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Keith Waldron travelled on our 'The Camargue in Spring' holiday and submitted this entry to our writing competition.
Flamingo, Camargue
The majority of the birds seen in the Camargue can also be seen in the UK so the choice of which holiday to take as our first venture into guided holidays with Naturetrek was an obvious one. Our springtime holidays for the last few years have been spent travelling around France in our motorhome, so the ideal scenario was to combine our 5-day birdwatching break by driving to the Camargue to join those who were flying from Gatwick.
Having spent a week travelling down through France, we spent a night in Avignon directly across the Rhone from the Popes Palace before a short journey to Arles on the Wednesday, where we arrived at the fabulous Hotel de Grange at lunchtime. We then parked up the motorhome for the next four nights.
Although we missed the birdwatching enjoyed by our fellow guests as they travelled from Montpellier airport, we were able to relax in the garden listening to an elusive nightingale singing in the sunshine. Unfortunately, we did miss the sighting of a Hoopoe.
After a typical French breakfast on the Thursday, we were off in the vans with our guides, Ian and Dave. Our first stop was everything we had hoped for with a Stone Curlew, Black-winged Stilt, Glossy Ibis and many types of raptors. Out of the 42 species seen before lunch, the best looking bird was definitely the Bee-eater.
We then headed off to the Parc Ornithologique, and after one of Naturetrek’s famous picnic lunches we walked around the reserve where the majority of the area’s flamingoes can be seen at close quarters, together with Grey Herons, Little Egrets and Cattle Egrets nesting in the surrounding trees.
Friday started with an early morning walk before breakfast. The elusive Nightingale finally made an appearance, and a very close-up view of a hovering Black Kite was also enjoyed.
After breakfast we headed off to the Etang de Vaccares (a vast expanse of water), and the adjacent Nature Reserve of La Capeliere. On the way, we stopped to watch a pair of Pied Flycatchers feeding, and admired a Short-toed Eagle before seeing a White Stork sitting on its nest.
After lunch in the shade at the reserve, we followed the Rhone to its estuary where a number of Avocets, Common and Curlew Sandpipers and Little Stints, together with a few Kentish Plovers and Slender-billed Gulls, were seen amongst the more usual gulls and terns.
After dinner we drove out to search a recognised habitat of an Eagle Owl. Although it didn’t show until just as darkness descended, a good view of its last flight of the day was seen through Dave’s scope after it had landed on its usual roost.
On the Saturday we headed off to the nature reserve in La Crau. Restrictions on access meant we had to stay in the car park, but this didn’t detract from the number of sightings we had, especially of a low-flying Short-toed Eagle and some really close-up views of Bee-eaters. Great amusement was had when two Kestrels were seen mating in a tree just as a stork landed quite close to them!
Our day coincided with the Spring Festival when almost 2000 sheep are moved to their high summer pastures in Les Alpilles. As part of the festival, they are paraded through the streets of St Martin de Crau, and we were fortunate to see the start of their journey, one flock of which was being led by a large white mountain dog,
After lunch we headed to La Caume in Les Alpilles with the hope of seeing more raptors, but we were restricted to a few Ravens in the distance, a very clear view of a Subalpine Warbler and a Crested Tit whilst on our way back to the car park.
On the final day, some of our party were dropped in Arles for sightseeing, whilst the majority spent a final few hours back in Mas d’Agon where we were rewarded with Squacco Herons, a Great Spotted Cuckoo and, the highlight of the day, a beautiful Red-backed Shrike posing nearby.
At the end of each day we sat down as a group and completed a checklist of the number of different species we had seen. At the end of the holiday, we had seen in excess of 100 birds, 42 of which were new for me.
After a final Naturetrek picnic back at the hotel, Dave and Ian took our new friends back to the airport for their flight home, whilst my wife and I headed off in the camper to the coast at St Marie de la Mer for three nights, before heading back slowly to the north coast and our ferry home.
Read more about our 'The Camargue in Spring' holiday.