Camargue Trip

[Guy F]

Just finished writing this up when I first discovered posts must be under 10,000 words and aren't allowed more than 4 images, therefore my thread will be split into lots of replies. Unforunately I managed to delete my whole insect section, so I will redo that part tomorrow morning


Hi everyone,
I just thought I'd go through some of my highlights from my recent holiday in the Camargue area, which was definetely the best holiday for wildlife that I've ever had, although it was the first holiday I've had to a well known wildlife spot. My main interest there was the birds, but also found some great insects, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.
Firstly I'll start with the birds. In total I managed to see 90 species of bird, including 27 firsts for me. This total probably would've been considerably higher had I been able to access Les Alpilles properly, but access into all the forests was forbidden at that time of year because of the fire risk.
Flamingoes are one of the things the Camargue is so well known for, and from the first day to the last I saw them in large numbers in the lagoons. They really are beautiful birds, and it was great being able to see them so well and see so many together. Here are some of my flamingo shots.



Another highlight on the bird front was herons, I managed to see all 9 European species within the first 2 whole days of being there, and 6 of them were new for me.
These included:
Purple Herons, not too common but I saw a few around

[Guy F]

Cattle Egrets, which were common

and Night Herons, which were fairly common in the area.

And although not a first, it was great to get a very close look at a Bittern (although it was a shy one)

The other herons were Grey, Squacco, Little and Great White Egrets and Little Bitterns. I also had good looks at Spoonbills, which aren't herons but are similar.

[Guy F]

I was treated to very good looks at probably the 2 most elegant waders in Europe, if not the world: Black-winged Stilts and Avocets.


Including young of both species

[Guy F]

However the bird highlight was probably coming across a group of Collared Pratincoles, which are rare in the Camargue, and it's possible I was watching the whole population in one field together.

Watching Eagle Owls in les Alpilles at dusk was another highlight, although they were too distant to get a photo. But all the birds were great really, including good and frequent looks at probably the 4 most colourful European birds, Roller, Hoopoe, Bee-eater and Kingfisher. The only wetland bird that I'd hoped to see but didn't was a Black Tern, and definetely can't complain with what I did see!
Here's a Bee-eater

And Kingfisher

[Guy F]

Next onto the Mammals. The mammal highlight was undoubtably seeing 3 Wild Boar, a species that I'd never expected to see. At the Salin de Badon reserve, while in a hide watching the birds a large boar jumped from where it had been sleeping on the bank of the lagoon into the water then ran through to some nearby bushes, then a couple of minutes later a very large boar swam across the lagoon with a young one in tow. Unfortunately I couldn't photograph any of this.
The introduced Coypu was most seen mammal in the area with quite a few in the marshes and lagoons, I thought they were quite nice creatures, and allowed good looks and close approach. I managed this shot of one

Other than Coypus and Boars, I only saw a Fox and some Rabbits plus loads of Bats at night which I couldn't identify. Although, there were of course lots of black bulls and white horses.

[Guy F]

Next the amphibians and reptiles. I was really pleased to finally catch up with one reptile and one amphibian that I've always wanted to see everytime I've visited the mediterranean area, but have never managed until now.
Firstly the European Pond Terrapin, which I managed to see in a few of the waterways, although most of the splashes I heard could well have been these as well. Here's a shot of one.

The next, and what was probably one of the highlights of the holiday for me, was probably catching up with Stripeless Tree Frogs. I'd always wanted to see these, but when I finally caught up with them it was easy to see why they'd been so difficult to find. Firstly most of the ones I saw were under 2cm long, and secondly they were very well camouflaged. Of the maybe 30 frogs I found, only one wasn't on a patch of brambles, this seems to be their favourite daytime haunt. I first discovered them at Salin de Badon, but once I knew what I was looking for, I managed to spot them on a few more bramble patches around the area. Here are some of my shots of them, hopefully the bramble leaves and thorns will give some idea of how small they were. I really liked these frogs, they were like little jewels.



Other reptiles and amphibians seen were a few Wall Lizards and a couple of Green Lizards, and in the ditches there were lots of Iberian Green Frogs, as well as possibly some Common Frogs.

[Guy F]

Ok, now for the insects. I'll start with butterflies and moths. The Camargue area wasn't particularly good for butterflies, there were lots of Small Whites around, with a few Wall Browns, Speckled Woods of the Southern form and Geranium Bronzes which were new for me. Here's a shot of a Geranium Bronze.

