Day trip Béziers – Portiragnes – Lespignan April 2022

Day trip 22nd April 2022 – Béziers airport – Portiragnes – Lespignan

Guide: Karline Martorell accompanied by Philippa Benson
Participants: 5
Weather conditions: Mostly sunny with light winds and temps ranging from 10°C to 20°C.

Highlights of the day: Little bustard (good views in flight and on the ground), Bearded tit, Whiskered and Black tern, Lesser kestrel

Starting with both ends of Béziers airport, we were treated to a flight of 40 Little bustard, disturbed by a Marsh harrier. Also Tawny pipit and Corn bunting.
We then moved on to the reed beds and lagoons at Portiragnes, via a very active lush meadow with a lovely group of very glossy Glossy ibis, showing their bronze and green highlights and accompanied by a very active group of Jackdaw. At the reedbeds we enjoyed watching the Whiskered and Black terns in the distance (a tower hide would be perfect here!) and managed to get a glimpse of a male Bearded tit.
To end the day we moved on to Lespignan, a typical old Languedoc village with pan-tile roofs that provide good nesting opportunities for the growing colony of Lesser kestrel. A success story as they were reintroduced in nearby Fleury d’Aude and are now colonising other villages in the area!
Varied habitats and a wide variety of 76 species in total.

Read the full trip report and bird list via the link below and don’t hesitate to share the link 🙂

Trip report Bézier – Portiragnes – Lespignan 22nd April 2022

 

Day trip Gruissan April 2022

Day trip 12th April 2022 – Gruissan

Guide of the day: Karline Martorell accompanied by Philippa Benson
Participants: 10
Weather conditions: Cloudy all day with a fresh onshore wind. Temps ranging from 10°C to 16°C.

Highlights of the day: White stork (on the nest and bill clapping), Marsh harrier, Yellow wagtail, Purple heron, Woodchat shrike

We started with reed beds, nesting White stork, Purple heron and a very shy Purple swamphen… and ended the day in a quarry ogling a beautiful male Blue rock thrush with a dazzling blue head! Saltpans, waders, vineyards and Woodchat shrike and so much more in between!
Varied habitats and a wide variety of 70 species in total.

Read the full trip report and bird list via the link below and don’t hesitate to share the link 🙂 

Trip report and bird list 2022.12.04 – Gruissan

 

Day trip Les Coussoules – La Palme March 2022

 Day trip 28th March 2022 – Les Coussoules & La Palme

Guide of the day: Karline Martorell accompanied by Philippa Benson
Participants: 8
Weather conditions: Good weather partly cloudy with a very light easterly wind, temps ranging
from 10°C to 14°C

Highlights of the day: Osprey, Common redstart, Temminck’s stint, Yellow wagtail

The low lying dunes of les Coussoules are a favoured stopover for a range of birds on migration. We were lucky to get excellent views of a very cooperative Osprey (at first perched in a dead tree and then in flight) and amongst a fairly constant flow of Barn swallow and House martin Karline spotted the first Common swift of the season 🙂

The salt pans at La Palme turned up another first (quite late), several very intensely coloured Yellow wagtail (including one of the Iberian sub-species). Also, scanning a group of Little stint, Karline’s eagle eyes picked up a Temminck’s stint.

Just click on the link below to read or download the detailed trip report and bird list.

Trip report and bird list 2022.28.03 – Les Coussoules & La Palme

 

Day trip Ouveillan – Capestang March 2022

 Day trip 3rd March 2022 – Ouveillan & Capestang

Guide of the day: Karline Martorell accompanied by Philippa Benson
Participants: 7
Weather conditions: Good weather, partly cloudy with a light wind. Temps ranging from 10°C to 18°C.

Highlights of the day: Iberian grey shrike, Purple swamphen, Black kite, Black stork, White stork, Bonelli’s eagle

The variety of habitats within such a short distance of each other, offer a wide variety of birds in  a small area. The open agricultural land near Ouveillan are good habitat for Iberian shrike, but they are only present in small numbers and are quite shy, so finding them requires eagle eyes and finely tuned hearing!

The vast reed beds of the étang de Capestang offer, for their part, good habitat for a vast range of species – from small passerines on a migratory halt, to storks and flamingo moving through, but also predators looking for an easy snack!

Just click on the link below to read or download the detailed trip report and bird list.

 

Trip report and bird list 2022.03.03 – Ouveillan & Capestang

 

Feathers, scales and prickles!

Day trip 28th May 2021 – Feathers, scales and prickles!

Guide of the day: Karline Martorell accompanied by Philippa Benson and Dominique Jalabert
Participants: 5
Weather conditions: agreeably overcast with little wind, temps ranging from 19°C to 23°C+

Highlights of the day: Black-eared wheatear, Woodchat shrike, Tawny pipit, Thekla’s lark, Golden oriole, Zygaena lavandulae, Three-toed skink, Lizard orchid and a large number of cacti, agaves, dasylirions and yucca!

This day trip was sponsored by the Narbonnaise regional park as part of a programme called Découvrons ENSemble, which consists of over 180 free natural history outings organised by the Aude département and the regional park.

We spent the morning searching for summer-visiting garrigue birds such as Black-eared wheatear, Woodchat shrike, plus Orphean, Subalpine and Spectacled warblers (not all very cooperative – singing well but skulking in trees and shrubs). Karline explained the different strata used by each species: Sardinian and Dartford in the lowest shrubs, Subalpine and Spectacled (rare) in the mid-sized bushes, with the largest of all the warblers present locally – Orphean- to be found in the taller bushes and shrubs and even in small to mid-sized trees. This might help narrow the options when you see a bird skulking!

As we arrived back in the village, a Golden oriole was showing well just opposite the winery where we had a mid-day break tasting 3 wines by the characterful Alban Michel from the Sabots d’Hélène.

Then we enjoyed our picnic with a curious Woodchat shrike before visiting the family-run Jardin Botanique de Foncaude with founder Dominique Jalabert. Over the past 30 years, with the help of family and friends, Dominique has planted over 2,000 species across 7 hectares in a wild, natural setting amongst the rocky garrigue habitat. As we visited the botanical garden, we were able to add scales (a Three-toed skink and a Water snake) and prickles (cacti, agaves etc.) to the morning’s feathers!

Just click on the link below to read or download the detailed trip report and bird list.

 

Trip report and bird list 2021.28.05 Feuilla and the Jardin Botanique de Foncaude

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