Lower Valley of the River Doubs

Imagine Stodmarsh merged with Lakenheath, add a bunch of Bee-eaters, Night Herons, Purple Herons, Great White Egrets and Red-backed Shrikes and you have some impression of the Lower Valley of the River Doubs near Dole in Eastern France. Turtle Doves, Golden Orioles and Nightingales provided the music on this brief stop on the way home from Geneva to Dorset after a week's holiday. Access to the river bank colonised by Bee-eaters was not so much restricted as discouraged by 'Beware of the Bull' signs erected everywhere by French farmers with a surprising concern for public health and safety. Eventually the desire to get good photos of Bee-eater overcame a deep fear of cattle instilled by a bizzare scope-bearing sprint around Oare Marshes to escape the attentions of some frisky Fresians a few years ago. Fortunately their French cousins turned out to be pretty placid, enabling some acceptable shots to be taken before the heat and the horse-flies forced a retreat.