Around 8:00 we started driving south again. Lot of Black kites and few Red brothers were along the road, 1 Turtle dove perched on a whire and a brief view of a Cirl bunting wasn't satisfying for me. My dad wanted to see the bridge near Millau so we drove there, came across another old bridge referred as the 'Eifel towers bigger brother', 2 Crag martins flew by and 1 Black kite was heading east.


^Black kite

The bridge near Millau is quite impressive, there were lots of people around but I did manage to see some nice birds here. 1 Clouded Yellow was present and also lots of grasshoppers. When I started to check the hills I noticed a sound nearby that was a bit familiar, a Cirl bunting! I got a few crappy shots of it before it flew of. A Short-toed Eagle made it's way across the sky and after a quick search I found a few hanggliders and 6 Griffon Vultures among them! Very cool birds and although they were a bit distant I got great views of them.

^Cirl bunting, male

^Griffon vulture, note the broad wings and short tail..

We drove through the Cevennes that gave me a great opportunity to have good (car) looks of Short-toed Eagles, 3 Montagu's harriers were alongside the car near Millau. Craq martins flew by and the first Bee-eaters and Rollers started to appear. We couldn't find a good place for the night. Near Paulhan I saw lot's of Bee-eaters and 1 Hoopoe, few Serins and 2 Rollers, the most amazing bird was a Blue rock thrush that flew along with the car for a few seconds and gave great views. We finally found a place to sleep near Beziers, 2 Green woodpeckers flew by (very high, migration?), Serins and Crested larks were calling.

And we're off, on the 19th of July my dad, mum and I went for a 2 week trip to Spain and France. We decided we would sleep twice in a motel before heading for our house in Spain (where my uncle had stayed the week before). The first stop was near Le Rabot at Motel des Bruyeres, it had a swimming pool, huge 3 person cabins and an amazing forest behind it.
First picture to be taken was from the car of this female Blackbird that perched next to a stop sign.


^Blackbird, female

Near our cabin few Serins were singing together with some Greenfinches and Golfinches. In a small pond there were a lot of Small red Damselflies, Blue tailed Damselfly and a Coypu. In the forest a lot of Green woodpeckers were calling, as were some Bullfinches, Barn- and House martins flew by. This female Sooty copper showed well, as did some Brown Emerald Damselflies.

^Sooty Copper
^Brown Emerald Damselfly
^Coypu

One huge Bog!

What do you want on a Sunday that might be sunny, a beer? sleep 'till 12:00? Or getting up around0 5:00 and go for 1 huge bog? I went for the latter, together with Pim J. who (fortunate for me) picked me up in front of my house. 1.5 hour and 3 dead Hedgehogs later we arrived at the Fochtelooerveen (don't try to pronounce that, please..) finding it filled up with fog so we went for an other walk close-by.
While Pim was phoning his wife I suddenly located a Corncrake that was calling nearby and after a couple of yards we heard another one calling closeby, I even got to make a recording that can be heared here : http://waarneming.nl/sound_details.php?id=504
Thx to Menzie I even got to make a Sonogram (above), I can't tell you much about it though. The Corncrake repeated it's song 5 times, the bending thingie in between is a Linnet (clearly audible on the recording). We heared 3 Corncrakes in the area, couple of Yellowhammers, manny Linnets and 1 Whinchat. 1 Siskin flew by as we drove to the next walk.

We made a walk through another area next to Fochtelooerveen, few Goldfinches feeding, 1 Crossbill flew over our heads and 1 smexy Red-backed Shrike male in the bushes, Pim spotted a female after that close by. A pair of Whinchats perched quite nicely.
We ended up right next to the Fochtelooerveen so we figured we'd make a walk there instantly, I was very excited with my first Small Red Damselfly, it was a dull female though there were some males present:

Winchat seems to be very common in these parts of Holland, I rarely get to see them in my county. Few Stonechats present and again a lot of Linnets.
Next we drove to one of Hollands most extraordinary hides, it's shaped like a 7 and is 16 meters high, we got good views on Common Cranes and Hobby's. Het Fochtelooerveen is the only place in Holland where Cranes breed, they started in 2001 and in 2005 even 2 pairs! We saw 5 birds including 1 juvenile, unfortunate we didn't see the Short-toed Eagle that has been lingering there for years now.

