Birding Trip Report
by Andrew Williams
Côtes d’Armor, Brittany,
This was to be a family holiday for ourselves, our young children and their grandparents, as such the scope for specific birding trips was always going to be limited. The birding described below was done during family day visits to the local area but also directly from the gîte which was blessed with pretty good birding habitats.
Although the content of this report is limited, in terms of the species seen and particular birding sites visited, I was keen to write a small report because my search before I went yielded little information about birding in
The Lieue de Grève at sunset
Accommodation
We stayed at a fantastic gîte at Land-Gily, in St Michel-en-Grève, near Lannion on the Côtes de Granite Rose, in the Côtes d’Armor department of
The gîte was very well equipped and beautifully kept, with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It is up a steep hill, with awesome views of the entire
St Michel-en-Grève
The bay has an immense tidal range but is very sheltered from winds and waves. This means that it regularly suffers ‘green tides’ where marine algae grow rapidly and get deposited in large strands on the beach. The fertility of the bay attracted gulls, waders and geese in impressive numbers in the week we visited.
Sites visited
St Michel-en-Grève
The location of the gîte, already described above. A small coastal village at the east end of the Lieue de Grève. It is a great spot for local birding, with the tide bringing a range of waders and large numbers of gulls (worth checking for rarer gulls passing through and vagrant waders in the right conditions, although I didn’t find any in the week I was there). Roosts of waders, notably curlew and oystercatcher, with vast numbers of sanderling and some dunlin feeding every day. Kingfisher, little egret, grey and white wagtails, meadow pipit. The pine trees on the hills surrounding the bay held firecrests in abundance, along with goldcrest, crested tit, jay along with green and great spotted woodpeckers.
Pointe de Primel
A rocky point at the NE end of the Baie de Morlaix, enclosing a calm bay on one side with a sandy beach on the seaward side. Rock pipit, little egret, grey plover, turnstone, ringed plover, sandwich tern, grey heron.
Ploumanac’h, Perros-Guirec
A truly spectacular and magical little beach with amazing granite rock formations. A great place to take the kids. The small headland accessed across the west end of the beach is a beautiful maze of rock formations, pine, oak and birch trees where you can make yourself inconspicuous and get close to firecrests and other passerines as well as jays which are very common here. Also seen here: green woodpecker, rock pipit, little egret.
Ploumanac'h
L’Acrouest
Another beautiful spot, overlooking the rocky island coastline and towards the île de Brehat. The beach near the car park produced a mixed flock of finches, including brambling. Two sandwich terns fished near the shore and common gull was present here.
Sillon de Talbert
An awesome 2 mile spit with a famous lighthouse, among rocky islands revealed at low tide as a lunar-landscape stretching to the horizon.
Turnstone, sanderling, dunlin, 1 peregrine seen out to sea. I didn’t get long to truly make the most of this site and would like to spend more time here.
Locquirec
A pretty seaside village at the west end of the Lieue de Grève. One of the few places where house sparrow was abundant. A pretty beach with turnstone and a few sanderling, curlew.
Carantec
A brilliant spot to watch tidal movements of waders and geese at the NW end of the Baie de Morlaix. The scenic road from Morlaix is worth a drive after high tide with extensive mudflats revealed right next to the road. Enormous numbers of brent geese were present along with waders and gulls.
Systematic Species List
Great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus; singles at St Michel-en-Grève and at L’Acrouest.
Gannet Morus bassana; two at Pointe de Primel, scarce from the ferry.
Little egret Egretta garzetta; common all around the coast in ones and twos.
Little egret, L'Acrouest
Grey heron Ardea cinerea; fairly uncommon; one at Pointe de Primel and occasional at St
Michel-en-Grève.
Brent goose Branta bernicla; flock of 250-300 birds at St Michel-en-Grève; huge numbers
in the Baie de Morlaix (over 2500 birds seen in flight at Carantec).
