Cruising up the French Atlantic coast, from Bordeaux to Brittany, in early March 2025 ... enjoying the treasures of Nature. Made with a friend, this trip was an opportunity to visit some of the most beautiful ornithological spots between the Arcachon Bay and Finistère.
Below are a few captures taken during this trip. I've devoted separate articles to some of the sites I visited, in particular:
• The Réserve du Teich
• The Réserve de la Baie de l'Aiguillon et Réserve de Moëze-Oléron
A flight of avocets meets a flight of black-tailed godwits
A pair of Eurasian green-winged teals resting
This Grey heron definitely looks like a dinosaur
A female Marsh harrier swoops down on its prey in a reed bed in the Teich reserve
A crayfish as a snack
My favorite duck species, the northern shoveler, with its huge scoop-like beak
The discreet approach of the swamp ogre
A male house sparrow is about to be robbed of his meal by his female
A flock of avocets landing in the Teich reserve
A northern pintail male in flight. Gorgeous bird !
A group of Black-tailed Godwit in flight over the reserve's lakes
A male northern shoveler takes flight, showing off the blue and green of its wings.
A Little Egret, elegant in its lace
A Dunnock (Prunella modularis) wanders around a small pond, not for from my hide
The Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is one of the rare species in its family to be mostly nocturnal .. not easy to have a good shot of time during daytime, as it is far from active !
An adult Swan shaking, creating a small geyser ...
Réserve de la Baie de l'Aiguillon et Réserve de Moëze-Oléron
I like to play with twilight, here with this collaborative and friendly ewe.
I met this frog basking in a stream a hundred meters from a stork nest. Good luck to her!
This lamb is no more than a few weeks old. It enjoys to sit quietly as long as its mother is not far ...
I disturbed this big hare during his break
My favorite bird, the Little owl (Athene Noctua), nests in the cliffs of a small hamlet in the Baie de l'Aiguillon Reserve.
A short-eared owl marauding over the Vendée marshes. Rare!
The Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) is well known to feed on thistles, no surprise I met with a flock of them there .. this one seems at ease, surrounded with its favourite meal
Conciliabule of a trio of lambs
Ambience photography of this Bluethroat. The surrounding plants filtered out the sunlight, creating this misty atmosphere.
Birds (in this case a linnet) feast on flower seeds before flowering
A bucolic sunset over the fields of the Dive, in the commune of Saint-Michel de l'Herm.
I love the reflection of the sun in this cow's hair. It looks like a saint's aureole
A little blue star in the tall plants
I saw several time this White stork (Ciconia ciconia) hiding its beak inside its chest feathers .. was it cold ?
Black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) are generally nocturnal, but this one was clearly suffering from insomnia.
A Hoopoe caught in flight feeding its offspring ... it follows its shadow ^^
A goldfinch takes a break between two feasts of thistles
Bluethroats are even more magnificent in yellow flowers
I got too close to this avocet's nest, and she almost charged me as punishment.
I hope that Short-eared owl doesn't wander too close to this wind turbine ...
Réserve du Sillon de Talbert (Finistère)
