A Lovely Day

A super day today but I got up rather late having sat up listening to the Test Match - England rubbing Aussie noses in the dirt happens too rarely to be missed.

We decided to go to Bessan and explore the rough grassland and low input agriculture for Little Bustards.  Immediately on arrival a flock of 50 were seen high up and moving away from our area.  They eventually dropped down and despite a fairly thorough search we did not see them again.  We did find a pair of superb Hen Harriers, several Buzzards, 2 Woodlarks and 7 Skylarks.

Moving on we tried the harbour at Vendres where 18 Little Egrets had found a thawed out ditch and in the harbour itself there were two Black-necked Grebes.

We then tried the road by the sewerage works at Pissevache and discovered a new bird for me in France on the shallow saline lake.  Amazingly two redhead Goosanders.  On a lake further on there was a patch of unfrozen water and a good number of wildfowl.  These included 125 Shelduck, 150 Shoveler, 200 Teal, 50 Wigeon and 30 Mallard.  Additionally 90 Greater Flamingos looked very uncomfortable tip-toeing around the icy edges to feed.  Meanwhile a Marsh Harrier flew by.

On the way home two Cattle Egrets were noted at Cabresac.