Southern Provence Trip March 2004
This report describes a bird watching trip by John and Paul Sharp to Provence in southern France, visiting the Alpilles, Camargue and Crau areas between the 4th and 7th of March 2004.
Research for the trip was largely based on information available on the Internet, supported by the relevant section of (Book). Of particular use was the excellent trip report by Chris Batty (http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/trips/france-cb-0303.html), which in particular gave great advice on finding birds in the Alpilles and Crau.
Finding certain sites, notably Mas de Chauvet (Richards Pipit) was made possible by the information available in French on (http://oiseauxprovence.free.fr/Tableausites.html), whilst information on recent sightings from http://oiseauxprovence.free.fr/news.html, and http://www.ornithomedia.com/accueil.php helped build up a picture of long staying rarities. To find the sites described in this report please refer to Chris Batty’s trip report, directions to Mas de Chauvet are however given at the end of this report.
Maps
The IGN maps Carte Regionale R18:Provence-Alpes-Cote D’Azur (1:250K) and Carte de Promenade 66: Avignon Montpellier (1:100K) were purchased in advance from Stanfords, and were very good, showing pretty much all of the sites visited.
We flew to the Marseilles from Gatwick for £60 each (inc taxes etc) with EasyJet on the evening of Thursday the 4th of March, returning on the evening of Sunday the 7th March. Both flights left slightly early and arrived 20-30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Car rental was also arranged online with Europcar, £60 securing the use of a Renault Clio for the three days (during which we used one complete tank of petrol). Past experience has shown that Clio’s have a lower than desirable ground clearance and are unsuitable for driving across soft sand, but we returned this one without denting my deposit.
The focus of the trip was bird watching, nothing else, as a result food suffered. Friday passed without breakfast, lunch comprising half a loaf of bread, cheese & ham, brought from the market in St Martin de Crau whilst sorting out permits for Peau de Meau at the helpful Ecomusee (closes at 12.00 for lunch). Dinner compensated, in the form of a good five-course meal at Patio Chaminade, 13, Fontvieille – a village full of restaurants. On Saturday a visit to the Ecomarche (mini-market) in Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer at 9am produced bread, biscuits, chocolate etc for breakfast and lunch on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday. A disappointing dinner was consumed at the chain restaurant near our hotel in Arles that evening. The culinary highlight of the trip arrived on Sunday lunchtime when we decided to pass the heat of the day by eating at La Caume in Maussane-les-Alpilles – where a very fine meal was had (to be recommended).
We stayed at an Etap Hotel in the ‘Sud Fourchon’ area of Arles, which is suitable in that it is cheap (32 Euro’s per night), adequate, on the outskirts of town and easy to find. Each room is small, comprises a double bed and single overhead bunk plus mini en-suite shower and toilet cubicle. The parking area is gated (open between 6.30am and 10pm, or by use of room entry code).
An accurate forecast was obtained on the BBC website prior to departure. Generally the temperature was cold during the mornings, especially in the wind, but pleasantly warm during the rest of the day. The Friday was generally bright with a few showers and a light breeze – reasonable birding weather. Unfortunately Saturday was characterised by persistent drizzle and more heavy rain, coupled with permanent low cloud cover, and this ruined our chances of seeing birds of prey in the Camargue, and generally made bird finding very difficult. The Sunday started very clear and bright but with a strong and very cold Northerly wind, by dusk there were occasional heavy showers. Overall the weather was disappointing.
Friday the 5th of March
We left the Etap at 6.30am (as every morning), 45 minutes before dawn in just bird-watchable half-light, and drove to Eyguieres airfield, arriving just before 7am. At this point the Southern ‘go-karting’ entrance road was closed by a chain (opened at 9am), so we birded along the Northern boundary road as far as the model aircraft flying area.
It was pretty cold in the pre and early dawn period, so bird activity here was limited. Highlights along this road were the first of numerous Red Legged Partridge and Stonechat, with single Hen Harrier, Common Buzzard and a couple of Red Kites. The only Tree Sparrow of the trip was seen amongst the aircraft hangers together with the first of many Black Redstarts.
Retracing our route to the still closed Southern track we parked at the entrance and walked the first 500 meters – a good ploy. Woodlark and Corn Bunting were common, alongside a number of more typical small birds and a party of 20 odd Fieldfare. To the South of the track a Stone Curlew was eventually picked out (having been heard several times), whilst a party of eight Little Bustards were eventually picked out to the North between the track and the main hanger, unperturbed by the first few flights. This area of scrub/semi-desert surrounding and between the runways also held a fine pair of Southern Grey Shrikes. Another stroll along the far end of the track produced a larger, closer flock of Little Bustards – at least 19, on this occasion alert to our presence.
