Day 7 - Crau

My departure from the Cevennes was delayed today because I couldn't check out of the campsite till 8.30. This meant my birding at La Crau would have to be done in the searing heat of the afternoon - not ideal.

There was still a chance of seeing some great birds, though. A Turtle Dove and a Roller were the first two that I saw on La Crau. This gives an idea of the quality of the place!



I parked up at the Peau de Meau reserve and the sky was full of dark black shapes. At least 30 Black Kites were knocking around, attracted by the nearby rubbish dump. There was a White Stork in amongst them, and a few overflying Cattle Egrets. The vegetation was longer than when last I was here..it wasn't going to be easy to pick out the specialities. A family of Germans in the car park confirmed that it would be hard work - they'd been trekking round for 3 hours without seeing anything!

Undeterred, I set out across the vast stony desert.

The Crau is covered in piles of rocks ('Coussous'), and I used these to gain some height before launching some huge scan grenades across the plain. This technique proved successful, yielding a Hoopoe and another Roller.

There's a make-shift hide in an old sheepbarn in the middle of the Crau and I headed over there with an old French birder. He picked out a Lesser Kestrel, and then I spotted a couple of strange shaped birds on the ground. Bustards? Unfortunately not, but the pair of Stone Curlews were still a welcome addition to the list.

It was a long way back to the car, but en route I found a Southern Grey Shrike, some Tawny Pipits, Skylarks and 3 fine Short-toed Larks. A juvenile Short-toed Eagle made a kill pretty close to me causing 2 nearby Brown Hares to race away. It was no surprise that I dipped on the Bustards and Sandgrouse, coming at this time of the day and year. Still, birds like Rollers, Lesser Kes and the Shrike more than made up for it.

*Apparently the canal at La Crau is the best place in Europe for dragonflies, with over 50 species here. I recognised the Emperor, but thats about it!

I passed another rubbish dump on the drive onto my F1 in Brignoles. 2 ways of telling: a) the smell, and b) a cloud of 35 Black Kites floating around after a scrap or two.

New birds today: Lesser Kestrel, Roller, Short-toed Lark, Southern Grey Shrike, Yellow-legged Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull

I've started a page on the blog (left hand side) with my butterfly photos.