GREAT WHITES AND CRANES

A three day trip to France to watch the spectacle of 30000 common cranes coming in to roost at Lac Du Der de Chantercoq near St Dizier was not quite as successful as the last time, however we saw plenty of cranes and lots of great white egrets.The weather was fine the first day and some of the cranes apparently took advantage of the sunshine to move further south,leaving in large noisy flocks.
A great white egret kept us entertained while waiting for the roost flight,at least 8 egrets were on the lake and one kept returning to the viewing area working its way along the shore until it got too close for comfort then would fly back to the starting point once more.Sods law kicked in and very few cranes arrived from the west where the assembled crowd were waiting patiently,most seemed to arrive from the north and east so we gave up and found the hotel in St Dizier.

65 COMMON CRANES WHEELING ON A THERMAL

 COMMON CRANE FLY PAST ,The call of the crane is incessant and unforgettable

 and one on the ground

 THE AUTUMN LEAVES

 GREAT WHITE EGRET

 DOWN IN ONE

 THATS CLOSE ENOUGH

 BACK TO THE BEGINNING

 FEMALE RED BREASTED MERGANSER??

 THE EGRETS BACK

 A FLIGHT OF GOOSANDER
It rained thursday and it hardly stopped all day so most of our birding was done from the car

 This was seen in a chemists window.

 Avery late white stork still at the nest, and a very grey day, not made for photography.

 As we passed over a bridge we could see large numbers of egrets and cormorants feeding below so we parked and walked back there were 44 great egrets 100s of cormorants a few grey herons and a single little egret,the only one of the trip!

 11 GREAT EGRETS

 COMMON CRANES FEED ON THE OLD MAIZE FIELDS,they are very flighty and nervous if the car stops.

MARTIN PECHEUR A FRENCH KINGFISHER.

There are buzzards everywhere in the region and this one raised our hopes but it is a very pale COMMON BUZZARD,possibly a juvenile bird from northern Germany or southern Sweden(see Collins)
On Friday we went for a tramp in the local woods and found great,lesser and middle spotted woodpecker,hawfinch, brambling, marsh tit, treecreeper,nuthatch several buzzards and a fly over male hen harrier.I think we ended up with only 64 species but the weather did not help on the last two days.All in all a good little trip thankyou Steve for driving and Pete for navigating.