It was a bright but quite cool day though eventually warming...
My initial plan to visit the Forest of Crecy was dumped.....considering I had never been there and would be travelling in the dark to arrive on site by first light....and with slightly sketchy directions for a good spot for Black Woodpeckers, Hawfinch and Redstarts....I decided to leave this for another day in the light....
So this left my other three sites.....all with Bluethroat being mentioned....
I headed north using the normal roads and avoided tolls all the way back....due to this being the best way to get to these sites....
Back in Nord-Pas-de-Calais I headed to a site just north of Etaples called Canche....going north it seemed it would be easy to find, go past the cemetery and theres a gate, park at the gate on the verge said the book....hmmm...well...I found the graveyard and passed a single barred metal gate with a no entry sign on it then found a turning on the right, where there was a sign saying it was the site I wanted...but didn't relate to the book that I could see...so a few trips up and down the road, it was getting light....so eventually I parked by this metal gate, with no sign by it to say it was an entrance to anything in particular....
I think he's picking mushrooms...
I went down the track and found the railway line, under the bridge and theres a gate with sign saying its the reserve....with instructions to park your car either at the cemetery or up the road where I had found the other half of the reserve...! I risked it and wandered round...
...theres a sign saying don't stray from the path....
....heres why....
It goes down to the coast with a small circuit possible, though the return path was not obvious and frustratingly I had to use the same path back eventually....its possible to have good views of waders at the right time....
I didn't investigate the other half of the reserve, which I'm guessing was more likely to hold woodpeckers....time was against me....this was, however, my one, short burst of Nightingale...!!!
I headed off north-east toward St Omer where Etangs du Romelaere is just north east of the town...
It took a little more time than I thought it would....the 'country' roads tend to be slower than the English ones....and I kept being caught out by those signs with no numbers on till you reached junctions....
Etangs du Romelaere is well worth a visit....though quiet when I got there as it was now getting along time wise....its free....the book says get ticket from the visitor centre...but you don't need a ticket. The staff were helpful.
...they have these quaint bridges over the streams...
The site is advertised as a 'market garden' site....
The above picture gives you a bit of a view why....these small strips of land, separated by watering ditches have been farmed this way for hundreds of years....and I think much of the produce used to end up in the markets...
...a closer view....
Its a pleasant walk round, not the biggest site that you could visit, but very pleasant. Sadly no Bluethroat though there is one particular area they say it should be viewable...again I may have been a bit early, maybe another couple of weeks will see more Bluethroat on sites.
This site has an interesting 'exit' strategy....!
...here it is...you have to pull yourself across...
...very amusing...does any site in the UK have this exit strategy...
Moving on again, heading north to Marais de Guines. I visited this site many years ago so as it was on the way home I decided it was a must visit. By the time I got there it had warmed up and was now reasonably late so not much happening. This was the site of the 'Bluethroat tail disappearing in to the scrub' event...so if you visit theres a definite chance....and this place is not very far from Calais at all so can easily be done in a day trip with a couple of other sites along the north coast...
This map shows how small one of the sites is.
Speckled Wood
This site is split in to two, both small and worth a walk round. Though the French dog walker (why do dog walkers ALWAYS go to nature reserves) having a very LOUD telephone conversation was infuriatingly annoying....!!
Dummies.
Wherever you go you will find hunting paraphernalia. Above are some dummy water fowl to attract some poor bird in to its doom. Advice. Never go birding in the hunting season, you will regret it. Luckily this season has just ended, so the timing is quite good from that point of view. However, you can see why and how so many birds get slaughtered across Europe. Usually at point blank range.
Ironically, if you want to hear some great bird calls done by people, on YouTube there are various French hunters demonstrating their amazing ability to copy birds. One shows aa man teaching his very young son. Admirable in their ability to sound like the birds..but...!
It was time to head home...Calais was a very quick hop up the road and back to the tunnel...
Ganche:
Blackcap, Nightingale, Blackbird, Great Tit, Chafinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chiffchaff, Blue Tit, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Long Tail Tit, Moorhen, Pochard, Tuted Duck, Coot, Shoveler, Lapwing, Magpie, Black-headed Gull, Curlew, Cettis Warbler, Sheldcuk, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Herring Gull Linnet, Crow, Swallow, Bar Tailed Godwit, Greylag Goose.
Etangs du Romelaere:
Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Serin, Goldfinch, Wren, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Marsh Harrier, Black-headed Gull, Coot, Sedge Warbler, Cettis Warbler, Mallard Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant, Bullfinch, Great Tit, Red Bunting, Little Egret, Shoveler, Jackdaw, Great Black-backed Gull.
Marais de Guines:
Chiffchaff, Wren, Blackbird, Jay, Robin, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch Coot, Buzzard, Great Tit, Cettis Warbler, Sparrowhawk, Cormorant, Shelduck, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Sedge Warbler, Shoveler, Grey Heron, Green Woodpecker, Blue tit, Swallow, Marsh Harrier.
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