Our first motorhome tour of France: at Le Teich, Bird reserve
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Réserve Ornithologique Du Teich
Today we are paying a return visit to Le Teich bird reserve, we spent the night on the parking area reserved for camping cars outside the gates of Le Teich. We would like to inside the reserve early, say 6 am, but the gates do not open until 10 am, what a waste, the French probably don’t know that the birds are up early and so are the twitchers.
We are waiting for the cash desk to open at 10 am laden with cameras, binoculars, spotting scope and tripod, a lot of equipment, but if we are going to get good views of the birds that’s what we need. A somewhat cloudy day, spoiled by groups of people who made a lot of noise, especially in the hides, overactive children and adults who were not really interested in birds. We passed 5 1/2 hours in Le Teich, and ate our packed lunch in one of the hides.
Our bird list from Le Teich: Swallow, black kite, white stork, mallard, coot, mute swan, house sparrow, gadwall, blackbird, grey heron, little egret, spoonbill, black headed gull, redshank, shelduck, great crested grebe, avocet, hoopoe, starling, black redstart, spotted redshank, black winged stilt, dunlin, sanderling, cormorant, black tailed godwit, wood pigeon, herring gull, greylag goose, curlew, whimbrel, cattle egret, song thrush, robin, chaffinch. Heard a wood pecker, but could not see it.
Back at the aire de camping cars at Le Teich there was a lot of activity around what looked like a stage and stacks of large speakers and music equipment. I went and talked to the other camping carists. It soon became apparent that there was going to be a huge free festival adjacent to the aire de camping cars, when I asked what time it would end there were shrugged shoulders and talk of ‘le matin’. Oh no, our worst nightmare come true, a music festival going on all night right next to us.
We moved the Hymer off the aire de camping cars quickly before we could be blocked in, then looked for another aire or campsite nearby, settling on the 3 coccinelles ( 3 ladybirds) at the Bassin d’Arcachon about 12 km away. It’s fully automated, the aire that is, you pay then select your own pitch where you have to park facing the road, so you can drive out quickly in an emergency. All in price including electric, WiFi, water and disposal facilities. Good pitches, the whole site nicely presented.
A few minutes after arriving we were set up, wine in the glasses and duck breast fillets in the frying pan. Gewürztraminer is one of our favourite wines, especially when it’s served cold from the fridge on a hot afternoon.
We could hear thumping music in the distance, but it was not next to us. Very tired, slept well.