Naturetrek Tour Report June 2007

Transcription

1 Naturetrek June 2007 Botrange Scorpion Fly Silver-washed Fritillary Wall Lizard Report & photos compiled by Gerald Broddelez Naturetrek Cheriton Mill Cheriton Alresford Hampshire SO24 0NG England T: +44 (0) F: +44 (0) E: W:

2 Belgium in Summer Tour Leader: Gerald Broddelez Participants: Rob Baxter Mary Lubbock Catherine Patrick Margaret Barker INTRODUCTION We did another successful trip to Belgium in the summer. The weather was very unstable with overcast weather for the first couple of days and overcastted and rainy on the last. This did influence the itinerary but not the quality of our sightings as we saw a good variety of birds, butterflies and plants. A small but keen group of nature lovers had a great time identifying the approx 30 species of butterflies and seeing and hearing a good selection of birds and plants. Accommodation in charming local hotels with excellent food and great picnics were much appreciated by everyone and made an important part of the success of this trip. Finally culture was not forgotten with a visit to Brugges and reminders of the Second World War spread all over the Ardennes. Day 1 Thursday 21st June Lille Famenne Salmchateau Weather details: Sunny, overcast from time to time Everybody arrived on time with the Eurostar and soon we were on our way to the Ardennes. We decided to leave the area and proceed to the Famenne were we stopped at my house. Here from the balcony we had fantastic sights of a pair of Red-backed Shrikes that were breeding in the garden and good views of a Yellowhammer at the feeders! After our first picnic lunch we made a short walk along the river quickly adding several flying beauties such as Marbled White and Lesser Marbled Fritillary butterflies and a rare Orange-spotted Emerald Dragonfly to the list. Our first rain shower changed our plans and so we made a stop at the local quarry. The resident Eagle Owl remained elusive but several Grey Wagtails and a Buzzard showed well. We then drove north towards Vielsalm stopping near Bar Fraiture in the fagnes. Butterflies were hiding but we found several Ringlets and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary while in the bushes both Blackcap (trouble) and Garden Warbler (fish market) were singing so that we could compare their song. We continued our journey east and arrived at our local and charming hotel in the Ardennes just in time for a quick fresh up and a wonderful dinner. Naturetrek July 07 1

3 Day 2 Friday 22nd June Salmchateau Hertogenwald Hautes Fagnes Weather details: Overcast with sunny spells, some light drizzle After passing the famous Formula 1 circuit of Francorchamps we stopped at a small marshy area home to some rare butterflies. Unfortunately the weather was still grey and cold so we did not find our target butterflies! This was however quickly compensated when first a Red Kite and then a very rare Black Stork flew low overhead giving fantastic views! We then drove onto the plateau to the Hautes Fagnes were we walked on the edge of the pine forest along a large open heath land area. We soon found several Ringlets, Large Skippers and many Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and good selections of moths. Birds were keeping a low profile, still many birds were calling from the forest and we spend some time listening and identifying the different calls and songs. Next we stopped at the viewpoint at Botrange and scanned the treetops carefully. We did find several Tree Pipits and several Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and admired the spectacular view over the area. After a short visit to the visitor centre for a coffee and/or comfort stop, we found ourselves at a nice shady spot near the barrage of the Vesdre and took our picnic. The afternoon was spent in the forest near Eupen were we made a walk along the barrage. We had several sightings of Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper and Wood Warbler. Near a small quarry we found good numbers of Wall Lizards and a young Grey Wagtail hiding under the rocks. A last stop near a small river before the heavens came down, produced a family of Dippers flying back and forth. Day 3 Saturday 23rd June Chalkhill area Nismes Weather details: Overcast with occasional sunny periods and rain After another (unsuccessful) short stop at the Eagle Owl quarry we drove to Lavaux for lunch and spent most of the late morning here. Many butterflies including several Marbled White, Silver-washed Fritillary, Essex Skipper, Wood White and Pearly Heath were seen. The birds were also active with good sightings of a family of Great Grey Shrike (another very rare breeding bird) and several Red-backed Shrikes and Lesser Whitethroat. The area is also rich in plants and orchids, with several species like Fragrant, Monkey and Spotted Orchid seen. Our next stop in the forests near Nismes also proved to be very successful. A Roe Deer stood on the trail and many Beautiful Demoiselles were dancing over the river. In the beech forests a nice collection of butterflies were competing for our attention. Several Lesser Marbled Fritillaries a beautiful Emperor Butterfly and several White Admirals were seen but a sudden and heavy shower made us leave the area faster then we would have liked! After having checked in to our nice hotel we made another short outing to an area nearby. Here several Darkgreen Fritillaries stole the show and we also had good views of Weaver s Fritillary and Brown Argus. Plants were also well represented with Dark-red Helleborine and Lizard Orchid seen. 2 Naturetrek July 07

