Staring at the Niesen: The Camargue

At the beginning of October, 2016, I visited my old friend from Brussels, Andy Lovering - now based in Monaco, in the south-east corner of France. After breakfast on his terrace, overlooking the sea to Cape Martin, we drove west to the Camargue.

The Camargue is a river delta of nearly 1000 square km, and a wetland wildlife habitat of international importance. It is one of my favourite places, and used to be a regular Spring holiday spot for our family. It maintains its old charm, and the wind and mosquitoes keep the beach bums away.

We were accompanied by Andy's son Alex, a fine young naturalist.

I had grown an Alfred Russel Wallace beard, especially for the occasion.

Autumn is a great time to be in the Camargue, as many migrating birds stop off to feed and fatten up before making the flight across the Meditteranean to Africa. These waders may do just that, though they are also known to stay for the winter:

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)...

...Redshank (Tringa totanus)...

...Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)...

... and Snipe (Gallinago gallinago).

I like to stand on the observation platform to the north of the Ėtang de Vaccarès, and find the tree frogs calling in the reeds below. There are six species of tree frogs in Europe, which all look similar. Here it is the Stripeless Tree Frog (Hyla meridionalis), found in the south of France and Spain.

It's always worth a visit to the Pont de Gau Ornithological Park on the Ėtang de Ginès.

At the park many of birds have lost their fear of humans, and one can get up close to species and really take the time to appreciate the beauty of their form:

Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)...