3rd July 2024 – Domaine de Suscinio, Brittany, France

Yesterday was a “birding” day and we saw very few birds, today was a “non-birding” day and we saw loads.

Our visit to the Château de Suscinio brought plenty of surprises: as well as the visit to the wonderfully restored 800 year old castle we had a lovely walk around the natural park which is separated from the gulf of Morbihan by sand dunes which, in themselves, are of great interest with their huge biodiversity.

We saw no bluethroats, which are reported here, but I was not too disappointed as the poor weather, with very poor light, meant that I would have had poor photos. I’m quite happy to wait for better weather to see these beautiful birds .

I was, however, very happy to see a Kentish Plover, as these are often reported here. We only managed to see one though.

There were plenty of pied avocets, black-winged stilts and common terns which, although not too distant, were quite difficult to photograph in the poor light. I’m not really complaining as if we had wanted to be assured of better weather we wouldn’t have come to Brittany. At my time of life it’s better to be complaining about drizzle than extreme heat!