Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

Tag: Séné marshes

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

    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