France: The Best of Brittany

The wild and rugged coastline around of Brittany with its windswept marshes and expansive sandy beaches, is the region in which we will first be based on this new, 2-centre, wildlife holiday. To get there we will travel across the Channel by ferry, this being another in our growing portfolio of 'flightless' tours. During the first stage of this holiday, we’ll explore the coast and wetlands of northern Brittany, looking for such resident and migrant birds as Kentish and Little Ringed Plover, Common Quail, Red-backed Shrike and Marsh Harrier. The northernmost stretch of Brittany’s coastline is known as the Emerald Coast, and here we will hope to enjoy the songs of Nightingales, Cirl Buntings, Woodlarks, Melodious Warblers, Cuckoos and other species less frequently heard to the north of the Channel. We will also head inland to explore the Forest of Rennes, Brittany’s largest forest. Here, domes and plateaux are separated by wide forested valleys, providing a rich and varied habitat that holds breeding Honey Buzzards, Nightjars and Dartford Warblers, as well as Black, Middle Spotted and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. Brittany supports a diverse range of butterflies and during our walks we hope to find such species as Swallowtail, Camberwell Beauty, Purple Emperor, Lesser Purple Emperor, Marsh and Knapweed Fritillaries, Wood White, Black-veined White, Sooty Copper, Long-tailed Blue and the Map butterfly, among many others.

For the latter half of our holiday we will be based on Brittany’s southern coast, where the Gulf of Morbihan offers an extensive mosaic of mudflats, creeks and bays. Here we will go in search of a range of breeding species, including Mediterranean Gull, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt and the exquisite Bluethroat. Nearby, Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper and Firecrest may be found in the pine woods, whilst in Brière Regional Nature Park – a truly impressive area protecting over 100,000 acres of marshland – we will hope to see Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Black Kite, Caspian and Whiskered Terns, Spoonbill and Black-necked Grebe. Finally, at La Forêt du Gâvre, we will explore both the forest and the surrounding grasslands where Golden Oriole, Corncrake, Wryneck, Bonelli’s Warbler and a variety of woodpeckers all breed. Raptors to be seen here include breeding Goshawk and Honey Buzzard, whilst Short-toed Eagles are regularly seen during the summer.