

After a delicious lunch washed down by some equally delicious wine from Les Fenals near Leucate (they have Hoopoe and Golden oriole around the property most years!) – Niall Corbet had the difficult* task of presenting a slideshow illustrating the surprising range of habitats and species he had not been expecting when coming to live in the south of France two and a half years ago! (*difficult because after lunch is always the hard spot with people nodding off!).

La Calade b&b, Montouliers, Hérault

La Calade offers B&B accommodation in Montouliers, Hérault – but you can also rent the whole house

At La Calade you will find 4 beautiful, sunny bedrooms. All of them have fabulous en-suite bathrooms. You can also enjoy the large bright lounge, dining room, kitchen and sunny garden. The rooms can be booked separately or all together to make the most of spending time with family and friends

You’ll be made to feel welcome as soon as you arrive at La Calade and you’ll be well looked after during your stay – enjoy a freshly prepared breakfast in the secluded garden, discover local wine during a wine-tasting in the bar area or spend an evening chatting over a sharing platter.

Enjoy some amazing birdwatching in the area!

From Montouliers you can easily get to Minerve where from mid November to March you have a chance of seeing Wallcreeper, Crag martin, Blue rock thrush, and depending on water levels Dipper, Grey wagtail and Kingfisher. In the spring and summer a whole range of birds return to breed in this area including Golden oriole, Roller, Bee eater and Great spotted cuckoo on the Aude River Plain. The reed beds at Portiragnes and the coastal lagoons of the Narbonnaise offer different habitats again. Here you might spot Great reed warbler and Penduline tit amongst others. Or check out the Flamingoes and other shorebirds and waders in Gruissan.

You will find plenty more resources for independant birdwatching in the DIY birding section of this website. And why not book yourselves in at La Calade and join us for a couple of day trips! You will find the day trip programme on the Calendar page.

Find out more and make a booking directly with La Calade B&B.

Birdwatching day trip at les Coussoules and La Palme March 2023

Migration has started!

Les Coussoules is a low-lying dune area near La Franqui and a much favoured spot for birds stopping over on migration – with most seasons bringing up a crake… A short sea-watching session, checking out the salt pans at La Palme and a quarry finale!

Read or download the trip report here.

Birdwatching day trip in the Minervois February 2023

Our first day trip of the season got us off to a great start!

The spectacular village of Minerve offers the perfect habitat for overwintering Wallcreeper and Alpine accentor, together with resident Crag martin. But finding a small grey bird creeping around on a grey rock face in a vast gorge is like finding a needle in a haystack! Read the trip report to see if we found this elusive bird…