Requests for Auvergne (1 Viewer)

[Sittelle]

Hi all,
I will be in the Auvergne regions of Ydes and Ussel over the Christmas holidays for a few days and was hoping to get a bit of birding done. As I am with the family I will probably not be able to travel too far (from google maps I see the two regions are nearish to two national parks, not sure how far from the towns they are), so if there are any close by areas for good birding I would greatly appreciate any info on them. As well, which would be the best (for finding birds) guide to the region?
Many thanks
Sittelle.

 

[Richard Prior]

Hi Sittelle,

I don't know about up to date books, but whenever I'm going to a part of France that I don't know well, I go onto the local www.faune site.
So for your holiday location I went on to www.faune-auvergne.org, clicked on the left hand-side - les observations - les 15 derniers jours, then clicked on 15 on the next page (Cantal département, where you will be) and then could see all reports from Cantal for the last two weeks. You're probably familiar with all this so sorry if I'm trying to 'teach grandma to suck eggs' here! I see there's a Red-throated Diver there at the moment which must be quite a rarity so far inland.

I hope this helps,

Richard

 

[Sittelle]

Hi Richard,
Thanks very much for that info, will definitely be using it for the trip. A nice website.
All the best,
Sittelle.

 

[Torchepot]

Hi Sitelle

I agree with Richard, the www.faune site is very useful. You will be actually quite close to neighbouring Correze in Limousin so it may also be worth checking out http://www.faune-limousin.eu/index.php as well. If you follow the same routine by selecting the last 15 days you can further refine the results by selecting 19 (Correze dept) and even further by rare, tres rare etc.
I don't know if you are interested in any particular species but there are several wallcreeper wintering sites not too far away, probably the closest to your Ydes location is the Barrage de L'aigle (eagle dam) which usually has bird(s) present - two were reported a few days ago. It's South and a bit West from Ydes, from memory West of Mauriac on the D678 (better double check that though )

There are often two birds there through the winter.

This seems to be a bumper winter for wallcreeper in Limousin I think 7 or more have been reported so far.

Regarding books on the area Crozier's Birdwatching South of the Loire is probably your best bet - though central France doesn't get much coverage. Dubois Where to watch birds in France is rather dated (25 years old now). Both mention the Plateau de Millevaches and Puy-de-Dome areas if I remember rightly (which can both be a bit bleak in winter!)

There is also a very good online atlas for the birds of France which can help if you want to pinpoint certain species www.atlas-ornitho.fr

If you select Atlas des oiseaux en hiver (under the Consulter heading) you'll find the wintering atlas.

Hope this helps,

Best wishes from one nuthatch to another :t:

Phil

 

[Sittelle]

Hi Phil,
Many thanks for the response, I was unaware that wallcreepers wintered so close to the area..a day trip to (at least) one of the sites will definitely be planned.
Thanks again,
Francois.

 

[Torchepot]

Hi Francois

By chance someone has just started a project on the wintering sites of wallcreeper in Limousin and has asked birders to check out any potential sites in the region. They can turn up almost anywhere and it's worth having a look at any big old buildings - churches, cathedrals, castles and big old chateaux (especially ruins) can prove productive. Dams seem to be a favourite and the Eagle Dam is the only site in Limousin (to my knowledge) that regularly gets two birds.
They are most certainly under recorded - when I tried to report one from the Thaurion Gorge a few years back I was first told that I'd seen a GS woodpecker and then a dipper!!? It was on some quite small (maybe 5 metres high) vertical rock faces that could hardly qualify as cliffs - it was later seen on a nearby hydro-electric dam.

There is a preliminary map of sites here:-
http://www.faune-limousin.eu/index....p=2016&sp_tg=1&tframe=0&action=sp&maptype=max

As you can see there are loads! Eagle Dam is the blue circle.

Weekends can be a good time to visit as there are sometimes local birders there.

Best of luck,

Phil

 

[Sittelle]

Hi Phil,
That's great, will definitely check out any old big building that I come by. Great to see a project set up.
Many thanks again, much appreciated,
Francois.