sunshinecoastbirds

Sunday, 11 June 2017

Europe Part 4: French Alps & Switzerland's Lake Constance

Eurasian Pygmy-Owl

Following our stay in Fitou in the far south-east of France, we headed north to the French Alps and the town of St Egreves. Our hotel was at the base of a large cliff at the southern end of the Chartreuse Mountains.

Chartreuse Mountains above St Egreves

We had a full day in the Parc Natural Regional de Chartreuse - a beautiful area of streams, rocky outcrops, alpine meadows adorned with a bewildering array of wildflowers, fir and broad-leafed forests.

Chartreuse Mountains

Spruce forest in Chartreuse Mountains

Chartreuse Mountains

I was happy to find a Eurasian Pygmy-Owl, my second lifer of the trip, being mobbed by an assortment of small passerines.

Eurasian Pygmy-Owl

A pair of Black Woodpeckers was another nice find, although I've seen the species previously in Japan and Romania.

Black Woodpecker

Mistle Thrush was common, including a couple of recently fledged juveniles. Other birds included Eurasian Treecreeper, Blackcap Warbler and Eurasian Bullfinch.

Mistle Thrush juvenile

Mammals included my first Chamois clambering across a rocky scree. We saw adult and fawn Roe Deer, and large numbers of Wood Mouse Apedemus sylvaticus.

Wood Mouse

We continued north-east, visiting the scenic lakeside French town of Annecy.

Annecy

We crossed the Swiss border and drove through Switzerland to the village of Scherzingen, where Australian friends Luke and Erin had kindly loaned us their apartment for a stay.

From Kruezlingen across Bodensee to Germany

Scherzingen, Swiss side of Bodensee

This is a lovely area indeed, on the shore of Bodensee (Lake Constance) - an expanded section of the Rhine. We took a long walk along the lake edge to Kruezlingen, just across the border from Germany. We admired the mix of stylish and old buildings, agricultural fields, wetlands, and the weekend bustle of locals taking to an armada of assorted boats.

Kruezlingen, Switzerland

Looking across Swiss border to Konstanz, Germany

There were plenty of waterfowl about, including many Mute Swans nesting.

Mute Swan

Also nesting in large numbers was Great Crested Grebe, including one pair on the appropriately named duckboard of a power boat.

Great Crested Grebe nest on boat duckboard

Great Crested Grebe nest

I was surprised to see large numbers of Red-crested Pochard, many of them nesting. It was a pleasant change to see so many waterbirds nesting on the lake and wetland edges so close to human interlopers, apparently undisturbed by dogs and cats.

Red-crested Pochard

Black-headed Gull was fairly common.

Black-headed Gull

As was Grey Heron.

Grey Heron

Common Terns in breeding plumage were present. Passerines included Great Tit, Eurasian Reed-Warbler and Common Chiffchaff.

Great Tit

Plenty of frogs were calling and visible, mostly big Rana temporaria.

Rana frog

On our second day at Scherzingen we took the train to Kruezlingen and walked across the border into Konstanz. Then we boarded a passenger ferry up the Rhine, the scenery as delightful as we anticipated.

Mannenbach

Napoleon Museum

We got off at the Swiss village of Mannenbach and checked out the Napoleon Museum and a bustling open air market.

Red Kite

A few Red Kites were among the many Black Kites.

Konstanz

Konstanz, viewed from the boat while returning, was stunning, framed by the Rhine and the distant snow-capped Swiss Alps.

Wednesday, 7 June 2017

Europe Part 3 - Barcelona & Sitges, Spain; Eastern Pyrenees, France

Common Nightingale

Following our stay in Fitou (following post) we headed south across the Spanish border to the Mediterranean seaside resort town of Sitges.

Sitges

I last visited this place 30 years ago and it has lost none of its bustling charm and vigour. Sitges is not a car-friendly town so we forked out 80 euro for a carpark a short distance from our hotel.

Sitges

The gardens were full of Common Wood-Pigeon and the waterfront and narrow streets were full of colourful folk and excellent outdoor dining venues.

Sitges

Common Wood-Pigeon

We took the train for a day trip to Barcelona, impressed by the city's general demeanour and appearance as much as by the Gaudi masterpieces of Sagrada Familia (the cathedral) and La Perdrera. Here we sensibly took the tourist buses around the city with their useful audio guides.

Gaudi Cathedral Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona La Perdrera

We headed north back to Fitou for another stay. A visit to the Leucate Lighthouse was rewarded by my first lifer of the trip - a single Balearic Shearwater, along with Short-beaked Common Dolphin and Slender-billed Gull offshore. We had been fortunate to have superb balmy weather for the first two weeks of the trip but the following couple of days, including this one, were to be uncomfortably windy.

Catching up with Alan McBride

In Fitou it was nice to reconnect with a friend of 40 years, Alan McBride, who lives in southern France these days.

Chateau Peyrepertuse

Following a suggestion from Alan we visited the Chateau Peyrepertuse in the eastern Pyrenees, some 70km west of Fitou. This spectacular 1000-year-old fortress sits atop an imposing cliff face high in the mountains.

Chaffinch

East Pyrenees

Few birds were about in the cold, windy conditions but a Chaffinch singing on the rocks seemed unperturbed.

Chateau de Queribus

Tautavel Gorge

We checked out the Chateau De Queribus and the beautiful Tautavel gorge on our return to Fitou.

Common Nightingale

Common Nightingale was remarkably numerous at the gorge, which was filled with its spirited song.

European Serin

European Serin was also common.

Spotted Flycatcher

A Spotted Flycatcher was unusually obliging. Other birds seen included Northern Raven, Tawny Pipit and Woodchat Shrike.

Black Satyr - Pic Alan McBride

The common butterfly in the region was identified by Alan as Black Satyr.

Thursday, 1 June 2017

Europe Part 2 - Western Italy to Fitou, France

Black-eared Wheatear

On our last day in Rome we visited the local cemetery close to our apartment where vast quantities of flowers were on sale . It's a treat to wander the paths of these quaint old European cemeteries.

Rome Cemetery

A Eurasian Kestrel put in an appearance.

Eurasian Kestrel

Following our visit to Rome (see following post), we picked up our rental car, negotiated our way through the suburbs of Rome (how did humans survive in pre-GPS days?) and headed north-west, bypassing Florence and Genoa to overnight in the delightful seaside resort town of Laigueglia following a 7-hour drive. An inspection of the crowded beach reminded us of how fortunate we are with the Australian coastline we have at home.

Laigueglia, Italy

Eurasian Collared-Dove was common.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Another long drive the following day saw us head west along the Cote d'Azur in perfect weather and detouring to score a somewhat dodgy country tick in the form of Monaco - the tiny tax haven on the French-Italian border. Here was utter mayhem as authorities were clearing up after the weekend Grand Prix. So already exquisitely narrow, steep roads (if they could be called that) were further cluttered by a convoy of huge trucks.

Monaco

Finally we arrived in the delightful French Mediterranean village of Fitou, where our friends Ketil and Bente from Norway had kindly allowed to stay in their villa perched in the hills above Fitou.

At Bente and Ketil's villa in Fitou

We wandered the narrow streets of Fitou and the dry Mediterranean coastal scrub in the surrounding rocky hills, criss-crossed with ancient stone fences.

Looking east across Fitou Castle

Windmills and vines

Huge windmills dominate the skyline. The countryside is interspersed with the bright green of grape vineyards; Fitous is famed for its wines.

Fitou hillside

Fitou village

It was nice to connect again with European birds not seen in a good while. Warblers included Common Whitethroat, Sardinian, Western Orphean and Dartford. Most birds were shy and difficult to approach.