The Liver Birder: Le Pays des Mille Lacs

A spring-time trip to La Brenne Parc Naturel (locally 'The Land of a Thousand Lakes') was booked backed in autumn 2012 and the anticipation warmed us throughout the cold winter months.

Eventually leaving behind the appalling UK weather, we set off for the more temperate climate of central France. Or so we had hoped... But France too had suffered a poor start to spring, with plenty of rain and temperatures below the average for this time of year. It was about 2ºc better than back home during the day but plummeted overnight to as low as -3ºc. The Bermuda's and sun lotion were never going to get out of the bag!

Day 1: Arriving at Rosnay late afternoon, tired and hungry, we settled for a stroll around the lake that we looked out onto. There were a few Mallard about and a Grey Heron, but suddenly a Night Heron dropped in (camera not yet unpacked of course). I watched it briefly before it was seen-off by the Grey. A big tick so soon and a stroke of luck too, as we didn't see another all week! Also today - Mute Swan, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Moorhen, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Crow, Rook, Magpie, Jay, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove and Pheasant.

Day 2: We headed off to see Tony Williams at Maison de Nature at la réserve naturelle de Chérine. What Tony doesn't know about La Brenne simply hasn't happened yet! He marked our map with some likely hot-spots and also pointed out the lakes that were dry and not really worth a visit. They drain some lakes periodically to farm the carp. Tony confirmed that many migrant birds had not yet arrived, and those that had were still in relatively small numbers. Worse news, the large breeding colony of Purple Heron was hidden away on a lake that was completely inaccessible due to severe flooding on the access path. Apparently you could get through if you had waders but we simply forgot to pack them! So it was a case of rip-up the target list, see as much of the area as possible and just enjoy whatever came our way. But that is what adventures like this are all about - the simple unpredictability of nature - a fact confirmed by our first Black Kite, circling above us as we said merci et au revoir to Tony.

We had a quick lunch accompanied by Chaffinch, a Robin and a White Wagtail before moving on to etang D'Essarts. Here we added Coot, Swallow, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shoveler, Pintail, Little Egret, Buzzard, Stonechat, Chiffchaff and Blackcap. In the evening we had a stroll around a nearby wood, where we added Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Willow Warbler, a female Black Redstart, another Black Kite and a few passing Cormorant.

Day 3: We awoke to two very clear calls. First a Cuckoo calling from the far side of the woods and then, the much closer call of a Hoopoe. We were to hear the Hoopoe for the next few days but we couldn't find it. We set off for etang Gabrielle, a huge lake and great place to look for Osprey, which we did unsuccessfully for some time. We did see a good number of Red-crested Pochard and the males looked fantastic, but too far away for a decent photo. We saw a lot of Little Egret here and also one Great White Egret. On the drive back to Rosnay we came across a farmer ploughing a small field and counted six Black Kites circling above. Later, at etang Masse we found a Cormorant breeding colony out on a wooded island and I counted 40 nests. Walking to a smaller lake nearby, we saw a Green Woodpecker and a male Black Redstart. The lake was deserted apart from Mink and we counted six in and around the margins. Back at base and during an evening stroll we found two Great Whites, the resident Grey Heron, a Wren and a couple of Marsh Tit.

Day 4: First thing today I spent an hour stalking a couple of Treecreepers but gave up once I had my customary 20+ shots of tree bark! We set off for a good woodpecker spot at la Chappelle but having got a little lost, we ended up in the middle of open farmland where we chanced upon a few Redshank and Lapwing feeding on a puddle. We eventually found la Chappelle, but all we got there was a rather eerie feeling from the old chapel and the surrounding woods were reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project! We quickly agreed to bail out and headed to la Maison du Parc (visitor centre) where we had lunch and the best boozy crêpes we've ever had. From the car-park we followed a path down between a meadow and large woodland that took us to three lakes, where a mega fly hatch was being enjoyed by Stonechat, Black Redstart, Reed Bunting and Chiffchaff.

Day 5: A wipe out due to a very bad hangover. Just me, so we knew it wasn't revenge of the crêpes! Breakfast at 3pm was followed by a short walk for two distant Great White Egret.

Day 6: A 7am walk in search of the Hoopoe brought me no closer to seeing the bird, but hearing its occasional calls amongst the magnificent dawn chorus was awesome.

We arrived at etang Foulcault quite early and found

it alive with waterfowl, Also Black-headed Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls, a couple of Great White Egret and a Grey Heron. And overhead we had Black Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel. We moved on to etang Sous for possible otters but no joy. Whiskered terns breed here but it was far too early for them. In fact, their protected breeding area was still underwater! Out of the blue came a couple of Cattle Egret that sped, manic-fashion, around the hide a few times before disappearing. But we got lucky and caught up with them in a meadow near to the car-park and I managed a record shot at least.

We decided to round off this last day with another look at etang Gabrielle but on what was now a rather grey day, it was difficult to pick out anything across the open water. So we headed to the far north-west corner where it was marginally brighter. Here we

watched a Cormorant catch a carp so large, that after a 10 minute struggle trying to lift it through the surface and into position, it eventually conceded defeat and let it go. Sadly the carp did not survive the experience but maybe a pike or catfish got to enjoy the freebie. Quite a sight to round off the week I thought. But that magical unpredictability of nature was to have the last word... As our long-awaited Osprey came over from behind us and slowly faded away into the gloom.

My suggestion of a return visit in the summer, was not met with total enthusiasm by PK as she muttered something about lounging in the sun. So I have a compromise... but where on earth will I find her a camokini?