4 Day 4 Sunday 24th June Nismes Kalmthout Blokkersdijk Zwin -Oostende Weather details: Grey, overcast, rain After stocking up with provisions we drove north towards Antwerp, where we made a first stop near Kalmthout. Here we made a short walk in the typical heath land and were rewarded with great sightings of a flyby Hobby, several Crested Tits, a pair of Woodlark and calling Stonechat. We also found good numbers of Silver-studded Blue and a single Brown Argus. As it was cool, not many dragonflies were active but careful checking of the vegetation revealed several species as Blue-tailed Damselfly, Small-red and Azure Damselfly, Four-spotted Chaser and White-faced Darter. We then drove to Blokkersdijk through the tunnel under the River Schelde, a large lake surrounded by reed beds and famous for its large wildfowl concentrations. By carefully scanning the lake we found large numbers of Tufted Ducks, Common Pochard, Gadwall and Mute Swans with young and a Marsh Warbler singing from the nearby vegetation. An hour later driving in the rain we arrived at the Nature reserve of the Zwin were we went inside looking at a large variety of waterbirds. White storks were seen near the entrance on the nest with their chicks and from the dyke we had great views over the wetland. On the sandy beaches and the small islets in the lagoon we saw several waders in summer plumage, Redshanks and Spotted Redshank many Oystercatchers closely watched by a single Avocet. A large number of gulls and terns were roosting on the islets and included several Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Sandwich Tern. After this we made a short stroll through the salt brush vegetation were we found several Little Egret and had good looks at displaying Meadow Pipits, singing Skylarks and a single Zitting Cisticola! It had been a good afternoon so we drove back to the Hotel stopping at a breakwater near Oostende with its attending Turnstones. Day 5 Monday 25th June Brugge - Lille Weather details: Overcast and cool, 16 max After breakfast we drove to Brugge were we had an appointment with our local guide that gave us, in two and a half hours, a brief but interesting summary of the history of the city. We drove to another nature reserve were we took our picnic adding Holly Blue and Small Copper to the list, but to soon it was time to leave, for we had to take the Eurostar train by mid afternoon. We all agreed that despite the weather it had been a great trip with many good birds, excellent butterflies and plants. a la prochaine! Naturetrek July 07 3

5 Species Lists Birds June Common name Scientific name Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 2 Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus 3 Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 4 Little Egret Egretta garzetta 8 5 Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 6 Black Stork Ciconia nigra 1 7 White Stork Ciconia ciconia 8 Mute Swan Cygnus olor 9 Canada Goose Branta canadensis 10 Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna 11 Gadwall Anas strepera Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 13 Common Pochard Aythya ferina Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula 5 15 Shelduck Tadorna tadorna Shoveler Anas clypeata 2 17 Red Kite Milvus milvus 1 18 Common Buzzard Buteo buteo 19 Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus 1 20 Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus 21 Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo 1 22 Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 4 23 Common Coot Fulica atra 24 Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 25 Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus 26 Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta 1 27 Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus 28 Turnstone Arenaria interpres Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata 3 30 Common Redshank Tringa totanus 6 31 Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus 1 32 Greenshank Tringa nebularia 1 33 Common Gull Larus canus 34 Herring Gull Larus argentatus 35 Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus graellsi 36 Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus 37 Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus 1 38 Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis 1 39 Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus 40 Stock Dove Columba oenas 4 41 Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto 42 Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus 1 43 Common Swift Apus apus 44 Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major 45 Green Woodpecker Picus viridis H 46 Wood Lark Lullula arborea 2 47 Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis 4 Naturetrek July 07