At around ten we moved on to the La Jasse area, which it appears can only be accessed from the South (without driving through private farmyards etc). This road was very birdy, with an early stop producing two Hoopoe in flight, plus Green Woodpecker and calling Sardinian Warbler. Driving a short distance beyond the fork in the road (to the right) produced views of an adult dark phase Booted Eagle, along with further Red Kites, single Southern Grey Shrike and another Stone Curlew.
On returning to the junction area we stopped to check through the small birds apparently attracted to a puddle in the otherwise dry aqueduct. This area held a lot of small birds including singing Serin, Chiffchaff (seen and heard subsequently at most sites), Cirl Bunting and one or two Rock Buntings. Rather oddly we also picked up a Green Sandpiper flying high overhead.
By now it was half eleven, and we had not breakfasted, so we headed in to St Martin de Crau in the hope of picking up both food and permits to the Peau de Meau area. On route we saw our first Cattle Egrets and Black Kite of the trip, followed by another over the town square. We discovered that Friday morning is street market day until bang on 12 when everyone packs up, which coincidentally is when the Ecomusee closes for lunch. The staff here (by a large church, West side of town), were helpful and provided permits valid for any two dated days to visit Peau de Meau.
With permits and lunch procured we headed off to Peau de Meau, stopping at Etang des Aulnes for lunch. Having not read the site description from ‘oiseauxprovence’ carefully we did not check the lake thoroughly, just the area set aside for fishing. This held vocal Cetti’s Warblers, Fan Tailed Warbler, and 4 Great Egrets amongst the many Little Egrets roosting on the bank.
Driving on to Peau de Meau we reached the car park of this barren stony semi desert around 2pm – the area is quite different to that around Eyguieres Airport, and during our visits held far fewer visible birds. We left after an hour or so having seen little aside from Grey Wagtail at the car park and another Southern Grey Shrike together with the ubiquitous Magpies. This was clearly neither the right time of day, or year for that matter to visit this area.
In the remaining light we decided to see what we could up in the Alpilles, so headed off to Les Baux. Between St Martin and Maussane we stopped briefly by the road to scan an area of flooded fields, representing the Ancien Marais des Baux. This area would probably have been worth a longer look, and held large numbers of gulls in particular. Amongst the many Yellow Legged and Black headed were two or three Mediterranean Gulls. Perhaps more remarkable was the distinct pink wash present in the breast of many of the Black-headed Gulls, presumably a result of feeding on the same material as Flamingos?
Les Baux is apparently a pretty hill top town with lots of history, architecture and shops selling tat. None of which detained us. We parked at the top, and wandered around in a fairly bewildered manner, seeing large numbers of Blackcap (40-50), and the odd Sardinian Warbler around the car park, and then at a range of two feet or less a very obliging Alpine Accentor on one of the village walls. Further inspection of the cliffs around the town revealed 6 more Accentors plus 6 Crag Martins and a Raven or two. Due to the short amount of time left we did not enter the fort.
At five we travelled back towards Arles, stopping off to try for Eagle Owl at the site described by Chris Batty near the Mas de l’Oulivie restaurant. We stayed there until dark (7pm), adding Sparrowhawk and Blue Rock-thrush, but failed to see or hear any Owls.
Saturday the 6th
of March
Our plan on the Saturday had been to spend the day around the Camargue, checking various sites for Greater Spotted Eagle, Long Legged Buzzard, Black Stork, Crane etc. Unfortunately the rain put paid to our chances of seeing any of these birds, and generally nailed the day.
We started by driving to the Pont de Sylvereal on the South West side of Etang de Vaccares for our first stop. The wooded area on the West side of this (by the canoe hire centre) was full of small woodland birds, whilst the river itself provided views of a pair of Kingfishers and more surprisingly Osprey and Red-rumped Swallow. Beyond the bridge the area around the Etang de Sylvereal and Tortue fish farm area held large numbers of Egrets and provided our first decent views of Crested Lark.
Next we headed along to Stes Marie de la Mer along the D38 backroad. The marshes and lakes in the kilometre before the town prompted a worthwhile stop, producing great views of Flamingos along with numbers of waders and ducks, including both Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit, plus a pair of Marsh Harriers. A quick check of the sea produced Black-necked Grebe and three fly by Little Gulls. On into Stes Marie where a quick shop secured breakfast and lunch materials, before we headed a couple of miles along the La Digue track in search of a birdy spot in which to eat.
It should be said that the La Digue track is not a road, and barely a track, and almost certainly contravened the small print of our car-rental agreement. Well if they want that stuff to be read, they shouldn’t print it so small. Although the habitat along this road is splendid, birds were few and far between, and we added no new birds (the area the other side of town was better).
