Birding Languedoc trip to the Aude river flood plain, Lespignan and Pissevaches lagoon

I didn't write about our last trip with BL but most of what we saw on that outing we saw on Sunday as well, so I will stick with this trip whilst it's still fresh in my mind!

We have been to one part of the Aude river flood plain on our own a few years ago, and saw tons of Bee-eaters and some other interesting birds, but no Rollers which had been a target species. So this time we were more than happy to see three Rollers! A long time since the only one we have seen before, in Spain.

We started by making an impromptu stop to take photos of this magnificent field full of poppies. There are lots of them flowering at the moment, usually around the edges of fields and on verges, often on any kind of disturbed land but this field was just full of them!

The flood plain is very wide in some places and there are irrigation ditches to control the water levels. We learned that some of the flood plain is deliberately flooded in winter where there are vineyards - these vines are not using the usual American rootstock which is resistant to the vine pest Phylloxera, but by flooding the land the phylloxera is killed, without having any effect on the vine plants. Clever, isn't it!

Amongst other birds, we saw the Little Bustard again (we had seen some of them on the previous trip) and this one was a male who was calling - they put their heads back and emit a fart like noise!

Photo credit: K Allen

Here's the beautiful European Roller (Coracias garrulus):

Photo credit: K Allen

Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris):

Photo credit: K Allen

I also saw a male Golden Oriole! I think I was the only one who saw it - just one of those times when you happen to scan with your binocs and something amazing comes into view! It had disappeared by the time I mentioned it to others, though I did confirm that there is nothing else that has a bright yellow body and black wings.... 😀 Most of the others saw one later in the afternoon (I didn't) so I guess that is fair. 

I saw this plant, Aristolochia something, on a previous trip as well, and Karline (our bird guide) pointed out to me that it is the host plant for the Southern Festoon butterfly, a species that I would love to see. After walking along beside the drainage ditch back to the road, I discovered that my glasses were no longer in my pocket where I had put them, as I can't get on with looking through my binocs or camera with glasses on. Somehow they must have fallen out of my pocket. 😟 

So K and I walked all the way back to where this plant was as I thought it might have fallen out whilst I was squatting down taking the photos, but nope, didn't find them. I'm now desperately trying to get new glasses made before we go on holiday in a couple of weeks time, and unfortunately I'm going to have to pay for them, as there is no way I can get to an opthalmologist for a prescription, then to an opticians to choose glasses, which will take some time to be made. That's the way it works in France if you want to be reimbursed by the healthcare system, and there's usually a 6 month wait for an appointment with an opthalmologist! I could get an appointment if I wanted to go to the centre of Toulouse, but we really don't fancy having to do that. So I'll pay - I can only just about get the glasses made in time as it is.

Thank goodness I still have some old reading glasses so I can at least see to read, cook, use computer screens, etc! I now have an appt for tomorrow afternoon at a local opticians where I'll get my eyes tested, then choose some glasses. This time I'll take advantage of the 2nd pair free offer - the last time my 2nd pair were prescrip sunglasses. 

On his way back to the group K saw this Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius):

Photo credit: K Allen

We then headed to nearby Lespignan, to view the Lesser Kestrels which are nesting in the roofs of the village. They were part of a very successful reintroduction programme and have spread to nesting in nearby villages as well. Again, these are birds we saw on our previous trip, but we saw more of them with better views this time! This next photo is a male Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni), and the photo below that is of a male and a female who is the one flying.

Photo credit: K Allen

Photo credit: K Allen

We happened to be here on a Sunday when the Fete de Transhumance was being held, and the sheep and a few goats here were being moved from fields up on La Clape hills over a three day fete period involving three villages, to some fields around Lespignan. Normally the Transhumance is when the cattle (or other animals) are moved up to mountain pastures for the summer, or brought back down again. Philippa, our BL guide, reckons it's just an excuse for a party these days! We weren't very happy as the poor sheep were being herded around and around and the ones on the outside, including some small lambs, looked quite stressed with their mouths open. Thankfully, after having viewed the Lesser Kestrels and moving to a little park overlooking the lower village for our picnic, we could see that the sheep had been moved on to their new pasture.

A number of people on horseback (shepherds) joined in, as well as some horses and carts. This horse was beautiful!

