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France - May 2011

After setting off from Maidstone at 4.30 am with two sleepy passengers on the rear seat plus Richard our driver and Bob our navigator, we arrived safely at Dover in good time for the ferry boat to France. On boarding a quick beeline was made to the food hall for a welcome breakfast. Following this we found the outside deck to search the channel for seabirds. We all hoped to find at least a skua but, sadly, none appeared however a manx shearwater, spotted flying close to the ship, gave everyone some good viewing for several minutes. Otherwise the sea produced a few gannets and fulmars. Arriving in France, we quickly set out on the A16 for the reserve at Marquenterre, arriving just over an hour after leaving Calais. The reserve kept us interested for more than four hours with a number of really interesting birds such as the likes of black-winged stilts, spoonbills and white storks with, almost, a full range of ducks, waders and warblers. We had the added bonus of several butterflies and damselflies including a really good count of green hairstreaks.

Leaving the reserve our next site at Le Bassee was soon reached. This has always been excellent since it's easily worked being right beside the road. Garganey, cattle egret, temmink's stint, wood sandpiper and serin were added to our Trip-List very quickly.

Feeling very pleased with ourselves we left for Le Crotoy, a lovely little town on the Somme estuary which offers a good range of wader birds on the shoreline. Eventually we had to move on to our first night's stop at Abbeville where we found our accommodation and a nearby restaurant for a well-earned meal. The day ended with a total of 103 bird species, with a notable absence of a wren. A nightingale sang in a small scrub/tree clump just outside the motel all night.

Of course, almost the first bird heard the next morning was the missing wren! From Abbeville we made our way to Sally Bray Marsh, which turned out to be fairly quiet for birds in comparison to years gone by. However a male marsh harrier was very busy bringing in nesting material, giving us ample opportunity to watch at a reasonable distance. We spent a good couple of hours hoping to find a few specialities that might have been there, such as savi's & grasshopper warbler plus bluethroat but with no success. We did add stonechat and spotted flycatcher though.

Leaving the marsh we headed for Crecy Forest, where Simon's great hearing soon put us onto firecrest, goldcrest and tree pipit. The firecrest put on a magnificent display for us, raising its bright red crest continually. Few of the other birds that we might have located, such as melodious warbler were just not found although a blackcap fooled us for a while into believing that we were indeed listening to one. It turned out to be sub-song. A red squirrel was seen by a few of us for a brief second or two. Since the forest was so quiet we decided to leave and make our way to Arques by St Omer where would be staying overnight. After calling in at a bar for a refreshing beer the owner drew a map for us of the way to Etg de Romelaere. This is a wetland/marsh reserve where, again, we found it to be fairly quiet for warblers etc. However, we did find a beautiful white-spotted bluethroat that thrilled us all. A fine day ended with a good meal in St Omer.

Leaving the next morning we headed first to the Guines Marshes where we enjoyed a comfortable walk, adding another bluethroat and several map butterflies to our list. Our last venue was to be Oye Plage which also produced a good number of additions to our bird list including northern wheatear, whinchat, blue-headed wagtail, sandwich & little terns plus ringed and kentish plovers. Whilst on the beach we observed a movement of migratory raptors included two black kites and a number of marsh harriers.

Once again Simon came into his own, hearing a grasshopper warbler singing at quite a distance. On investigation, he managed to locate the area where the bird was reeling its song, a distance of at least 200 m. Of course we three old duffers still couldn't hear the bird but, with much patience, Simon did get us all to hear and briefly see the bird. Soon after, following another nice cool beer, it was time to head for the Ferry Terminal and home.

Many thanks to Richard for all his hard work in organising the trip and doing all the driving. Our thanks to you from Derek, Simon and Bob.

Bob Bland.