The
weather failed to get any better, with strong winds increasing. The
winding roads from Vignale to Col de Sorba produced 3 Red Kites over our cars
but little else of note. Rain eventually set in and as we got higher up
the mountains, the rain turned to sleet, which turned to snow. This was
clearly not going to be any good for our search for the Nuthatch or
Marmora’s Warbler, so we headed back down the mountain through
the rain.
With the heavy rain making birding nearly impossible, we decided to
have a mug of something warm in ‘Le Chalet Restaurant’.
However the locals had other ideas, and it was only after some
discussion among themselves that they decided to serve us (clearly they
didn’t realise some of us could speak French). The headlines on
the local papers, “Snow before Summer” clearly indicated
this wasn’t normal weather and that we were unlucky in our
timing.
After enjoying our various hot drinks, the rain appeared to ease off
somewhat, so the group split up to search the immediate area for
Marmora’s Warbler. Several family parties of Woodlark were flushed
in our search and a rather damp Cirl Bunting was also
found on the hill immediately behind the building.
Some of the group went along the broken up road that was running down
the side of the hill behind ‘Le Chalet Restaurant’ and they
came across a singing male Marmora’s Warbler.
Unfortunately the rest of the team were still around the building, so a
runner was sent to collect them. By the time they had made it back the
Warbler had disappeared.
Now together, the group continued down the track where they eventually
located one calling, which showed very well on top of the scrub.
Another bird shortly followed and the group enjoyed excellent views of
them, presumably near a nest site. Whilst watching the warblers a few
male Woodlarks displayed
over our heads and a Great-spotted Woodpecker called. There
was also a couple of Blackcaps singing in
the area.
The temporary gap in the rain didn’t last for long and the group
were soon running back for shelter to the hire car. Both cars drove
along the D69, stopping at 2.8km along the track, as suggested in Rich
Bonser’s report. Unfortunately the rain failing to
stop, so both car loads were reduced to eating their lunch early, as
looking out the windows was even a near impossible task.
Whilst waiting for the rain to stop though, Richard re-read one of the
many reports (by David Bird) he had
brought along which described a spot a little further along the road
which had 3 pairs of Corsican Nuthatch along a track running off it.
We found the spot, and parked up again waiting for the rain to subside.
This time though, several members of the group ventured out of the cars
taking shelter under the lifted boot doors. From this spot we had
several calling Blue (cogliastrae), Coal (sardus) and Great Tits (corsus), a Great-spotted
Woodpecker showed and we enjoyed views of our only Treecreeper (corsa) of the trip.
In the valley below a couple of Corsican Citril Finches put in a
brief appearance and a few Cirl Buntings, including a
singing male entertained us. The Chaffinches feeding
around the car also attracted a female Corsican
Citril Finch which gave awesome views as it fed virtually
under the cars!
As we looked down the valley, we could see an approaching dry patch,
this was our window of opportunity and the group made good use of it.
Yet more Corsican Citril Finches were seen
extremely well (perhaps 10 or more were seen by our group in this area)
and Neil was the one to find a pair of Corsican
Nuthatches. Yet again not all the group were together,
but Richard successfully rounded up the stragglers in time, to enjoy
superb views of the pair working a dead tree, above our heads. They
worked the outer branches mainly and gave excellent views in the dead
tree before moving into live, thicker pines. The views were still good
though, and it soon came apparent that the pair had a nest in another
nearby dead tree. Poor light and very active birds meant that no decent
photos were obtained, with a selection represented below. |
