Birding in France III
3 - 9 April 2026
In order to visit family, we decided to go to France, for a short week in early April 2026, and during this week, I will try see as many interesting bird species as possible. We will be spending most of our time in Brittany, in the North-West of France.
Sunday April 5 2026
Today, after spending the night in Le Cougou, in the woods, I woke up early to have a good birding session in the morning. In the trees, and on the ground were a few Jays, and I heard lots of Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Robins, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Wrens, Song Thrushes, and many, many Chaffinches.
After walking around a bit, I saw a couple Mistle Thrushes, and a Buzzard. I then saw a small bird land in tree near our house, after a closer inspection it turned out to be a Hawfinch!
Then, I heard a high-pitched sound coming from the top of a tree. I then saw the culprit; a Short-toed Treecreeper. This species is quite common in continental Europe, but with only a handful of UK records.
After spending some time with family, we went, in the late afternoon, to the Forêt du Gavre, with my uncle, in search of Middle Spotted Woodpecker. When we arrived at the car park, we were already hearing several Crested Tits. Soon we also heard a woodpecker, but we didn’t know which species it was, so we walked towards the sound, hoping to see it. Meanwhile, we saw a Crested Tit, and heard a few Nuthatches and a Firecrest.
Then the woodpecker called again, and it was the penetrating call of the Middle Spotted Woodpecker! We managed to trace the sound to the bird, which flew from tree to tree and then paused on one branch and we were able to take some photos. We even heard multiple birds drumming, a sign that they could be breeding here.
On the way back to car, we spotted the Firecrest that we heard earlier, and managed to get some photos of it. In the car park itself, we heard and then saw a pair of Nuthatches, and a Short-toed Treecreeper.
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