DAY 1 F 20th April Quedgeley, Glos to Plymouth, Devon via Teign estuary and Slapton Ley with Colin Martin, Richard Price and Gerry Shilham
Weather
: Cloudy and cold but sunny
The
four of us left Quedgeley at around 3pm and headed south for Devon where we
hoped for an afternoon’s birding before meeting up with the Birdseekers
trip to Brittany at 10:30pm in Plymouth. The journey down was quiet with the
only interruptions being 22 Common Buzzards
along the route and Colin’s occasional snoring. We stopped on the Teign
estuary to search for the wintering Franklin’s Gull, which is Gerry’s bogey
bird, but it was all to no avail. We quickly moved on to Slapton Ley, which was
much more productive. As we got out of the car we could hear Cetti’s
Warbler singing and a Reed Warbler soon
joined it but we couldn’t see either bird. A large Pike
was seen below the bridge lurking in the shallows. I spotted three ducks fly up
out of the reeds and into a field and close examination proved them to be the
long-staying drake Black Duck, a drake Mallard
and a hybrid Mallard/Black Duck female which
appeared to be the object of both drakes desires. They flew down out of the
field past us and the Black Duck showed a super
purple speculum as it went past.
Hundreds
of Sand Martins and a few Swallows
swirled back and forth over the Ley through the masses of irritating flies and
midges. Two Common Sandpipers zipped across the
Ley teetering loudly.
On
the beach side of the road was a Rock Pipit and
five Linnets. An adult Kittiwake
flew by, as did three Cormorants. I turned and
looked back at the fields and scoped a flock of curlews, to my surprise they
were all Whimbrels, there were 29 in all. They
even performed a fly-by so we could have a closer look. A Barnacle
Goose amongst the Canada Geese was almost
certainly feral, as was an Egyptian Goose,
although it was unringed. Finally a Willow Warbler
showed well in lakeside bushes.
We
travelled on into Plymouth where we grabbed a bite to eat before driving to the
car compound at Plymouth ferry terminal. Here we joined the Birdseekers
mini-bus for the tour to Brittany. We were pleased to find that our leader was
to be Viv Stratton, an old acquaintance from the Scillonian pelagics. Once on
board we retired to a very noisy bar where we stayed until it closed. We
consumed a fair bit of ale, swapped stories and got to know our fellow birders
on the tour before retiring to our couchettes around 2am (French time).
DAY 2 S 21st April Roscoff to Foret de Rennes to Roscoff, Brittany
Weather
: Sunny and cold
We docked at Roscoff at
around 6am French time. It was quiet aboard the minibus as there were a few sore
heads and it was still early, although one or two of the keener birders started
to compile a French list. The first bird I noticed was a lovely White
Wagtail at services where we stopped to buy our picnic lunch. On the
outskirts of Rennes a pair of Green Woodpeckers
flew up out of a roadside field, the first of our target of six woodpecker
species in one day.
When we arrived at the
Foret de Rennes after a couple of hours it was nice and sunny but the air was
cold. As we got booted up for the day ahead a huge Black
Woodpecker flew over the van and into the wood. A few of us, myself
included were lucky enough to get views of it perched on a tree trunk before it
flew away. It was to be our only one of the day although another was heard
calling in the afternoon. I had seen one other in Sweden in 1995 but it was a
lifer for Colin, Gerry and Richard. We scoured the nearby trees to try and
relocate it but succeeded only in seeing the first of five Nuthatches.
I looked up at the treetops and was lucky enough to pick up a Hobby
flying towards me. My shout ensured that everyone else saw it too. A nice bonus
so early in the day.
A little further on Viv
found our first Red Squirrel of the day, which
was greatly enjoyed by us all. A likely looking trunk full of telltale holes
provided us with our second woodpecker species of the trip. Despite early hopes
of something better when it emerged from behind the trunk it was a Great
Spotted Woodpecker, but nevertheless it gave excellent views.
