Castet and Biarritz
- Nicholas Turner
- May 17, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 31
5th - 16th May 2024
Having spent the past 10 days in Italy we were now off to France, initially to the town of Castet in the French Pyrenees. We drove to Naples airport, took the flight to Lourdes and picked up another rental car for the two hour drive to Castet where we were staying in a delightful Airbnb overlooking a lake. Castet lies at the end of the Ossau Valley which runs north-south and eventually reached the Pyrenees on the French-Spanish Border.
Monday 6th & Tuesday 7th May: For the first two days the weather was dominated by low cloud and drizzle with poor visibility. A Red Kite was a regular visitor over the lake together with a Blackcap, Mandarin Duck, Little Grebe, Grey Heron, several Griffon Vulture and Common Buzzard. Early Purple Orchids were found growing by the roadside. A walk up the hill to Port de Castet revealed a Heath-spotted Orchid and a few Lady Orchids.
Wednesday 8th May: We drove south to Col du Solour which is at higher elevation in the Pyrenees. Here the birds included Black Redstart, Raven and Chough. On the descent we found Small Blue, Early Purple Orchid and Common Spotted Orchid.
Thursday 9th May: Another high level walk, this time at Col de Marie Blanque. Near the summit there was a large colony of Dewy Ringlet although they rarely stopped for long making photography difficult. Also seen were Southern Grizzled Skipper and Dingy Skipper. A Red-backed Shrike showed well and there were also Chough, Alpine Chough. Back at Castet a flock of 20 Black Kite flew low close to the lake.
Friday 10th & Saturday 11th May: With the weather now sunny and warm we spent both days walking around Port de Castet and found a number of butterflies including Red-underwing Skipper, Short-tailed Blue, Adonis Blue and Queen of Spain Fritillary as well as very close views of Griffon Vultures and a Crested Tit. Growing by the roadside were a few Sword-leaved Helleborines and Common Butterwort.
Sunday 12th – Wednesday 15th May: Our last leg of the trip required us to drive from Castet to the coastal resort of Biarritz where we were attending a conference. Biarritz is on the Atlantic coast and is a mecca for serious surfers. At the back of our hotel there were some Small-flowered Tongued Orchids, Common Broomrape and Yellow Broomrape. Along the coast we found Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Curlew and a pair of nesting Black Redstart. Butterflies included Clouded Yellow, Eastern Bath White, Painted Lady and Queen of Spain Fritillary.
Thursday 16th May: We flew from Biarritz back to London Stanstead to bring to an end an amazing spring trip to Italy and France taking in many interesting and new orchids, butterflies and birds.
Comments