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 birding...

         France Limousin

 







Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio ©Gerd Rossen http://www.digital-nature-photography.com/

The region consists of the Departments of: Correze, Creuse & Haute-Vienne. The traditional Provinces of: Limousin, Marche & Berry.

I cannot pretend to know the region well having only had one brief visit to the Creuse area staying at Chatras Farm Cottage [see below] but I can thoroughly recommend it for species which are absent or scarce in the UK.

For the most part the Creuse area is heavily wooded with many lakes and fast rivers making it terrific teritory for arboreal species and the many open areas of farmland, mostly producing cattle, are farmed sympatheitically so abound with butterflies and game such as hares, deer and wild boar.

Woodpeckers are particularly evident with black, grey-headed and middle spotted all present as well as green, lesser & greater-spotted, and short-toed treecreeper & nuthatch. Warblers seem to be everywhere with Melodious perhaps the most common but Western Bonnelli`s and Icterine quite easily found among the blackcaps, chiff-chaffs and more familiar species. Finches are equally common with serin most evident and plenty of hawfinches in the woods giving UK birders a chance to familiarise themselves with the unfamiliar. I saw juveniles for the first time. What is more golden orioles are numerous and thier fluting calls delight everywhere.

What impressed me most was how often one got good close-up views of raptors. My first evening spent sitting out gazing across the fields and woodland produced common buzzard, honey buzzard, black kite, sparrowhawk, and a stunning close up goshawk. Early morning saw a barn owl returning to the barn at Chatras Farm and nearby we heard long-eared owl and had good views of both short-toed and booted eagle.

A couple of days on the farm clocked up 62 species without much effort and this was high summer with no visits to marsh or lakeside... central France is underwatched and not an obvious choice for visiting birders - but it should be!

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  useful reading

 

Books, CDs etc

For guides to France n general, or more than one region see the Fatbirder France page...

  clubs

 

Societe pour l`Etude et la Protection des Oiseaux en Limousin

http://www.sepol.asso.fr/
Les observations effectuées durant la dernière période synthétisent 6302 inventaires citant 27807 observations contre 5231 inventaires et 26785 citations pour la précédente période, et concerne 214 espèces (dont 3 sous-espèces). [You can also report your sightings on line]

  trip reports

 

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you can’t find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page… give them a try!

  tour operators

 

Birding Pal

http://www.birdingpal.org/France.htm
Local birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...

  places to stay

 

Chatras - The Creuse

http://perso.libertysurf.fr/family.sales/
The cottage was built about two hundred years ago from granite quarried on the farm and has been painstakingly restored to retain many traditional features with beamed ceilings, granite flag floor and a typical Creuseois hearth. It is part of the complex of buildings, some medieval, forming a fine courtyard around a central fountain. We grow our own hay and cereals; while not 100% organic we are highly extensive - low stocking rates and minimal inputs of artificial fertilizer. This is normal in the area which has always been cattle country with none of the abuse of pesticides and herbicides that can go with big-time cereal farming. As a result birds and butterflies of all sorts abound. Hopooes, Golden Orioles, nightingales and an amazing variety of raptors visit us. All of the European woodpecker species (including the Black) are seen on the farm together with an impressive selection of warblers and tits. The Spring and Autumn Crane migrations are extraordinary with tens of thousands of birds passing overhead, all calling to one another.

Moulin de la Geneste

http://www.lageneste.net/
Moulin de la Geneste is located in the Correze region of the Limousin, affectionately known as the "Lake District" of France (fantastic for fishing) and is situated in almost 10 acres of undulating land with a lake and a small trout river. Part of the land and small wood have been "left to nature" and is home to an abundance of birds, butterflies and lizards etc...

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