No Nutcracker but a Cormorant 8/11/2026

     A few days ago a ridiculously tame Slender-billed Nutcracker was reported in the village of Abbans-Dessus, not far from Besançon. Although there hadn't been any subsequent news, there hadn't been many people looking for it so I decided I should try my luck - especially as I have a bag of hazelnuts now. 

    I started the day scruffing about at my old local patch of Osselle. I have fond memories of there being good birds there regularly once upon a time but those days are over. On the old main pool there were just two Mute Swans. Two ringtail Hen Harriers were sitting together in a field and a Firecrest was in the bushes. A good number of about 180 Cormorants were on the beach pool.

    Carrying on uphill to Abbans-Dessus, we left the visibility behind to be in the clouds so lots of potential Nutcrackers were seen that turned out to be Jays, Mistle Thrushes and Starlings. Sadly no Nutcracker today so I continued on to the Loue Valley where a male Pochard on the river was rather unusual.

    Heading back to Besançon I stopped in Tarragnoz under the Citadelle to hopefully see a Wallcreeper. I didn't see one but there were three Crag Martins over the ramparts - a nice scarcity for Besançon. In the Parc Micaud I was hoping to finally see my old Cormorant 7VH, ringed as a chick in Denmark in 2011, it has been wintering here since at least 2013. Arriving in the park I could see some unringed Cormorants loafing on some branches in the water but as I continued, in the distance, I could see that 7VH's favourite branch was occupied. There it was! 7VH was back and very politely standing on two legs so I could see the darvic ring that is now completely white on one side with all the wear and tear of the years. It was quite an emotional moment, it's bizarrely comforting to know that it's survived yet another year and returned to us. 

Nobody wants my nuts.

Liberté, Egalité, Crag Martiné.

7VH









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pont-de-Roide 9/10/2026

Image
      Migration count between 7am and 2pm with cool temperatures, lots of cloud and some fog in the valley. Surprising for the time of year was the virtual lack of Woodpigeons (~274) and Chaffinches (~717). Red Kites (116) and Buzzards (37) were more normal figures, eight Sparrowhawks , fifteen Kestrels (almost all adult males), two Marsh Harriers and a local Peregrine completed the birds of prey. The stars of the show were ~299 Song Thrushes with the first two or three Redwings and ~247 Woodlarks . Pipits were annoying as it's really not easy to distinguish Meadow and Water on call, I presumed most if not all of the twenty or thirty odd going through were Meadow but Water is a common bird here too. Six Swallows , seven Crossbills , one Linnet , ~22 Hawfinches , ~135 Siskins , two Serins , one Goldfinch and one Reed Bunting added some variety.     A male Black Woodpecker gave some nice views in the open as he enjoyed a bit of sunshine Birding Wizard
Read more

Daurian/Turkestan Shrike - Saint-Apollinaire 8/10/2026

Image
      Once again the rare birds have shunned the Shire and are in Mordor. Yesterday a what we used to call Isabelline Shrike was found on the outskirts of Dijon. Only being an hour away, it would have been silly not to go so with Théo and Willy we set off this afternoon. The star was seen on arrival, flying across the path in front of us, showing off its rusty nightingale-like tail, and quickly disappearing into some bushes. It took a good twenty minutes before Willy picked it up again in what seemed to be its favourite area along a hedge in the sun and out of the wind. It spent the next few hours not caring about us being there, catching a few insects and crapping at least four times.  With Daurian and Turkestan shrikes being indistinguishable at this age, we'll perhaps never know which species it is - unless someone (not me) gets some DNA from one of its turds. To be honest, it doesn't really matter, for one, it's a beauty whatever, and two, I don't keep a Mordor l...
Read more