A quiet pool...
I can see why people talk about this place in glowing terms....if its great birds you want...
Bluethroat
I went on 4 / 5 April, there was lots going on....it might be better to leave it for a couple of weeks to allow more warblers to arrive in the general Nord-Pas-De-Calais area (Marquenterre is just south of this Province, in Picardie)....but I had to go now as its school holidays and time was available.
I suggest you do your homework as well....a handy hint....although I have driven in France many times I'm usually supported by a trusty navigator....'turn left, go right'.....I soon discovered that, having planned which way to go, it came apart quickly....I had used what I believe is the British approach...go by road numbers....the French had not approached it thus.....go by place names and road numbers are secondary.....this meant road numbers weren't on the initial signage, just place names and it was only when you got to the turning itself that a road number would be used (unless it really is a major motorway)...which is fine until you have a French driver about two inches from your bumper! So plan by place names...not road numbers.....it makes turns easier....
I went on the 0550 trip through the tunnel...remember you lose an our as the French observe Daylight Saving and move their clocks around too...so I arrived at 0720. The park opens at 10am....leaving plenty of time to drive down the motorway, getting off at Junction 24....all for the princely sum of Euro5.80....bargain. Have your credit card handy when you go through the toll as its auto only....
I went to the Le Crotoy pools first as I had time....
...right by the road...
..and a nice reedbed...
The pools are easy to reach on the D4, just below Marquenterre and perhaps a mile or so detour....there are several obvious places to pull up off the road...the second pool has a large gang of Mallards that I'm guessing are used to being fed by the public, they happily stand in the road so mind the swerving cars....
The park is off the D4, so its literally return up the road a mile and turn left....the sings to the park are good but keep an eye out in the fields for Hares....!
I arrived at the park around 0945, there was already a few cars present and a group of school children. I suggest you arrive at the same time. When I left a few hours later there were loads of people milling around waiting to go in, doing lunch etc..
Once you have paid you Euro10.50 fee to get in, its worth it, you will be directed to the viewing point overlooking the park and marsh out to the Baie de Somme....
From the viewpoint....
There is a choice of three paths....the longest is the one you want...the going under foot is good, firm and anyone can manage this...it will just be the choice of distance.....there are a reasonable number of hides for a rest if you need it.....
...as Bon Scott would sing...gone shootin'...
....though there aren't too many seats around the reserve...
If you've been to French reserves before you will know the hides are ex-shooting hides...hence the number of holes everywhere to poke your gun through and also hence them not really being suitable for a scope....I found myself either sort of bended knee or tip-toe....maybe I'm just the wrong height...
The initial pools I went past below the viewpoint were mostly quiet, with little happening, a few Coot...and some Sedge Warblers in the scrub and thin reed. However....it was here that I enjoyed my first 'life tick' of the trip....
Bluethroat
Yes, I had previously seen the tail of one disappearing in to some scrub at Marais de Guines a few years ago...but I didn't count that....so this was one of the 'top birds' to see on the trip...to get it virtually immediately and such great views was pretty amazing....
The long path winds out past pollarded Willows and scrub containing many Willow Warblers...behind the scrub are open fields for the hoped for Yellow Wagtail, which I didn't get...
Roe Deer
...though there are deer to be found....
Avocet is a bird they are making an effort with to assist its breeding....
Avocet
There are plenty of White Stork around the park...
White Stork
...and...
Common Crane
...and some great nesting posts
....that you can get really close to...
I had read the day before I went on their Facebook page that 4 adult Whooper Swans were present...there were two when I was there....this one had a Common Crane for company...
I spent about four hours in the park....I could have spent longer but I had a couple of other places to check out for future visits.....and below is the last place you visit...probably the bit the place is famous for....its heronry....it doesn't look like much....but....
...the heronry...
...there are about half a dozen pairs of nesting Spoonbill.....more of White Stork...several Little Egrets....and..if you look really closely...
Black-crowned Night Heron
....but to spot these you have to peer past the foliage of the pines as these little herons skitter along branches steeling nesting material from the bottoms of the bigger herons nests....you definitely needed a scope to see them so just about everyone in the hide didn't see or were unaware....
Whilst at the heronry a Wild Boar meandered across with some piglets/boarlets....fabulous...
I moved on to Noyelles...a small place along the D940 and home to a large reedbed. I tried to get some information on this place, but its hard to come by. Dave at Dungeness may have some, though I couldn't get hold of him. Another guy gave me some which I don't think was correct. This may need further investigation before another attempt to visit this place. I did manage to look at a small section of the reedbed where I was advised by a French birder that Bearded Tit and Bluethroat were there. Sadly it was raining on and off by this time so I retreated to 'sejour a rester'......
Bird lists:
Channel Tunnel Terminal UK:
Robin.
Channel Tunnel Terminal France:
Woodpigeon, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Cormorant, Tufted Duck.
Aire de Falais:
Skylark, Linnet, Rook.
Le Cotoy:
Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Coot, Mallard, Sand Martin*, Moorhen, Blackcap, Wren, Chaffinch, Mute Swan, House Sparrow, Song Thrush, Lapwing, Cormorant, Shoveler, Teal, Little Egret, Chiffchaff, Cettis Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Collared Dove, Reed Bunting.
Marquenterre:
Chaffinch, Black-headed Gull, Great Tit, Swallow*, Goldfinch, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Mallard, Coot, White Stork**, Mute Swan, Mediterranean Gull, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Moorhen, Crow, Skylark, Bluethroat**, Cettis Warbler, Cuckoo*, Great Egret*, Lapwing, Teal, Tufted Duck, Avocet, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Spoonbill*, Linnet, Oystercatcher, Little Grebe, Shoveler, Common Crane**, Blackcap, Pintail, Great Crested Grebe, Wren, Dunnock, Pochard, Redshank, Little Egret, Canada Goose, Starling, Whooper Swan*, Black-crowned Night Heron*.
Noyelles:
Willow Warbler, Magpie, Chiffchaff, White Stork, Blackbird, Linnet, Chaffinch, Coot, Mute Swan, Great Egret, Mallard, Woodpigeon, Black-headed Gull, Whtethroat, Little Grebe, Lapwng, Kestrel, Marsh Harrier, Cettis Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Great Black-backed Gull, Meadow Pipit.
* = year tick
** = life tick
In part two....I will traverse to a few reserves across Nord-Pas-De-Calais.....
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