Les Étangs de La Brenne (1)

This posting and the one next week are of images taken near St-Michel-en-Brenne in La Brenne, a Natural Park Reserve in Indre, France.

These first ones were taken at L'étang Ricot.

Pochard

Ever get the feeling you're being followed?

Mallard

Great Crested Grebe (+ chicks)

Le ragodin (Coypu)

This is, of course, an alien species and 'shouldn't be in these waters'.

Marsh Harrier

All the images were taken from the hide at this location.

Before calling it a day, I went down the road to L'étang de la Sous to check things out there.

I took the following images:

Black-headed Gull (they're everywhere!)

Finally ... ...

Mute Swan

Next week all the images will be from L'étang de la Sous.

Le Marquenterre, Somme

These are some of the photographs I took at Le Marquenterre reserve, Somme, France.  The reserve is part of the Baie de Somme Nature Reserve.  The nearest small town is Rue, where I stayed for a couple of nights.  The reserve is an hour's drive from the Channel Tunnel.  Members of the RSPB can claim a 10% discount.  The restaurant is excellent.

Sedge Warbler

♫ ♫ ♫

This Sedge Warbler greeted me as I entered the reserve from the visitor centre.  There were plenty more.  Here's another.  There were Nightingale, but they were outnumbered.  (and invisible!)

The closest I could get to White Stork was across a medium sized lagoon.

White Stork

By this stage it was showing signs of rain, but I was able to observe Avocet from one of the hides.

Avocet (and chick)

Follow me

Of course, there is no escaping the ubiquitous Black-headed Gull!

Black-headed Gull

Now there were short, but heavy showers!


My 'target species' on this particular visit was Eurasian Spoonbill.  They are to be found a various locations on the south coast of England and I see them (from a distance) frequently at Poole Harbour.  However, at Le Marquenterre there is a breeding colony and there's always a chance of getting closer.

Spoonbill

Testing, testing

Shake it all about

Up to scratch

Now, which pocket did I ... ... ?

All that preparation done, it flew off and more rain fell.

Out of its element (Cormorant)

As I was photographing the Cormorant, the rain started to fall heavily and without break.  I was dressed and equipped to cope with the rain, but the wildlife was taking shelter and, in any event, images would be marred with 'stair-rods' of rain.  I wandered back to the visitor centre and had a slightly-early, light lunch.

Then it was back to Rue (only a few minutes away).  I picked up petrol at the Carrefour supermarket and spent the afternoon processing the images I had.

A feature of Rue is that it's on the railway and, if the weather were really a total wash-out, you could always catch a train to one of the larger centres such as Amiens or Abbeville for some cultural exploration.

My next blog will feature images from my first day in La Brenne,  near the village of St-Michel-en-Brenne, Indre.