Corsica

I booked on the Zoothera birding trip to Corsica & North Morocco along with three local birding pals. 

Thursday 30^th April

With a very early flight tomorrow we elected to stay in a hotel right next to the terminal. We all met at Steve’s and Ubered down to the station where we got the Elizabeth line to Heathrow T4. It’s just a short walk to the hotel and after checking in we went down to the bar and then had dinner in the restaurant and met the other two guys on the trip.

Friday 1^st May

We left the hotel at 3.30 and picked up a breakfast bag which we ate while waiting for the check-in desks to open at 4.00. We were on the 6.15 Air France flight to Paris which took off 25 minutes late so we were in a bit of a rush to make our connection. It was slow going through the various stages at CDG and we were almost the last to board at 9.45 with a departure due at 10.00. In the end it didn’t take off until 10.30 and we headed south, past the Alps, over the Mediterranean Sea and landed at Bastia in Corsica just after midday, only 15 minutes late.

We’d soon collected our bags and met our guide, Nick out the front. Once we loaded up we drove to a little spot around the back of the airport for a picnic lunch and some introductory birding. Bee-eaters were migrating overhead with Barn Swallows while around us there were Spotless Starlings and Italian Sparrows.

The local form of Crow is the Hooded Crow

We checked several local places including a migration hotspot by a marsh leading down to the beach. 

Pond Terrapins

This was a really nice spot and we picked up a couple of distant Scopoli’s Shearwaters flying over the sea. Red Kites and Marsh Harriers drifted over the marsh. 

Corsican traffic jam

We went to our hotel and checked in and had a rest before heading out again at 5pm. 

The local sparrow is Italian Sparrow, a new bird for me

We went to a beach around the corner and had better views of Scopoli’s as well as a couple of Mediterranean Shearwaters (yelkouan). 

The Med

We then drove to the Quail site. Nightingales and Cetti’s Warblers were singing and then suddenly the first of three Californian Quail appeared on the track and we got reasonable, albeit distant views of this introduced gamebird. 

Californian Quail

A Brown Hare in the same spot became our first mammal of the trip and as we drove out a Roller was perched up by the roadside. We went back to our hotel and had dinner in the restaurant and did our bird log.

Saturday 2^nd May

We did a pre-breakfast session this morning, leaving the hotel at 6.30 and going back to the Quail Spot. There was a lot more activity as we waited for another view of the Quail. 

Female Californian Quail

A Golden Oriole was heard singing and we saw another one later. A Squacco Heron flew over and then two Californian Quail appeared but didn’t hang around long. On a pond in the field we heard Great Reed Warbler plus both Little and Great Crested Grebes. Several Nightingales were singing and trying to outdo the local Cetti’s Warbler in a ‘who could sing the loudest competition.’

Golden Oriole

Red Kite - the commonest raptor in Corsica

At the track entrance on the way back we heard our first Corn Bunting of the trip. We drove back to the first beach we visited yesterday but concentrated more on the land birds in the fields and hedges as well as the visible migration rather than on seabirds as we’d seen them well already.

Swallows moved through constantly along with a few European Bee-eaters. A couple of Zitting Cisticolas sang in the large meadow and a Red-footed Falcon zipped through. There were a few Marsh Harriers, Red Kites and a single Common Buzzard as well. A Sardinian Warbler was seen before we drove back to the hotel for a well deserved breakfast.

Female Italian Sparrow

Male Italian Sparrow

Another variation on a theme - Spotless Starling

We packed up and got ready to load up the van as a Hoopoe flew north over the carpark. Lunch was bought at the supermarket over the road then it was time to leave the lowlands and we started heading up into the mountains. Our first stop wasn’t until almost midday but as it was a bit cooler there was plenty of activity. Three Corsican Finches flew over but we wanted better views. A Moltoni’s Warbler was up next and was singing in an open bush so we got to see it well.

We carried on driving higher and stopped for lunch at a Nuthatch site. Coal Tits were everywhere and Ravens occasionally flew over. Corsican Nuthatch was heard a lot and occasionally seen but it took quite a while before one showed satisfactorily for everyone to see. With that target bird under our belts we drove back down to the lower slopes, stopping at a café for coffee/beer.

We spent some time walking along a track with alpine flowers either side and towering snow-covered peaks in the distance. Alpine Swifts and Crag Martin flew over while next to us a Woodlark perched obligingly on the ground. A couple of Corsican Finch fed on the ground ahead of us, giving us our best views so far of this endemic species. Marmora’s and Sardinian Warblers were singing as the afternoon heat began to cool down.

