This is a hopefully concise trip report about my recent visit to France, which means I should get it finished at least. I travelled from Aberdeen to Paris on 24th March, first by train to London then on the Eurostar to Paris. After a night there, I travelled the short distance to Fontainebleau and birded the forest before returning to Paris for a conference. After another day in Fontainebleau I headed on the TGV to Arles and spent six days there, visiting various spots in the Camargue, La Crau and Les Alpilles. I then headed to Toulon to get the overnight ferry to Bastia in Corsica. From here I went on the quite spectacular railway up to Corte in the centre of the island, where I spent three days. On Easter Sunday (8th April) I caught the afternoon ferry from Ajaccio to Toulon, where I stayed overnight before returning to Paris on the TGV. I got an afternoon Eurostar to London where I spent a few days at another conference before returning to Aberdeen. I’ll go through each ‘phase’ of the trip in turn, mentioning some of the highlights.
This is a well known site, about 45 minutes on the train from Gare de Lyon in Paris. I birded the grounds of the vast chateau and the mixed forest to the south of the town. The main targets were woodpeckers and I was able to see both Black Woodpecker and Middle-spotted Woodpecker. The former seemed to be particularly common, preferring the areas of mixed pine forest. I saw perhaps half a dozen. Some were just flight views but I enjoyed some wonderful looks at a few noisy male birds, which were going through their full repertoire of drums and calls. Three Middle-spotted Woodpeckers were seen in the more uniformly deciduous areas, one very well. I love the salmon pink vent and delicate streaking on the underparts of these neat birds. Crested Tits were vocal but sometimes hard to see in the pine forests and several Firecrests were seen well, with the woodland near the chateau, particularly where a few conifers were found, being the best area. Short-toed Treecreeper was also regularly encountered, giving its distinctive tit-like song. To someone used to Scottish woodlands, it was good to see the numerous Nuthatches and Marsh Tits and Black Redstarts were flitting about the more open areas. A highlight was a beautiful and rather grey Tawny Owl, seen after it was disturbed by mobbing birds one morning.