Back to the flood plain and this time we crossed over the river to the other side, however we didn't see any more Bee-eaters this side, though we saw some Rollers inspecting the nesting boxes which have been put up on electricity poles.

Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia) and Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator) - the Rock Sparrow was in Lespignan but the Shrike was in the fields near the river. It's looking away from the camera but at least it is showing its lovely brown head!

Photo credit: K Allen

The Aude river.

I found a dragonfly I haven't seen before, an Orange-spotted Emerald (Oxygastra curtisii). This is the female - the male has green eyes.

These horses were quite friendly and came over to say hello and check us out. All but the dark one looked like Breton horses to me.

We then headed to the nearby Etang de Pissevaches and the filtration ponds, which you can't enter but can see some of the ponds from the road. There wasn't much about, some Mallards, Shelducks and Little Egrets, but quite a lot of birdlife flying overhead, such as Black-winged Stilts, Glossy Ibis and a Marsh Harrier.

On the lagoon on the other side of the road we watched some Little Terns fishing but they are much too fast for photos! I prefer things that don't move, such as this plant that I hadn't seen before. It's Hairy Sea Heath (Frankenia hirsuta) and grows in a low mound and looks quite similar to thyme.

A finger for scale, something I keep forgetting to do with tiny plants!

Since writing the above, I have been to the opticians and ordered some new glasses which will be ready in a week. The great news is that the guy said that my doctor could write the prescription and it would be accepted by the healthcare system - something we’ve not heard of before, maybe it’s new, but anyway, that means that most of the cost will be reimbursed! 🤓

The Aude river flood plain and International Vulture Day

Aude River Flood Plain

We're going back to the 6th August here and we learned of this birding site through the Birding Languedoc group who organised a small outing here after lockdown was lifted. We were due to go but eventually didn't as Keith had a bad cough that developed not long after lockdown (eeeeks!!!) and just got worse and worse; it did turn chesty as well as being dry, but even so was a bit of a worry. Thankfully it turned out to be bronchitis but before he knew for sure we had to cancel, as we didn't want to worry other people or take the risk of infecting them. Sadly there were two outings that we missed - the other we need a 4 wheel drive to do but will visit next spring as it will be too muddy from all the rain we've had and are due to get. This place however we were able to do in a regular car, just a few months later than planned.

As usual we picked a hot day, but every day was hot back then and temps were in the low 30s so manageable! Interesting birds seen down here near where the Aude river runs out to the sea are Bee-eaters, Rollers and Golden Orioles. We managed two out of the three although the Golden Orioles were juveniles flying overhead so it was a brief sighting, though we did hear an adult singing/calling in the direction where they were flying. We also saw several Woodchat Shrikes which was pretty cool, however the star of the day were the Bee-eaters.

There are two Bee-eaters in this photo - my eye is always drawn to the bottom one, perhaps as it shows more blue?

Keith's photos were better than mine as his Nikon bridge camera has a massive zoom lens and he is also extremely steady on his feet.

There were lots of Bee-eaters all flying around in groups. One thing we learned about them which is great for photographers and bird watchers alike, is that they seem to love perching in dead trees!

We walked downhill from where we parked down along beside two overgrown  paddocks with occasional trees in the fields, as well as low trees and shrubs edging them, which is where the Bee-eaters and Shrikes were flying and perching.

Woodchat Shrike

The above is my pic of a Woodchat Shrike, but the bird was quite distant so I was quite pleased with it.

Me chilling in the lovely cool wind blowing from the Aude river, sorry my vaper is in the picture, I try to avoid that as much as I used to avoid being photographed with a cigarette in my hand when they became antisocial..... but I didn't know my photograph was being taken!

The above and next photos show where we went - above are the vines on the flat land (flood plain) running from the river to this hill, which is the very edge of the limestone ridge known as La Clape, which starts one end near Narbonne and ends here where the Aude river hits the sea. In the photo below which was taken from the road leading down to river level, shows the two horizontal paddocks in the foreground where the Bee-eaters were flying up and down, with the vinyards behind in perfectly straight fields with occasional roads or irrigation channels running in between. We didn't see any Bee-eaters in amongst the vines or closer to the river.