After breakfast we returned to Stes Marie and from there followed the roads around the Etang de Vaccares to the observation tower at Rousty. Stops along the route produced a superb view of perched Peregrine, along with our only White Stork of the trip, and countless numbers of Corn Buntings. The marshes visible from Rousty held good numbers of birds we had already seen plus faded wooden decoy Mallard and Teal. Next stop was Mas Neuf which apparently held Long Legged Buzzard – we were unable to find this.
Along the lakeshore to the reserve centre at La Capelliere we stopped at a number of likely looking spots. In general the lake held numbers of Coot, Great Crested Grebe and a few Black necked Grebe, but little else.
At La Capelliere we bought passes for the reserve and the hides at Salin de Badon, then followed the circuit around the reserve itself. The hides all look out over different areas of marsh habitat, whilst the trail passes through woodland, reedbeds and scrub, but unfortuantely the weather reduced bird activity to a minimum.
The main hide by the entrance covers a large pool favoured by diving duck – only Tufted and Pochard on our visit, whilst the neighbouring lake, overlooked by the last hide held more in the way of dabbling duck and waders (Snipe and Black-tailed Godwit). The first and second hides along the trail over look different ends of a pond surrounded by trees and small patches of reeds. This area held reasonably obliging Cetti’s Warbler and Water Rail. Beyond the final hide two low platforms overlooked lakes outside the reserve which were also fairly birdy – holding Little Grebe, Tufted Duck and Flamingo, and one or two distant singing acrocephalous type warblers.
Walking North from the reserve entrance road 200m to a private entrance track, following a high pitched wheezy call led to the discovery of 3 – 4 Penduline Tits in the marshes opposite this entrance track, along with further songs from out-of-sight acro’ warblers. We resolved to revisit this area later (at this point it was raining heavily).
Next we drove along the road to Le Sambuc stopping to view the Marais de Grenouillet, and on our return drive down the entrance road to Tour De Vallat (which added nothing). The Marais de Grenouillet appeared to be an excellent area, particularly for dabbling duck such as Wigeon, Gadwall and Pintail, unfortunately the weather here was really unhelpful.
We returned to the start of this road and then continued South to the Salin de Badon area (entrance easily missed). Again the habitat here is excellent, but the weather reduced bird activity greatly. In particular the rain made already narrow and wet trails pretty treacherous and it was a relief to get back to the car without having been for a swim.
From here we resolved to drive on the area of Salinas at the Southern end of the road, in the hope of being able to bird effectively from the car. This area, including the first km along the road to Phare de la Gacholle was very quiet – plenty of Yellow legged and Black headed Gulls, but little else, so we returned to the area 100m beyond the La Capelliere entrance track, where we remained until dusk.
Despite the poor weather this area was pretty lively, with small birds regularly moving through on their way to roost, plus the resident Sardinian, Cetti’s and finally well seen Moustached Warblers (6) all adding to the action. Good numbers of Penduline Tits were seen (15+), and then towards dusk, 50+ Bearded Tits gathered to the East of the road, calling as the moved across the road in small groups.
Sunday the 7th
of March
Peering out of the hotel window at the pre-dawn sky suggested a better day was in store, so having packed our gear into the car we headed off up to Les Baux, arriving in a rather fitter state than on our first visit, just before dawn.
This time we arrived from the South West, and parked in the first (lowest) roadside parking bay encountered before Les Buax. This is the correct place to follow the route outlined by Chris Batty. Around the base of Les Baux’s cliffs – through a gate onto a track signed to the village, then immediately right on a smaller path passed the statue of the Vierge Noire visible from the gate, and on around this level path.
Getting out of the car it was clearly very windy, with a strong northerly blow really chilling the air, however the sun was soon shinning on the cliff faces above, and out of the wind the temperature was tolerable. After an hour 4 Herring Gulls passed over and the birds using the cliffs started to warm up and move around – with 16 Crag Martins the first to become active.
Eventually we managed to pick out our target bird, Wallcreeper feeding along the cliffs, starting on the North face at the West end (near the road), gradually working its way around to near the Stele des Gaie sign. This prompted a flurry of activity with Firecrest, Serin, Chiffchaff, Alpine Accentor, Blue Rock-thrush and Cirl Bunting all putting in appearances on the cliffs.
By 9am we had lost track of the Wallcreeper and decided to move on to the hilltop radar station at La Caume. This is about a 45-60 minute walk from the main carpark, and after appearing miles off for some time you suddenly arrive there. En-route we saw little apart from a pair of Ravens, unable to satisfactorily track down the scratchy song associated with hidden warblers. It was beginning to appear that the wind was just too strong for us to pick up the sought after Bonelli’s Eagles.
