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France Limousin
   
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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!

 
 

This page is sponsored by...
Gite Onze

Discover beautiful La Creuse in the Limousin region of Southwest France. Our three-storey Gite in the village of Budeliere is completely, but sensitively modernised. Budeliere has a mini supermarket, boulangerie, restaurant, bar and much more two minutes from the front door. An easy walk away is a nature reserve and fishing lake, while further afield is the Bois De Lassoux, an accessible forest. Click the picture for details…
 

 

Fatbirder

Books, CDs etc

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

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

Website

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]

Birding Pal

Information

Local birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...

Chatras - The Creuse

Accommodation

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

Accommodation

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...

Number 11 - Budeliere, La Creuse

Accommodation

A fully refurbished 3 bedroom holiday Gite which is located in a small village in the Creuse, France. The Gite is surrounded by fishing lakes, rivers, & forest with the closest nature reserve 1 klm from the house. We are less then 12 Klm from “La réserve naturelle de l’étang des Landes” a 166 hectare nature reserve with 100 hectare lake and very diverse bird and wildlife population and great facilities for bird and wildlife fans. The lake has a 7.2 klm perimeter path and numerous hides...

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