Pas-de-Calais - Just returned from a five day break across the Channel based at Hardelot-Plage south of Boulogne, where the weather was unsettled to say the least being cool with sunshine/showers and a fresh westerly wind. However, pre-breakfast outings along the foreshore and sand-dunes did deliver a few Sandwich Terns and Rock Pipits, a Crested Lark and a Fan-tailed Warbler, plus Serin and several singing Black Redstarts around the town. A trip to Guines marshes from the boardwalk was good for a variety of warblers including Icterine, Marsh, Grasshopper and Willow Warblers as well as Yellow Wagtail, Short-toed Treecreeper, Cuckoo, Turtle Dove and Marsh Harrier along with a pair of Black-winged Stilts the first I`ve seen at this location; on the way back through the forest we had good views of a Honey Buzzard soaring overhead. A visit to the aquarium at Boulogne was spectacular (and highly recommended) followed by views of the Kittiwake colony outside along the harbour arm.
Thursday was spent at Parc du Marquenterre the famous nature reserve on the Somme estuary and one of my favourite birding locations, with the added bonus of the fabulous restaurant in the visitor centre - the French certainly know how to lunch! After tracking down Crested Tits in the car park pines we moved onto the wetlands where Cuckoo and Turtle Dove were commonplace across the site along with eight species of warblers, singing Nightingales and a Whinchat. The lagoons and lakes held hundreds of Avocets, Shelducks, Pochards, nesting Black-headed Gulls and Cormorants, Common Terns, Black-necked and Little Grebes, Redshanks, Black-winged Stilts and Lapwings, plus three passage Black-tailed Godwits and a Common Sandpiper. Large numbers of Swifts and hirundines streamed overhead in the cool conditions. The final hide is always a treat at this time of year as it overlooks a large mixed colony of tree-top nesting White Storks, Grey and Night Herons, Little, Great and Cattle Egrets and Spoonbills. Its always a pleasure to visit France where the people are laid back, the food is superb and the roads pot-hole free!
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