The Land of a thousand lakes: La Brenne.

 

Sitting to the west of the geographical centre of France is an area known as the ‘Land of a thousand Lakes’, a nature reserve three hours’ drive south-west of Paris, 

It is an unusual place, a kaleidoscope of rich farmland – maize, sunflower, some cattle pasture – and mature stands of deciduous trees, seemingly with a lake behind every hedge. A flat land, with no hills or rivers to bend the roads, very different to the department of the Aude where I live with its’ mountains and hills.

The lakes and pools are all artificial, created by man over the centuries wanting to stock and harvest fish. This explains why the only two main rivers of the region, flowing to the west, pass to the north and south of the honeycombs of lagoons, and do not feed into this maize of water filled lands.

The lakes themselves are only connected by small streams, often controlled by sluices; clearly a very carefully controlled area of land. It is an area where the ingenuity and industriousness of man has created a landscape rich in biodiversity, and as long as the rainfall is adequate and the protection of being a nature reserve is kept up, is a wonderful visit for birders to visit.

My visit being at the beginning of winter, I was not expecting to see birds in large numbers. There were the usual wetland suspects, diverse ducks; Pintail ( Canard pilet), Gadwalls ( Canard chapeau), Teal ( Sarcelle d’hiver), and of course good numbers of Mallards (Canard Colvert); Grey herons (Héron cendré) both Little Egrets (Aigrette garzette) and Great Egrets (Grande Aigrette), and a small flock of Spoonbills (Spatule blanche) put up by a passing Marsh harrier (Busard des Roseaux), Great crested Grebes (Grèbe huppé); Buzzards (Buse variable), Kestrels (Faucon crécerelle).

However there was a wonderful surprise to come. Driving towards sunset we came across what is one of the most exciting bird sightings to be seen in Europe at this time of year. A Starling ( Etourneau sansonnet) murmuration of perhaps 10,000 birds, so many, that it was impossible to count. 

Starlings are extraordinary in several ways. Not only are they beautiful birds when in their full breeding finery, as can be seen in the first image of this article. Secondly, they are accomplished mimics of other bird songs; there are skilled ornitholgists who can hear a starling's rendering of a migrating species - and thus know that the species has arrived back in the area.

Thirdly, in the winter season, they group together in massive flocks and perform this coordinated dance known as a mumuration. This is what we witnessed.

They wheeled and massed all around us, on occasion all descending as a dark blanket into the stubble of the harvested sunflower fields, before bursting up again to flow in another direction like storm-driven clouds. Sometimes a part of the flock would perch in neat regimented rows on the electricity cables, spaced apart as each respected the reach of its neighbour’s beak.

New groups flew in from all directions, joining the main flock, and at one point as they flew over the road where we stood  we could hear the fluttered whispers of a thousand wings; the murmuring that gives this spectacle its’ name. Some of these birds would be local residents, but numbers are swelled in winter by migrants coming from Scandinavia, or even Russia, escaping the harsher winter. They will forage in the fields during the day, but gather to roost together at night, sometimes in reed beds, sometimes in city trees – much to detriment of cars’ paintwork if they happen to park below a starling laden tree. A thousand birds in one place produce a lot of droppings, and studies have shown that lower ranking flock members literally have to take up lower branches, the upper ones being occupied by mature dominant birds.

Other studies have been made as to how such numbers coordinate these winter ballets. There are theories, but, wonderfully, no-one is quite sure.  It is said that each starling pays attention to the seven (or six, or twelve) close-by birds in the immediate vicinity, and reacts to any twist or turn that is made. So a movement seems to ripple outwards at unbelievable speed, a coordinated pulse of a horde of birds acting as one. This can form the most incredible flowing shapes, a sort of avian version of the  aurora borealis. See the video link below.

Watching, it is hard to deny that they seem to enjoy it, but of course, this will never been known; at least until some clever engineer develops a starling sized monitor capable of registering the hormones associated with pleasure.

Also, there is the safety in numbers aspect, the ever-changing plasticity of the flock shape making it hard for any aerial predator to pick out an individual target. Videos show how the flocks opens up and flows away from a stooping Peregrine, whose high-performance eyes must be fooled by the sheer numbers of the targets. Then, when they finally settle and roost, some warmth can be shared, and it is believed that foraging information is passed on in these roosts, as experienced dominant birds who occupy the safest position in the roost will be observed by less skilful individuals as they leave next day.

When they were standing together on the ground I was able to take some photographs, and was struck how immature birds of the same age with brown heads seemed to be gathering together.

 

Later, looking at the photograph, there appeared to be a darker individual: a trick of the light or just possibly  a vagrant Spotless Starling (Etourneau unicolore) usually found much further south in Spain.

We watched, mesmerized, for perhaps a quarter of an hour. It is no coincidence that the largest murmuration I have ever seen was on show in the land where man has shaped and watered the ground for many centuries, growing crops which inevitably leave adequate gleanings behind after the harvest, and the invertebrates that are attracted to the left-overs, and so there is enough to feed, for a while at least, the many, many beaks of a great flock of starlings.

The best YouTube video I have come across of this amazing sight, filmed in the Netherlands, can be found at:

       Starling murmuration 2020 #Geldermalsen