Bluethroat at last !

The final day of Jonty's French trip turned up quite a few nice surprises and a tally of no less than 85 species - quite a feat given the time of year and weather conditions. An excellent way to cap off an eventful 3 weeks in France, that's for sure.

As usual we were off just after dawn to make the most of the day's birding. Last night's storms had cleared but the weather stayed was still pretty windy - lots fresher than the 2 week heatwave that has gripped France.

Our first stop was an extensive area of prime reeds and scrub at the village of Picquigny, 15km west of Amiens. Pleasingly, warblers were still calling, amongst them Garden, Reed, Chiffchaff and Whitethroat. We also stumbled across a family of Spotted Flycathers and a few dabchicks. Raptor wise we had a Hobby jetting over one of the "étangs" and a surprise Honey Buzzard, its long tail and protruding, cuckoo-like head giving it away ! Photography-wise the best of the bunch was a prime Dunnock, who sat up in the sun long enough to be snapped. I have added a page of photos of all our highlights on the left hand side of the blog.

Our destination was the popular reserve of Marquenterre in the Baie de Somme, but with it only opening up at 10am we had easily enough time to check out what was on offer at one of my favourite patches - Sailly Bray. Highlights included a nice pair of Marsh Harrier , another Hobby, this time being mobbed a Kestrel, and a zitting Reed Bunting

A quick drive alongside the small dykes opposite the Pont de Dien picnic site yielded some Meadow Pipits and a Spoonbill - a young bird by the looks of it, most likely from the Marquenterre colony. We couldn't manage Bluethroat though. If we dipped today it would be Jonty's fourth trip to the area without seeing this rare breeder. I was beginning to question whether he believed my past sightings...

In two minds whether to head straight to Marquenterre or to have one last effort we chose the latter and parked up alongside "Hunter's track" for a quick reccy. Almost immediately a strange, repetitve clicking sound alerted our attention. A smallish bird with a rufous tail popped up on a reed, but only for half a second. A female Bluethroat ! But Jonty only had a milisecond view. More clicking and more scanning soon revealed the prize, though. A fine male Bluethroat gave excellent views from midway up a bush ! Obviuously defending his nest site he stayed in good view for several minutes.

Spirits were high, our goal achieved. Luckily I had my camera to hand when this curious Sedge Warbler fledgling popped up in front of us. So off we went to Marquenterre, satisfied to have bagged the Bluethroat. To see such a prime bird is always a special moment.

Luckily the reserve wasn’t too busy, but there were still a fair few “robin strokers” all the same, most of whom were content to hang around the café and visitor centre, luckily for us.. We made straight for the famous heronerie where young Spoonbills, White Storks and Little Egrets were ready to leave the nest. We are pretty much at the back end of the breeding season for these birds.

We set off around the longest of the reserve's circuits but our views we hampered at each hide by the bizarre, and frankly illogic viewing holes. We kept adding birds though, particularly waders (Common Sandpiper, Ruff, Curlew) and ducks (Pintail, Shoveler, Shelduck). Sand Martins were present in large numbers too, with small flocks feeding from the water surface. Avocets had obviously been successful too, with many youngsters approaching full adult plumage.

The best of the action came at the later hides. One in particular gave us nice views of 5 resting Whimbrel, most likely en route for Africa already and plenty of Redshank, of which one young individual almost passed for a Lesser Yellowlegs! A lone Meditteranean Gull was also a nice bonus.

Heading back to the centre we fell upon a group of gorgeous Black-winged Stilts feeding in the shallows. These birds often form groups in July and August before migrating back down south. Summer is barely upon us and yet return migration is already in evidence, such is the birding world and its ever-changing calendar.

By the time we got home it was 4 o'clock. Time for a rest, a cup of tea and a slice of flan. Golf replaced birding as the evening activity but a birder's eyes (and ears) always stay on stand-by. Indeed some lovely purring Turtle Doves and a Quail piping from a wheat field were nice late additions to round off a thouroughly pleasant July day.