5th July 2024 – Gulf of Morbihan, Brittany, France

Today we returned to the southern part of the Gulf of Morbihan to visit another nature reserve: the Lasné marshes at St Armel.

A departmental (county council) reserve since 1978, these ancient salt pans, dating from the Middle Ages, have since 2003 been restored and salt is once again produced here. There are now also two shellfish producers that use certain salt pans. The rest of the marsh is for the birds that occur year round on this very favourable site.

Lasné marshes

Avocet landing

Avocet chick

Black-winged stilt

It was great to get a view of the avocet’s legs

This kestrel was easily seen off by a black-winged stilt

Avocet in flight

Redshank

I’m not surprised these cyclists were checking their maps

After this visit we headed back to Séné (where we had visited earlier in the week). After lunch in a very friendly Breton Crêperie we returned to the nearby nature reserve. This time we didn’t go round the reserve but followed a few trails which have viewing platforms looking towards the reserve.

Little egrets
A solitary swift

There were plenty of butterflies today and some interesting flora:

Large skipper

Marbled white

Gatekeeper

Speckled wood
Deadly night shade

Lychen

Just as we were finishing our walk we heard a zitting cisticola. I had just one go at photographing it before it flew off and was quite pleased to get a reasonable shot.

Zitting cisticola

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