Corsican Finch

Woodlark

We drove down to the bottom and made our way to our accommodation, a sprawling camp site with various types of habitation – cabins and static caravans. We were in one of the latter. Dinner was in the main restaurant and it was very good, washed down with local beer and wine. On the walk back to our digs a Scops Owl was heard calling across the river.

View from our static caravan

Sunday 3^rd

We had a pre-breakfast walk around the grounds at 6.30. Although it was light, it was very cold as the sun hadn’t yet risen over the mountains. There was a reasonable variety of common birds and a Moltoni’s Warbler was singing and seen briefly by the cork oaks. Serin, Cirl Bunting and Hoopoe rounded off the Mediterranean soundscape as we went for breakfast.

We then had a long drive high into the mountains. Birding was slow as there was only a limited number of species but we did get Corsican Finch, Marmora’s Warbler and a distant pair of Golden Eagle while we scanned the distant peaks in the hope of a Bearded Vulture.

Mediterranean Spurge

Corsican Finch

Marmora's Warbler

Some of us went butterfly hunting and managed to work out quite a few species including Scarce Swallowtail, Green-underside Blue and Mountain Small White along with several other more common ones. A Mouflon was also seen high up on one of the peaks.

Mouflon

Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard

Scarce Swallowtail

Mountain Small White

Green-underside Blue

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Green Hairstreak

Small Copper

After a picnic lunch we dropped down and went for a walk along a river, seeing a very close and displaying Firecrest, another pair of Golden Eagles, a distant Blue Rock Thrush and we finished the day by watching a pair of White-throated Dipper flying in to a nest in the rocks to feed their young.

Firecrest

Dipper

We stopped in town for pizza for dinner then went back to the campsite where two Scops Owls were calling.

Monday 4^th

A leisurely start, meeting for breakfast at 8.00 where a couple of Whinchats had pitched in overnight. With all the main targets seen we spent the day casually birding around the area to see what we could find. We went to the resort near the Quail spot and had a look around the lake. There were some Red-crested Pochard, Squacco Herons and a Bee-eaters going over in addition to the commoner birds.

Red-crested Pochard

We drove to another nearby lake where there was a surprise inland Shag resting on a platform along with a couple of Common Terns. Cattle and Great Egrets were in a heronry. We stopped just along the entrance road and saw a pair of Stone Curlew and a nice flock of Bee-eaters.

European Bee-eaters

Stone-Curlew

We had lunch in town along the way to the coast where we explored a coastal lagoon. It was fairly quiet but we did see a close Squacco Heron and a few Scarlet Darters. 

Squacco Heron

It looked like rain was heading our way and as it was pretty quiet we went back to the camp late afternoon. After dinner we went around the grounds looking for European Scops Owl. There were at least two calling but they led us on a merry dance before we finally managed to see one.

Tuesday 5^th May

It rained on and off all night so we didn’t bother with any early morning birding. After breakfast we headed back up into the mountains. We spent most of the day up there, trying to get better views of a couple of species as well as looking for Bearded Vulture. There were short rain showers quite regularly throughout the day.

ski resort

First up, we had excellent views of a singing Moltoni’s Warbler. We went up to the ski resort hoping to see Alpine Chough but there weren’t any hanging around, however we did see a few flying much higher up above the snow line.

Moltoni's Warbler

After a coffee in the café there were a pair of Corsican Finch in the car park. We tried a bit lower and saw Corsican Nuthatch and in the afternoon we finally managed to see a Bearded Vulture, albeit at great range.

Bearded Vulture

Corsican Nuthatch

With all our targets seen for the day and the weather not improving, we headed back early to camp where it rained quite heavily.

Spotted Flycatcher in the rain

Wednesday 6^th May

With today being mostly a travel day we didn’t have any real birding scheduled. As we had a later breakfast there was time for another wander around the grounds where I found a singing Wryneck. After breakfast we loaded up the van and wandered down the road to try and see the Wryneck. It called briefly although it remained out of view; however we did see Wheatear and Common Whitethroat, another two new birds for the trip.

We drove to Bastia and stopped at Lake Biguglia for a quick look around. Zitting Cisticolas zipped overhead and a couple of Red-crested Pochard flew past. As we were leaving a group of eight migrating Honey-Buzzards flew north. As we drove along the coast we saw an Audouin’s Gull on the beach, our last new bird on Corsica.

We then drove to the airport and checked-in for our flight to Marseille at 15.50. We landed at 16.30, collected our bags and checked in for our Royal Air Maroc flight to Casablanca at 19.45 for the second leg of our trip.