Back to Birds

After a couple of days ranting about the outrageous situation regarding Badger cull proposals in England it was back to looking for birds today.  We began by driving to the Gruissan/Mandarac area and checked out lagoons and reedbeds first.  The wind meant that birds were keeping low and only a Marsh Harrier and a Great White Egret were noted.  On the return drive a single Honey Buzzard fought the wind to keep moving south.

Wet meadows at Le Petit Tournabelle

Next we checked the wet meadows at Le Petit Tournabelle.  Conditions here are superb at the moment.  There were lots of Cattle Egrets and Little Egrets and 4 White Storks.  Waders included 10 Lapwings, 15 Little Ringed Plovers, 5 Wood Sandpipers, 3 Snipe, 3 Curlews and 5 Ruff.

Ruff

We moved over to the Gruissan salt marshes where 8 Greenshanks, 5 Redshanks and a Common Sandpiper were found.  Near the Roc 4 more Honey Buzzards went over as well as 5 Marsh Harriers and 4 Sparrowhawks.  Hundreds of Sand Martins were also feeding as they made their way south.

Redshank

We then decided to drive up to Pissevache but there was hardly any water there except on the Sewerage Lagoons where a lone Osprey was hunting.  Two Green Sandpipers flew up noisily and at the back of the lagoons a superb immature Goshawk flew low across the marsh putting up everything in sight. Then it was off for a bit of shopping in Narbonne and home.