A bit further inland, the butterflies improved and I saw some Short and Long-tailed Blues. In Les Alpilles (the bits I could access) there were lots of Scarce Swallowtails. The best area for butterflies was La Crau which is like a desert. There I saw lots of Blues and Skippers, Bath Whites, a Scarce Swallowtail and a couple of Knapweed Fritillaries. Here's a shot of a Knapweed Fritillary.

And here's a Mallow Skipper, also in La Crau

I didn't see many moths in the area, there were a few Hummingbird Hawkmoths, a Reed Leopard which in Britain is very rare, but most interesting was this huge moth which I haven't been able to identify yet. It looks like it may be an 'Underwing' of some kind, it was bigger than any Hawkmoth I've seen in Britain, including Privet Hawkmoths. Here's a shot of it, I've got a photo of it on my hand for scale as well which I may upload later.

[Guy F]

Now onto other insects. Again, I didn't find too many insects in the Camargue area. I found this Praying Mantis nymph in the hotel garden, no idea which species but I possibly found a more developed one in La Crau a bit later.

Also, a few of these very brightly coloured beetles on flowers by the hotel. They were roughly 20mm long, and spent a lot of time flying. I thought because of the colours they might be easy to id but then when I got to La Crau I found almost identical but slightly differently coloured beetles, so it looks like it's not going to be easy.

In La Crau however, it really was insect paradise. Everywhere you stepped clouds of large grasshoppers flew up. I think I may have found one of the large Crickets which are endemic to La Crau, but I didn't manage a photo unfortunately. When I got out the car at the beginning this large green Praying Mantis appeared on my bag, I think it may be a further developed one of the mantis I found at the hotel as it's got a similar shape. It was the biggest mantis I've ever managed to find, although looking at the lack of wings it still doesn't appear to be an adult.

Also in La Crau there were a few of these huge Ant Lions, they were very interesting creatures, like a cross between a lacewing and a dragonfly and they had a strange fluttery flight. They must've been about 70mm long. with very large wings.

Other insects around were a few Cicadas in the more urban areas with trees. I found some interesting elongated Grasshoppers that I've seen elsewhere in the mediterranean. There was a huge redish Beetle by the hotel, maybe a dor beetle type of thing, I saw a similar one in the insect collection in the museum at La Crau, but didn't think to get the name of it. I found a Fire Bug (or maybe a similar species) in the hotel garden, and down on the sand dunes there were interesting black Bugs with a white diamond at the rear end which seemed to live digging in the dunes. In Les Alpilles I found a couple of huge winged Crickets but unfortunately they were too quick for me to get a photo.
For other invertebrates there were a couple of Wasp Spiders, a very large (and quite scary) Spider on the steps entering the hide at La Crau which looked like a cross between a House Spider and a Nursery Web Spider. There were a few Masked Crabs down by the beach. I tried but failed to find a Scorpion in La Crau.

[Guy F]

And finally Dragon and Damselflies. Just before I left I decided that I should get the guide to Dragonflies and Damselflies of Europe because the Camargue is such a good spot for them, and as a result I paid more attention to them. In the Camargue, there were loads of Red-veined Darters, a few Lesser Emperors, both Black and White-tailed Skimmers and a few of these very spectacular Scarlet Darters. They were a very very bright red.

Here's a male Lesser Emperor dragonfly, looks like it's got a pretty good meal!

Also, among the very common Blue-tailed and Small Red-eyed Damsels there were a few of these White Featherlegs.

[Guy F]

The highest numbers and biggest variety of species however were seen in the small stream running the La Crau. Here there were both Copper and Banded Demoiselles, a few White Featherlegs, Blue-tailed and I think Dainty Damsels. Here's a shot of Banded and Copper demoiselle males, the Banded is on the right and the Copper is on the left.

And here's a male and female Copper Demoiselle, male on the left female on the right.

For Dragonflies, there were lots of Red-veined Darters, some Black-tailed Skimmers, an Emperor and a few of these interesting Large Pincertails. These Dragonflies had very bright blue eyes. Here's a shot of a male.

And here's a female.


And those are the best of my sightings. All in all it was a great holiday and I saw so many amazing creatures, I've got loads more shots in the gallery if people are interested, I just didn't want to slow this page down anymore than I already have. I hope I haven't gone on too much, but I just so saw many new and exciting things.
Thanks for reading,
Guy