The best part of a week away with Megan staying in a mobile home at Drancourt, just outside St. Valery-sur-Somme, was our first visit since 2022, eighth in total but only the second in Spring. It was nice to see some birds that are now decidedly scarce at home but the avian highlight was very frustrating - dreadful views of an almost unnoticed Collared/Oriental Pratincole.
Sunday 01 June. We caught the morning ferry from Newhaven saw very little on the crossing and were at Drancourt by 4pm. As we were arriving a long-winged flappy raptor flew over the nearby wood. Walking around the campsite produced Cuckoo (heard), White Stork, Mistle Thrush, Spotted Flycatcher and Yellowhammer but my hopes of Crested Tit (and Red Squirrel) were dashed as the thick line of pines I'd regularly seen them in had been seriously thinned out.
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| no dodgy White Storks here |
Monday 02 June. St Valery (Drancourt & Estreboeuf). Birds recorded around Drancourt and on a circular walk through local woods and meadows included Cuckoo (heard), 4 Spoonbills, Great Egret, Honey Buzzard (male over the campsite), Marsh Harrier, Hobby, 3 Jays, 35 House Martins, 2 Melodious Warblers, 5 Spotted Flycatchers, 15 Chaffinches, 2 Hawfinches, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and a male Cirl Bunting.
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| Melodious Warbler at Drancourt |
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| male Honey-Buzzard over the campsite |
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| could have done with a faster shutter speed |
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| but still my best every images of the species by a long way |
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| presumed Scarce Chaser at Estreboeuf |
Tuesday 03 June. St Valery and Marquenterre: 10 Pochard, Cuckoo (heard), 10 Black-necked Grebes, 14 Black-winged Stilts, 80 Avocets, 20 Lapwing, 5 Black-tailed Godwits, 10 Mediterranean Gulls, 25 White Storks, 90 Spoonbills, 5 Great and 15 Cattle Egrets, Hobby, Crested Tit (Marquenterre car park pines while waiting for the reserve to open - not until 10am), Willow, 3 Sedge, 4 Melodious and 3 Garden Warblers, Spotted Flycatcher, 2-3 Nightingales (heard), and 2 'Channel' and 4 White Wagtails.
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| Melodious Warbler at Drancourt |
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| 'Channel' Wagtail at Drancourt |
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| Cattle Egret at Marquenterre |
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| Black-tailed Godwits at Marquenterre |
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| Bee Orchid at Marquenterre |
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| Black-necked Grebe at Marquenterre |
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| Tree Frog at Marquenterre |
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| breeding White Storks at Marquenterre |
Wednesday 04 June. St Valery & Brighton/Le Hourdel circuit: 45 Swifts, 2 Turtle Doves (one seen and another heard), 4 Sanderling, 12 Sandwich Terns, 12 Spoonbills, Great Egret, Green Woodpecker, a Sand Martin, 3 Melodious Warblers, 4 Nightingales (2 seen and 2 heard), Black Redstart, male and female Stonechat, 4 'Channel' Wagtails, 2 Corn and the male Cirl Bunting.
Thursday 05 June. St Valery, Le Treport & Hable d'Ault. With an unsettled forecast we decided to visit Le Treport. We parked above the town, took the funicular and walked along to Mers-les-Bains. Returning to the car the weather deteriorated and rather than walking west along the coast we decided return via Cayeux-sur-Mer and have a short walk there. I persuaded Megan to visit Hable d'Ault so I could look at the roadside pools but the road was worse than we remembered and we stopped at the monument and walked the km to the largest pool. It started spitting on the way and Megan decided to return to the car. I continued, on a bit of a fools errand as I'd left my travel telescope in the mobile home. Through binoculars I could see Avocets, 5 Little Gulls and what appeared to be smaller waders on the pool's opposite bank. I took some photos of the first 'wader' which zooming in on the image was actually a rock! I fairly randomly took photos of the shoreline and some appeared to have birds in them. By now it was raining and a quick review of the images included a thin horizontal bird with its head turned away that looked quite interesting. I took a couple more photos of it before hurrying back to the car. Back in the mobile home I checked images on a laptop. The last two with head turned showed it was definitely a pratincole but were too poor to show any red on the bill or whether the wings or tail were longest. Other birds recorded included Common Quail (heard in fields at Drancourt), 10 Lapwings, 3 Fulmars, Cattle Egret, Honey-Buzzard (at Drancourt, likely the same as on 2nd), 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Melodious Warbler, Black Redstart and Cirl Bunting (heard at Drancourt).
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| Funicular heading down |
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| approaching Le Treport |
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| Mers-les-Bains seafront |
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| Little Gulls and a dark looking Redshank on the roadside pool at Hable d'Ault |
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| Ringed Plovers in the background too |
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| pratincole at Hable d'Ault |
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| back home checking all my Hable d'Ault images carefully I found the pratincole wasn't in an earlier shot of shore where it was photographed. I then noticed what looked like a bird in one of the images in between (middle left above) ... |
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| zooming in showed it to be the pratincole with red/orange on the underwing. Pratincole sp. became Collared/Oriental but I couldn't stretch it any further. I submitted the record to eBird but subsequent checking revealed it wasn't on an eBird list there on 8th. |
Friday 06 June. Drancourt & Dieppe. A last look around the campsite at Drancourt before returning to Dieppe and a very uneventful crossing to Newhaven. Birds seen included 2 of the Melodious Warblers, Spotted Flycatcher, Black Redstart and the male Cirl Bunting.
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| one of the Melodious Warbler still singing at Drancourt |
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| Seven Sisters and Beachy Head |
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| Birling to Beachy Head |
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