The first location was in the southwest near the small town of Septfond ... a quiet spacious campsite set in oak woodland with Golden Oriole, Woodlark, Turtle Dove, Nightingale, Short-toed Treecreeper, Honey-buzzard and Western Bonelli's Warbler ... the lanes around the town had Melodious Warbler, Cirl Bunting, Corn Bunting and a miriad Blackcaps.
The species that interested me the most was Western Bonelli's Warbler ... these were singing almost constantly from the taller scattered oaks through the campsite ... unlike our own phylloscs they were quite hard to observe ... they sang from the high canopy remaining in one position while looking around ... they would then relocate to another tree before singing again ...
... the song, a repeat of a single note has two subtly different frequencies ... often the fast version is followed by the slow rendition ... the call is upwardly inflected and has a husky timbre ... a really delightful species well worth the effort to observe ...
The next place was on the Mediterranean coast at Gruissan, with its saltpans, etang, and limestone hills ... the wetland areas had hundreds of Flamingoes, many juveniles ...
... and spectacular adults ...
... Black-winged Stilt, Crested Lark, Glossy Ibis, Short-toed Lark, Zitting Cisticola and some apparent intergrade Yellow Wagtails of probable cinereocapilla x iberiae origin ...
... Kentish Plover, a male ...
... and a female ...
... but the best of all here were Slender-billed Gulls, on the etang, saltpans and some coastal lagoons ...
... the limestone hills had their own delights with Bee-eaters passing overhead, Tawny Pipit, Southern Grey Shrike and Woodchat Shrike ...
... more warblers in the shape of Dartford and Subalpine and that typical Mediterranean species, Sardinian ...
... Serin, sang from a high branch ...
The Tarn Gorges and adjacent Causses were the next location, just half a day's drive to the north ...
Black Vultures numbered only a few but Griffon Vultures were in the skies in good numbers ...
... while Wryneck called in the scattered woodland where more Western Bonelli's Warblers were scattered and overhead, Black Kite, Goshawk and Short-toed Eagle occupiued the skies ... Crag Martins wizzed around the church ...
The Causse had Ortolan Bunting, Hoopoe, Red-backed Shrike, Chough and a good scattering of Rock Sparrows ...
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