Peter Moore's Wildlife Blog: Pyrenees trip report day 4: Pic du Midi

I did pretty well sitting around the pool at our accommodation near Lourdes for 2 whole days before itchy feet got the better of me and persuaded me to plan my first big birding day of the trip. I wanted to get up high for alpine species but without having to work too hard, so the cable car to Pic du Midi seemed like a good option. Claire and Rowan were enjoying the pool too much to want to join me so I booked myself onto the first cable car from La Mongie which would carry me through a vertical elevation of 1,077m (3,533 feet) up to 2,877m above sea level.

Female Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 30th June

La Mongie was about an hour's drive from our accommodation, so I gave myself plenty of time to get there allowing for stops along the way. I was slightly perturbed to find as I climbed up into the mountains a thick fog hanging in the air - I had paid 59 euros for the cable car and the thought of arriving and being able to see nothing left me a little crestfallen! I needn't have worried though - as the cable car climbed out of La Mongie at 1,800m, we soon rose above it to reveal an incredible cloud sea.

Female Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 30th June

The cable car is in fact two cable cars with a change at the midway station at 2,341m, after which the second leg drops over a ridge above a chasm, where the car is a gut-wrenching 320m above the ground, before climbing up again to the summit. The whole journey takes about 15 minutes which certainly beats walking up. Amusement was added when a French announcement in the cable car was translated into English in a broad cockney accent: 'Lay-deez and gennlemen, please note that when the cable car goes past these pylons it might swing abaht a bit!'

Male Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 30th June

On reaching the top I didn't really know what to expect and was a bit surprised to find that the whole summit complex was enclosed within a wall which prevented access onto the wider mountain. This left me a bit concerned that it might curtail the birding opportunities. Similarly, I didn't really know what to expect in terms of the birdlife other than hoping for alpine species and keeping my fingers crossed that Alpine Accentor and Alpine Chough would visit the cafe as soon as crumbs started getting dropped, as they had at Feunte De in the Picos last year.

Male Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Anyway, the sun was shining, and the views were spectacular, so I decided to check out the small compound and hope for the best. A few seconds later I rounded the corner past a viewing platform suspended over the void and flushed a White-winged Snowfinch from the wall of the observatory building on my left. Annoyed at first that I had blown the chance of a close encounter, when the bird reappeared a few minutes later I realised that it was in fact visiting a nest hole between the boulders in the wall of the building, and that the begging calls of chicks could be heard from within. I made myself comfortable a respectable distance from the nest hole, set the camera on the monopod, and for the next hour or so filled my boots as both male and female Snowfinches brought a selection of insects to the nest.

Alpine Accentor, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Male Black Redstart, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Female Black Redstart, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Alpine Chough, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Alpine Accentor, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Lunchtime was approaching so I thought I'd best continue anti-clockwise around the compound to the cafe area to test my theory that Alpine Accentors might pay a visit as diners started to appear. As I did so I peeked over the outer wall to my right and glimpsed a vision in grey and crimson flit away from the wall and across to a distant ridge: Wallcreeper! I had zero expectation of seeing this species at Pic du Midi and again kicked myself that I'd spent so long photographing the Snowfinches that I might have missed the chance of a better view of a Wallcreeper.

White-winged Snowfinch (male), Pic du Midi, 30th June

White-winged Snowfinch (female), Pic du Midi, 30th June

Again, I needn't have worried, as after a modest wait the Wallcreeper reappeared. Not only did it reappear, but it too came in carrying insects and vanished into what appeared to be a hole in a high, vertical section of the outer wall. I should say 'she' as it was clearly a female, and after she returned a few more times with food and went into the same hole, it became clear there was indeed a nest in the outer wall.

White-winged Snowfinch (juvenile), Pic du Midi, 30th June

Eventually a male Wallcreeper appeared and whilst he would generally come straight into the nest and bolt straight out again over a distant ridge, I noticed that on leaving the nest the female tended to appear and do a couple of graceful, slow looping glides as if to stretch her wings before heading off to collect more food. So that was the rest of my day sorted as I said to myself 'photographing Wallcreepers it is, then!'.

Crag Martin, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Doing so was easier said than done as it involved craning my neck over the waist high outer wall of the compound to view the slopes alongside and below, holding the lens at the ready in the hope of capturing the Wallcreepers on camera during their fleeting visits every 20-30 minutes. When they did appear they were mostly in the shade of the outer wall, which made exposure tricky with the bright sunlight on the wider landscape. To further complicate matter a fierce heat haze seemed to effect the photos whether the birds were in sun or shade - so if they seem a little soft, those are my excuses!

View from Pic du Midi, 30th June

Skywalk at Pic du Midi, 30th June

View from Pic du Midi, 30th June

Pic du Midi, 30th June

This vigil was interrupted only by turning around occasionally to photograph Alpine Accentors and Snowfinches which had, as I had hoped, come into the compound to feed around the picnic tables, Crag Martins which poked their heads out of a presumed nest hole just yards from the Wallcreeper nest hole, and, bizarrely, a pair of White Stork which loomed out of the cloud sea to the north before lumbering over the Pic to the main range of the Pyrenees beyond.

The Berlingo below Col de Tourmlaet - hire car after our car broke down

Snowfinch in the snow, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Marmot, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Lefebvre's Ringlet, Pic du Midi, 30th June

Cloud sea from Pic du Midi, 30th June

Time was pressing on so I reluctantly headed for the cable car, dropping back down into the cloud sea to La Mongie. Taking a different route home via Col de Tourmalet, where I had seen Snowfinch in the car park and Lammergeier overhead back in 2006, I was disappointed to find it thick with cloud, so pressed on back to Lourdes vowing to take the whole family back to Pic du Midi later in the trip.