^The hide of all hides

^PJ


The Cranes were a bit distant but I managed to get 1 'decent' shot.


The Fochtelooerveen, really large, compare with the White wagtail in pic. 2

The wagtail was so close to the tower that with 20x you could hardly get the entire bird on screen, so I made a close up.

While I was photographing a Ringlet this damselfy flew by, it was a White legged Damsefly, a new species. When I reported the sighting I got a message that it was the first White legged for the Fochtelooerveen ever..


This Sooty Copper was near the parking lot.


We then dropped by the only place in Holland where Red-necked Grebes breed regurly, a lot of Yellow Wagtails on the road to the hide.


And again the northerns have developed a strange kind of hide, you have to walk 162 meters underground in order to climb a stair to the smallest hide ever ;-)

Diependal is sort of an oasis for birds, in the middle of all kinds of meadows there is this huge water area with reed. 2 Spoonbills were present, as was 1 Great white Egret. Pim found the first Red-necked and Black-necked Grebe of the day. When I was trying to get a glimpse of the closest Red-necked Grebe I noticed 2 swans, they were swimming away from me so I couldn't see their beak. When they started foraging 1 of them showd his lower jaw (underside of the beack) and that was yellow! With Mute swans that part is black (sometimes lighter but never yellow), when 1 turned his head it was clear to me that I was looking at the only pair of Whooper swans in Holland atm, really cool! At another hide there were 12 Black-necked Grebes, 2 Goldeneyes (!) and 1 Red-necked Grebe.

^Spoonbill
^Red-necked Grebe

We drove home, well, I thought we did. Pim had other plans, we stopped at the Vossemeerdijk near Kampen and had a look at some flamingo's, 10 of them were Chilean and 3 Greater, another new species for me!

^2 Greater Flamingo's ^1 Greater Flamingo (right)

In Flevoland we had good times seeing some Foxes and a female Montagu's Harrier.

East Sailor Marshes

In Dutch it's called Oostvaardersplassen (or, more commonly, short: OVP) literally translated in English it's called: East Sailor Marshes. The first time I went there was in the winter of 2002, I saw my first Hooded crows and Peregrine, and even discovered a Ruddy duck.
I visit the OVP quite frequently (once or twice a month I think) and got the opporunity to visit it on 4 July and 6 July. On both days I made the same route but on 6 July the weather was pretty poor.

I especially wanted to see Turtle doves, I never got the chance of seeing them perched on a whire or something, bit of a shame...
Near Almere Hout was the first stop, 3 Turte doves were the first birds to notice! A shame they where only migrating. Few Linnets and a Common Whitethroat present allso.
Near the Wulpweg (all the roads in this part of Flevoland are called after some birds like Great Bustard, Curlew, Little Grepe etc.) we saw 2 stunning Montagu's Harrier, the male was foraging close to the car and I got a few decent shots from it. 13 Great White Egrets where present too.
Bit further 18 more Great White Egrets where present.

^Male Montagu's Harrier
^Great White Egret, with a vole

In the Reigerbos we saw and heard 3 Turtle doves but couldn't get a shot of any of those, 4 little Map Butterflies were also present, great little butterflies in their black and white outfit.
Then we actually entered the OVP, we saw 1 Hobby, few Spoonbills, a lot of Great White Egrets, 1 Little Egret, 7 White storks + this Avocet with her companions.

^Little Ringed Plover, female
^Little Ringed Plover, male
^Avocet, probale female
^same again

Edited these scruffy pictures to make clear the differences from male and female Little Ringed Plover.

On the 6th we didn't saw much accept for 1 Little gull and 40 Great White Egrets.
We did catch up with some cool orchids.

^Broad-leaved Helleborine

^Marsh Helleborine

And this is actually a plant from the coast of Holland but it still grows here.

^Grass-of-Parnassus