6 June Common name Scientific name Eurasian Swallow Hirundo rustica 49 House Martin Delichon urbica 50 Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis 51 Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis 52 White Wagtail Motacilla alba 53 Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea 54 Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes 55 Dipper Cinclus cinclus 2 56 Dunnock Prunella modularis 57 European Robin Erithacus rubecula 58 Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros Common Stonechat Saxicola torquata Eurasian Blackbird Turdus merula 61 Fieldfare Turdus pilaris 62 Song Thrush Turdus philomelos 63 Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus 64 Eurasian Reed-warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus 1 65 Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris 1 66 Fan-tailed Warbler Cisticola juncidis 2 67 Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla 68 Garden Warbler Sylvia borin 69 Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca 1 71 Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus 72 Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita 73 Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix 2 74 Goldcrest Regulus regulus 75 Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus 76 Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus 77 Marsh Tit Parus palustris 78 Willow Tit Parus montanus 79 Coal Tit Parus ater 80 Great Tit Parus major 81 Blue Tit Parus caeruleus 82 Crested Tit Parus cristatus Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea 1 84 Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla 2 85 Treecreeper Certhia familiaris 1 86 Great grey Shrike Lanius excubitor 4 87 Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius 89 Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 90 Eurasian Jackdaw Corvus monedula 91 Rook Corvus frugilegus 92 Carrion Crow Corvus corone 93 Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris 94 House Sparrow Passer domesticus 95 Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs 96 Serin Serinus serinus 1 97 European Greenfinch Carduelis chloris 98 European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis Naturetrek July 07 5

7 June Common name Scientific name Eurasian Linnet Carduelis cannabina 100 Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella Butterflies June Common name Scientific name Large White Pieris brassicae 2 Small White Artogeia rapae 3 Green-veined White Artogeia napi 4 Wood White Leptidea sinapis 6 5 Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas 1 6 Silver-studded Blue Plebejus argus 10 7 Brown Argus Aricia agestis Purple Emperor Apatura iris 1 9 White Admiral Limenitis camilla 3 10 Peacock Inachis ino 2 11 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta 12 Painted Lady Vanessa cardui 1 13 Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae 14 Comma Polygonia c-album 1 15 Silver-washed Fritillary Argynnis paphia 2 16 Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja 2 17 Lesser Marbled Fritillary Brenthis ino 18 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary Clossiana selene 19 Weaver's Fritillary Clossiana dia 20 False Heath Fritillary Melitaea diamina 21 Marbled White Melanargia galathea 22 Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina 23 Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus 24 Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus 1 25 Pearly Heath Coenonympha arcania 26 Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris 28 Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola 29 Large Skipper Ochlodes venatus Moths Silver y Clouded Buff 5 Spot Burnet Cinnabar Moth 6 Spot Burnet Heath Moth Mammals Rabbit Roe Deer Pipistrelle 6 Naturetrek July 07

8 Odonata Beautiful Demoiselle Small Red Damselfly Broad-bodied Chaser Emerald Damselfly Variable Damselfly Blue-tailed Damselfly Orange-spotted Emerald Four-spotted Chaser Common Darter Black Darter White-faced Darter Reptiles & amphibians Common Wall Lizard Podarcis muralis Common Frog Rana temporaria Receive our e-newsletter Join the Naturetrek ing list and be the first to hear about new tours, additional departures and new dates, tour reports and special offers. Visit to sign up. Naturetrek July 07 7