Brent geese
Ruddy shelduck Tadorna ferruginea; 2 birds, probably escapes, at St Michel-en-Greve present all week.
Common buzzard Buteo buteo; probably less common than in
Common buzzard
Kestrel Falco tinnunculus; common inland and around the coast.
Peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus; one at Sillon de Talbert.
Oystercatcher Haemotopus ostralegus; very abundant
Ringed plover small group at Pointe de Primel.
Grey plover one at Pointe de Primel.
Sanderling Calidris albus; enormous numbers at St Michel-en-Grève (c.2500 at low tides);
very frequent around the coast on sandy shores.
Sanderling, Locquirec
Turnstone Arenaria interpres; common in small flocks on most beaches visited.
Turnstone, Pointe de Primel
Curlew Numenius arquata; roost of c.100 birds at St Michel-en-Grève; frequent in ones and
twos around coast.
Herring gull Larus argentatus; common.
Great black-backed gull Larus marinus; frequent.
Lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscus; frequent.
Common gull Larus canus; frequent around the coasts in small groups.
Common gull, Carantec
Black-headed gull Larus ridibundus; very common at all sites; huge roost of 2000+ birds
at St Michel-en-Grève.
Sandwich tern Sterna sandvicensis; one at Pointe de Primel; two fishing at L’Acrouest.
Wood pigeon Columba palumbus; frequent.
Collared dove Streptopelia decaocto; frequent.
Kingfisher Alcedo atthis; one at St Michel-en-Grève on the beach.
Green woodpecker Picus viridis; one at St Michel-en-Grève; one on the beach at
Ploumanac’h.
Female green woodpecker, St Michel-en-Grève
Great spotted woodpecker Dendrocopops major; one at St Michel-en-Grève.
White wagtail Motacilla alba alba; frequent.
Grey wagtail Motacilla cinerea; one at St Michel-en-Grève.
Rock pipit Anthus petrosus; common at Pointe de Primel but noticeably absent in other
areas visited.
Meadow pipit Anthus pratensis; seemed to replace rock pipit in many coastal areas,
notably Carantec, although this could be seasonal.
(Winter) wren Troglodytes troglodytes; frequent.
Dunnock Prunella modularis; much more common than in the
in small groups around the coast.
Robin Erithacus rubecula; frequent.
Stonechat Saxicola torquata; one male at St Michel-en-Grève.
Song thrush Turdus philomelos; very frequent with other thrushes.
Redwing Turdus iliacus; a few with other thrushes at L’Acrouest.
Mistle thrush Turdus viscivora; frequent with other thrushes.
Blackbird Turdus merula; common.
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla; two at St Michel-en-Grève.
Dartford warbler Sylvia undata; one at St Michel-en-Grève.
Zitting cisticola Cisticola juncidis; one seen at Roscoff.
Chiffchaff Phylloscopus colybita; two birds at at St Michel-en-Grève.
Chiffchaff in autumn evening light, St Michel-en-Grève
Willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus; one very yellow juvenile with two chiffchaffs at
St Michel-en-Grève.
Cetti’s warbler Cettia cetti; one heard singing at St Michel-en-Grève.
Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus; very common in small groups in any tall trees everywhere I
visited, but Ploumanac’h is a good spot to get close to them.
Goldcrest Regulus regulus; two birds at St Michel-en-Grève.
Blue tit Parus caeruleus; common.
Great tit Parus major; common.
Coal tit Parus ater; frequent with great, blue and crested tits.
Crested tit Parus cristatus; two birds resident in the garden of the gîte in pine trees.
Crested tit, St Michel-en-Grève
Long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus; common in small groups, more so than
Magpie Pica pica; common.
Jay Garrula garrulus; much more common than in the
including at least 6 birds around the beach at Ploumanac’h.
Jackdaw Corvus monedula; common.
Carrion crow Corvus corone corone; common.
Raven Corvus corax; one at St Michel-en-Grève.
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