We walked on past an
area of low scrub to the next group of trees. Here a pair of creepers was
quickly identified as Short-toed Treecreepers,
the first of six seen. The combination of buff flanks, shorter supercillium and
diagnostic call, plus of course it is the only creeper of this forest, helped us
to arrive at our diagnosis.
A male Redstart
was singing here and Gerry and I sought it out, however our enthusiasm
for this lovely songster was quickly changed when the first Middle
Spotted Woodpecker of the day was found. We dashed back to the trail
where the rest of the group was admiring a very obliging bird. It was a lifer
for all four of us and it was a very attractive bird. It was superficially
similar to a Great Spotted but was smaller and wore an impressive pink flush on
its underparts and its crown was a hot crimson red. This was the first of five
we saw throughout the day, which included two singles and a pair together.
Whilst we were watching
the woodpecker a pair of Crested Tits put in a
brief appearance. We did have better views later on of a single during the
afternoon. Marsh Tits were also in evidence in
this part of the wood with three different birds seen. A single Buzzard
flew up out of a clearing near here and a pair were seen later on and off
throughout the day.
As I wandered ahead of
the party I heard the telltale tick of a Hawfinch.
I quickly found a pair in the tree above me, I alerted everyone else but most
arrived after they had flown to the back of the wood. However they were
immediately replaced by a cracking male Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker that gave some amazing views. Viv was lucky enough to see a
Pied Flycatcher, which everyone else missed. At this point we turned back and
returned to the minibus for our picnic lunch.
On our walk back we
started to see the first of several butterfly species, as it was now
considerably warmer. We saw Wall Brown, Orange
Tip, Brimstone, Large
White, the first of several Large Tortoiseshells
and a Speckled Yellow moth.
As we ate lunch it was
odd to hear a Tawny Owl hooting loudly in the
middle of the day. I also found a couple of Common
Lizards sunbathing on the banks near the minibus.
Then came the most
frustrating part of the trip. We invested a lot of time on a small copse where a
probable Grey-headed Woodpecker was calling. We tried extremely hard to get a
view of it but although vociferous it remained invisible.
A White Wagtail was in a cottage garden
here.
We drove around to the
other end of the wood and tried our luck from that end. Although we saw many of
the species we had already recorded during the morning there was very little
that was new for the trip. A Grey Wagtail was on
one of the smaller lakes and we continued to see more Middle
Spotted Woodpeckers.
A final stop brought a
nice male Stonechat on overhead wires and better
still, two pairs of Cirl Buntings, which showed
sporadically in long grass at the woodland edge.
A successful day then
with five out of six woodpeckers seen and the sixth almost certainly heard. The
long drive back to St Pol-de-Léon
passed uneventfully with most of us dozing. We had a superb meal at Le Chalet, a
seafront restaurant at Plage Sainte-Anne (Tel 02 98 29 08 09), before leaving
last minute to catch the boat home.
Rather sensibly us four
settled for coffees and bed and avoided the bar on the return leg, unlike some
who were in a very sorry state at Sunday breakfast.
DAY 3 Su 22nd April Roscoff, Brittany to Plymouth and home
Weather
: Heavy rain
We arrived in Plymouth
early on Sunday morning to be greeted with typical British weather, heavy rain
and strong winds. A short seawatch off of Teignmouth gave me three year ticks in
the shape of two Manx Shearwaters, a Fulmar
and two Gannets. There was still no sign of the
Franklin’s Gull so we tried at the Passage House Inn. Again no luck, but there
were four Little Egrets and a good count of
twenty Great Black-backed Gulls. A last stop at
Bowling Green Marsh before giving up on the dreadful weather and going home was
better. Here we had two Spoonbills, a Little
Egret and a summer-plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit.
All in all a very
successful weekend which I would recommend to anyone.
© Mike King 2001
The Gloster Birder
www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk