My dad and step mum live in Bagnères-de-Bigorre in the Hautes-Pyrénées region of the Pyrénées and my sister and I are staying out here with them for just over two weeks. We arrived out here very late last Wednesday evening and I’ve already had some great wildlife encounters.
On Thursday we set out on a walk from Aspin-Aure up to the Peak de Ger at an altitude of 2,613m. The trudge up to the top was steep, sweaty and hard work but we were awarded with some spectacular views out over the surrounding mountains that more than made up for it and as we stood there admiring the view (and using the view as an excuse to catch our breath) a large white bird swooped into the valley down below us – an Egyptian vulture. A new lifer for the list!
The walk yielded many new interesting plants that I got to work identifying with my trusty collins guide when we got back including Hair-bell, Rose of Sharon, Lady’s bedstraw, Sheep’s-bit Scabious, Wild Thyme and White Stonecrop and in the brilliant sunshine that day there were many butterflies out, flying up and down the mountainside and basking in the heat on the rocky footpaths – Marbled Whites, Speckled Woods, a Large Copper and a Green Fritillary. I also spotted an incredible looking bug that really was the definition of bug-eyed (see picture below)!
When we returned that evening we put out our skinner moth trap that my dad and I made ourselves last summer and were very excited on Friday morning to find it filled with hundreds of unusual moths that I don’t usually see at home. Some of the best being the Poplar Hawk-moth, Oak Eggar, Black V Moth and the Callopistria juventina which is an extremely rare migrant in England!
Our garden out here is an absolute hive of activity and some of my best sightings so far this holiday have been recorded from the comfort of our lawn with a nice cup of tea. We’ve had two Swallowtail butterflies on the Buddleia (which I’ve yet to manage to photograph), many Hummingbird hawk-moths, several pairs of Black redstarts as well as Crested tits and at one point as we sat outside having our lunch we saw a group of about 50 Red kites circling over the house in large lazy circles as if they were gliding on air thermals with two Griffon vultures mixed in amongst the group of raptors.
Although I have relentlessly tried to convert my sister, she isn’t particularly interested in wildlife. Nonetheless, as a keen wood tech student, she’s been bribed to help the local fauna with some nice planks of wood and whilst I’ve been busy watching and recording the wildlife over the last couple of days, she’s been busy building bird boxes. Her first box was made with the measurements to house robins and has been painted blue and is waiting to go up on the front of the barn in the hope that the redstarts will nest in it. Following that, she made a tit box which has gone up on the feeder tree and she’s currently working on a bat box.
My first few days have most definitely provided in terms of wildlife. We’re heading off to stay in Carcosonne for the next couple of days so I’m leaving my camera trap set up on the feeder to see what visits us whilst we’re away so I look forward to checking that when I get back!
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