LA
CONFIANCE -
Birds in the Brenne
Our Gardens at La Confiance are a delight for Bird
Watchers, wake up in the morning to Nightingale Song, watch the
Great Tits eat their breakfast while you eat yours! Later in the
day watch the Blackcaps in the Conifers.
We can give you a map of our local area with marked
walks, but you won't need to go far to see the Montagu's Harriers
in the farmers field behing us.
*STOP PRESS* Sue & Chris visited Neons-sur-Cruese
on Sunday 11th May and viewed the beautiful Bee Eaters, who had
returned the previous week, they were a delight to see.
Below is a report written by visitors to La Confiance
in Spring 2008.
La Brenne - 29 April to 3 May 2008
Steve and Liz Oakes and Tony Goddard, all from the South Wilts RSPB
Local Group, visited La Brenne, intending to return with a group
of birders the following year. Our accommodation at La Confiance
in the hamlet of Champ D’Oeuf, just south of Azay-le-Ferron
in the north west of La Brenne, is ideal for a small group. Sue
and Chris, the resident hosts, offer a warm welcome and trained
chef Chris produces wonderful meals. The best areas of La Brenne
are nearby and local walks are very rewarding.
Travel to La Brenne is possible by flying to Tours or Poitiers,
driving either from the ferry ports or via the tunnel or by train
to Tours.
Wednesday 30 April
Our first pre breakfast walk, a loop along the road through the
hamlet of Champ d’Oeuf, gave a taste of the abundant local
bird life. Nightingales sang in the hedgerows, cirl buntings flew
up from the edge of the road and turtle doves purred their song.
Breakfast at 8.30am was, as for all meals, a social one with our
hosts Sue and Chris eating with us. French bread, croissants, home-made
preserves, cereal, fresh fruit and yoghurt with ample tea and coffee
made for a good send off for the day.
We headed for the Maison de la Nature at the Cherine reserve where
Tony Williams was on site from 10am. His up to date knowledge is
crucial to getting the most out of a birding visit to La Brenne.
It is his job to ensure visitors get the information they need to
enjoy their visit to the full.
Armed with knowledge of the current best sites for key species
we first headed to etang Miclou. Here we experienced one of the
wonders of La Brenne, hundreds of whiskered terns feeding over the
etang. Having absorbed this spectacle we began to pick out black
tern, black-necked grebe, purple heron and garganey.
After coffee and a sandwich at the restaurant overlooking etang
de la Gabriere, we were pleased to see a single red-crested pochard
on the etang. Now we headed for a partially drained etang which
had a good edge for wading birds. Here black-winged stilt, ruff,
common sandpiper, greenshank, and spotted redshank (one in especially
fine plumage) provided virtually our only waders of the trip.
Black kites were ever present and roadside stops produced red-backed
shrike, zitting cisticola, hoopoe, serin and even lesser spotted
woodpecker. Our last location of the day was etang Essarts where
the Mediterranean gulls were stunning, a pair of short-toed eagles
flew low overhead and a grasshopper warbler reeled its song from
near the car park.
On return to La Confiance, as ever, a fine four-course meal awaited
us at 7pm, preceded by aperitifs at 6.45pm - what a wonderful finish
to the day!
Thursday 1 May
A slightly longer pre breakfast walk takes in hedgerows, copses
and fields where turtle doves and corn buntings feed on the ground.
Golden orioles called and gave occasional flight views and a black
redstart sang from a roof.
After breakfast, we set off to the Foret de Lancosme, specifically
to Chappelle St-Sulpice. Here the woodland species slowly revealed
themselves, having given away their presence by their song –
western Bonnelli’s warbler, short-toed treecreeper, marsh
tit and nuthatch. Great spotted is the only woodpecker, there is
no sign of middle spotted or black.
Quiches from the boulangerie in the local town of Martizay are
welcome after our foray into the foret!
Roadside stops en route to the Beauregard trail give views of osprey,
cattle egret (smart in their breeding plumage), marsh and hen harriers.
Along the trail nightingales try to out sing each other and a melodious
warbler eventually perches out in full view.
Back at La Confiance we share our news of the day with our hosts
over another splendid meal from Chris.
Friday 2 May
A different pre breakfast walk reveals better views of cirl buntings
by the roadside and a serin in song outside our rooms.
After breakfast we head for Neons-sur-Creuse. This town is just
18km from Champ d’Oeuf and known for its bee-eater colony,
but the birds haven’t yet returned this year. We plan to return
with our group next year, slightly later to ensure the bee-eaters
are back.
Increasingly warm and sunny conditions welcome our arrival at a
local nature reserve south of Rosnay. Here we enjoy views of soaring
honey buzzard and pale-phase booted eagle. We also enjoy the tongue
and green-winged orchids – and the pizza slices from the boulangerie!
The Beauregard trail, this time from the western end, at last gives
views of singing nightingale and on the etang black-necked grebes
are stunning in their breeding plumage. A short stop at the Gabriere
restaurant for coffee enables us to note red-crested pochards in
double figure numbers on both etang Gabriau and etang de la Gabriere.
Our final drive back to Champ d’Oeuf gives us a chance sighting
of a black woodpecker in flight – wow! We arrive back in time
for a short local walk and are thrilled to watch at close range
a male Montagu’s harrier and two females. Stunning!
We enjoy our final evening with Sue and Chris and another superb
meal.
BIRDS SEEN IN BRENNE DURING THE VISIT
Great Crested Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Little Grebe
Cormorant
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Mute Swan
Mallard
Garganey
Common Teal
Northern Shoveler
Tufted Duck
Common Pochard
Red-crested Pochard
Osprey
Honey Buzzard
Black Kite
Short-toed Eagle
Booted Eagle
Marsh Harrier
Hen Harrier
Montague's Harrier#
Sparrowhawk#
Common Buzzard#
Hobby
Common Kestrel#
Pheasant
Moorhen
Coot
Black-winged Stilt
Lapwing
Spotted Redshank
Greenshank
Common Sandpiper
Ruff
Black-tailed Godwit
Black headed Gull#
Mediterranean Gull
Black Tern
Whiskered Tern
Feral Pigeon
Wood Pigeon#
Collared Dove#
Turtle Dove#
Cuckoo
Barn Owl
Swift#
Hoopoe
Black Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker#
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark#
Wood Lark
Sand Martin
Swallow#
House Martin
Tree Pipit
White Wagtail#
Grey Wagtail
Wren#
Dunnock#
Nightingale#
Whinchat
Stonechat#
Robin#
Black Redstart#
Mistle Thrush
Song Thrush
Blackbird#
Zitting Cisticola
Melodious Warbler
Western Bonelli's Warbler
Chiffchaff#
Garden Warbler#
Blackcap#
Common Whitethroat#
Blue Tit#
Marsh Tit
Great Tit#
Long-tailed Tit
Nuthatch
Short-toed Treecreeper
Red-backed Shrike
Jay#
Magpie#
Rook#
Carrion Crow#
Jackdaw#
Starling#
Golden Oriole#
House Sparrow#
Chaffinch#
Goldfinch#
Greenfinch#
Linnet#
Serin#
Corn Bunting#
Yellowhammer#
Cirl Bunting#
# = birds seen/heard within 1km of La Confiance 29th April - May
4th 2008
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