On reaching the flat scrubby summit we sat down out of the wind in a patch of scrub to consume a chocolate bar. While sat in this area we were treated to nice views of a male Dartford Warbler, and caught sight of a partridge scudding past and over the cliff edge. This encouraged us to check the summit area more thoroughly, and although we failed to see partridge, a calling bird sounded disappointingly rather Red-legged. Aside from Robin and Song Thrush this process also flushed two small larks that were probably Short-toed, but both disappeared off into the distance.
More positively three birds of prey flew over the summit during this period, with surprising speed given the strong head-wind, the first being an adult Egyptian Vulture, followed by a pale phase Booted Eagle, and then a Bonelli’s Eagle. Longer views would have been nice, but these were good nonetheless. Returning to the car in higher spirits we eventually tracked down a pair of Crested Tits actively seeking a nesting hole. By now it was mid-day, and given our previously bird-less experience at Peau de Meau in the early afternoon we decided to have a proper Sunday lunch in Maussane.
Suitably fortified we decided to try to find the Richard’s Pipits reportedly over wintering at a place called Mas de Chauvet, near to Entressen. The area (directions given below) lies to the South of the large landfill tip West of Entressen and comprises large areas of open pasture used for sheep grazing, with a few remaining hedges. The fields were full of Starlings, Golden Plover, Lapwing and Linnets, with both Kites plus thousands of gulls visible on the horizon over the landfill, plus a distance quartering Hen Harrier. Two Richard’s Pipits fed actively and uncharacteristically visibly in 20m into the last field prior to the private Mas de Chauvet farm entrance track, North of the road.
We then short-cut across to the road from St Martin de Crau towards La Dynamite, passing the Etang d’ Entressen and landfill site. This route though offering astonishing views of apocalyptic plastic strewn fields, hedges, trees and reeds is best avoided – a number of the tracks are gated or lead through military areas not shown on maps of the area. Although the lake held thousands of gulls, mainly Black headed and Yellow Legged, with a few Herring there was little else to be seen here.
Having re-read the information we had in French on the Etang des Aulnes we learnt that it is a wintering site for up to 150 Red Crested Pochards, so stopped once again for a more thorough look, this time from the official picnic site. This produced a group of 6 Red Crested Pochards, plus our first Sand Martins (6) and Barn Swallows (8).
At around 4pm, in deteriorating weather we reached the car-park at Peau de Meau, and set up to watch bird activity until dusk. Although birds were more active – with two or three Southern Grey Shrikes, a Hooded Crow and a Stone Curlew the area was still pretty quiet, with no sign of the hoped for sandgrouse.
Dusk brought a repack and departure to the airport, which was reasonably well signed with the exception of the rental car return. After passing through car park no.2 twice we finally returned our car, undamaged and on time. Marseilles airport is poorly equipped to sell food, but we did manage to buy a couple of dull sandwiches from the bar before starting our flight back.
This area represents a reasonable place for a budget weekend bird-watching trip, based out of Arles. Flights to Marseille are frequent and cheap, and Arles is about a 45 minute drive from the airport, and most of the sites to be visited. Obviously in winter you are more subject to the vagaries of the weather, even in Southern France, than you would be during the spring or summer, and this will influence the success of any trip. Despite the weather we managed to see an interesting array of birds, from Little Bustard and Southern Grey Shrike in the Crau , through to Bonelli’s Eagle, Alpine Accentor and Wallcreeper in the Alpille, and Penduline Tit, Moustached Warbler and Flamingo in the Camargue.
The farm itself is not named on the 1:100K IGN map of Avignon Montpellier, but is shown on the 1:50K map for sale at the Ecomusee in St Martin de Crau. The staff here will show you where the place is on the map.
Directions using the 1:100K map. Take the D5 south from the A54-E80/N113 towards Entressen, and take the right turn at the cross roads before you reach the village, towards the Etang d’Entressen. Ignore the first by-road left (which heads back to Entressen) and before you can see the lake, turn left on a road that passes beneath the railway and an area marked as Le Grand Mas. Follow this road southwest, through a small wood with picnic site, and on about 1.5km to a turning on the right to the (private) Mas de Chauvet Farm. This track is shown on the map. Park at the start of the track – there is a pile of rubble and rougher pasture at this point – plus a large hedge line along side the farm entrance track. The Richard’s Pipits were feeding in the field North of the Road, about 30m from the hedge in the short-cropped grass.
Refer to the list available at (http://uk.geocities.com/pauljsharp/spt2004l.html), for a full listing of the birds seen on this trip.