All in all a very successful day out birding and we came home glowing, in several senses of the word! 😀😄

Vultures

I don't want to get your hopes up expecting to see lots of pictures of vultures but sadly this day was the complete opposite of the one above. It was, perhaps not literally, but it jolly well felt it, freezing! We met the others (it was another Birding Languedoc jolly) at 8.45am in the car park by the vulture viewing/information area. The trip had been organised because it was International Vulture Day and the LPO had arranged to feed the vultures and give a talk about them. I don't know how many years this has been going on for but the lady who runs BL said they went last year (and saw an Egyptian Vulture amongst the many Griffon Vultures). Apparently the LPO don't feed the vultures here any more with any regularity which is a shame as I had been hoping to find out when they were going to do it next so that we could go along. Never mind because we got to see it after all! We had been lucky enough to witness a vulture feeding quite by chance at a very similar place in northern Spain one holiday so we had an idea what to expect.

Before I go on I just want to say that I didn't take a single photo; I was SO cold that my hands went numb from looking through binocs and after the main feast was over I left before the LPO guy had finished his talk and went and sat in the car. The temp was about 13C which was a huge shock to the system after a summer where the coolest day we'd had was about 25C and that felt quite cool, especially if it was windy. I did have a fleece on and a waterproof jacket on top but a winter jacket and gloves would have been more suitable.

Luckily K took a couple of photos from which you can get the picture. There's an area where the birds are fed (and obviously have long memories as we have seen some hanging around here on a previous visit minus food) then there's the area where everyone stands around watching, which is quite far away, but OK with binocs and even better with a spotting scope, which we have now. A couple of guys went over to the feeding area in a van and dumped a load of raw meat - it didn't look like a lot but was apparently 25kg. Then we all waited, as the vultures started to circle and more and more arrived. Then they descended and got stuck in, fighting over the juicy morsels of butchers' offcuts, whilst yet more vultures kept appearing over the mountain behind. On this day they were all Griffon Vultures which are the most common species, but there are also more rarely seen the Egyptian Vulture and the Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier.  It's a sight well worth seeing even if you are not a birder, much as non birders will enjoy a falconry display. Of course, this was a bit more gory, but you are not (sadly) seeing it very close up! When we saw vulture feeding in Spain we saw one Egyptian Vulture and several Red Kites, and from that site you are looking down into the valley where they circle towards the feeding spot, rather than looking at them up against the sky. Looking down is a lot better as you are not seeing the birds silhouetted against the sky.

Putting meat out for the vultures

Griffon Vultures fighting over said meat!

Gorges de Galamus

These gorges are not far from Bugarach and we went here to see if there were any birds migrating through the gorge, but it was not to be. Although the temps had warmed up somewhat it was very windy at the parking spot which is very exposed, so we sat in our cars to eat lunch, with magnificent scenery all around. Some of the group had already left after the vulture feeding (it was a free day trip) and a couple more left after we stopped at a cafe for a much needed warming chocolat chaud. I really enjoyed our time at the cafe as we talked birds, birdwatching and places to watch birds and nothing but - lovely for Keith and me as it's a very specific hobby and not something we talk about with friends other than general garden bird type of chat.

After saying goodbye to the others at the gorge we drove home on a scenic route that took us through the gorgeous Fenouillèdes and up past the chateaux of Quéribus and Peyrepertuse. The road (D19) that leads from Maury in the valley to these chateaux is, in my opinion, the most scenic road I've ever seen, but now I know you have to be driving down it, not up. I kept having to look behind me to see the amazing view at its best! (don't worry, I wasn't driving! 😂😂😂)

This is the hermitage Saint-Antoine built on the side of the gorge which we visited some years ago. We walked about half an hour from the main car park to it, but once there, found that you could go up some steps to a smaller car park right above!! 😂

On our way home we stopped to take a photo of the Chateau de Peyrepertuse from below the village. It's not that easy to make out what is chateau and what is just rock from this distance and angle! There is a second part of the castle higher above the first one, too.

The following is a picture from when we visited and climbed up to the top of the chateau in 2017. That's our Moho parked down below, then you take a woodland path that goes behind the chateau, which is nowhere near as steep as you would imagine! If I can make it up there, anyone can. 😀

Chateau de Peyrepertuse in 2017

******************

Phew, sorry this has ended up being long! It's also taken me AGES to do with this new Blogger format; it's really driving me potty with the strange things the html is doing. I did try using the new caption feature (which is hard to find) but didn't like it, but don't care too much for just centering text under trying to make it look like a caption either. Oh well. Least I know everyone else is in the same boat!