4th Dec 1988 - Marais d'Yves

Sea-watching in the rain proves unproductive this morning, so we continue south. Just beyond La Rochelle a sign declares 'Reserve Natur­elle' so we stop to investigate. An information board says the visitor centre is open from 2 ‑ 6 pm on Sundays ‑ and today is Sunday!! It is 1.30 so we have lunch. The reserve can be watched from the parking area, but it doesn’t seem a good idea with the wind and rain coming in the window. This is the reserve of Marais d'Yves, part of the much larger Reserve Nationale de Chasse Maritime of the Baie d'Yves

The place opens on time. A wall‑sized win­dow over‑looks the main area of open water and is partly sheltered from the rain by the roof. Jim finds a clear piece of glass through which to aim one of the centre's tele­scopes and spends the afternoon watching the birds. Outside there are a few thou­sand dunlin which disappear when threatened by a marsh harrier; also curlew, lapwing, 100 avocet including one with a broken bill; shelduck, shoveller, etc, and thousands of adult black-headed gulls but again only a half-dozen first winter birds.

Meanwhile, I look around the centre. There is a small sales area with various identification books and sou­venirs. Books seem to be rather expensive ‑ due in part to sales tax. One room has a television and thirty or so chairs set out for watching videos. This after­noon they show films about brown bears in the Pyrenees, people and birds on the Baie de l'Aiguill­on, and, finally, raptors in the Pyrenees. All are in French, naturally, but it is fairly easy to get the gist of them. On an upper floor there is a small library with more books in French, some of which I flick through and leave me wishing I understood more of the language. Also a few copies of Les Oiseaux, the LPO equiva­lent of the RSPB's 'BIRDS', very similar in format and content.