Peter Moore's Wildlife Blog

Monday, 31 August 2026

Pyrenees trip report day 7: back to Pic du Midi

I was sufficiently impressed with Pic du Midi on my first solo trip on 30th June that I persuaded the family that they should come back with me a few days later and make a day of it. So on 3rd July we did just that and booked ourselves on to the second cable car of the day. It was another warm day but without the low mist of my first visit, so although we didn't get to enjoy the spectacular cloud seas of a few days before, the views on the way up were clear and spectacular.

Female Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Female Wallcreeper - I had hoped to get photos of Wallcreeper in the sun as they spent most of their time in the shade - this is as close as I got with the bird just out of the shadows

Female Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

On arriving at the top, while the rest of the family checked out the observatory buildings and interpretation, I, having got my bearings on my first visit, knew exactly where to head: the outer wall on the north side of the compound where I had watched a pair of Wallcreeper returning to an apparent nest hole with food on multiple occasions. The female had remained mostly in the shade on my first visit, so I was hopeful I might get some photographs of her in the sun on this occasion. Earlier in the morning would be better for this before the north wall fell deeper into shade.

Female Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Two Wallcreepers in this photo - top left and bottom right

I met a German birder as I approached the wall and let him know about the Wallcreeper, as well as the Snowfinch nesthole in one of the compound buildings. He was very keen to see Wallcreeper so we staked out the north facing wall and hoped for the best. It wasn't long before we saw our first Wallcreeper but rather than coming to the nest, it remained distant on the slabs opposite.

I like this image - find the Wallcreeper!

Wallcreeper in flight

Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi

Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Eventually it was joined by the other of the pair and we watched them feeding and dust-bathing, wishing we had brought a telescope as they were quite distant. Although we waited patiently for some time, the female came over to the wall near the nest hole only once that day, and unfortunately that was while the German birder had wandered off to get a better look at the breeding Snowfinches. I managed a few shots but she was in an out before I could get his attention.

Not often I get this lot above 9,000 feet!

Griffon Vulture, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

When the female did come close to the nest site, I noticed she was not carrying food, unlike on my last visit when both adults invariably returned with a bill full of insects. There was no evidence of juveniles around, leading me to conclude that the young must have fledged and dispersed between my last visit on 30 June and this visit 3 days later. I didn't want to contemplate the alternative explanation - that the nest had failed - but that seemed unlikely given how much food was being brought in a few days previously, and the fact that the weather had been pretty good in the intervening days.

Alpine Accentor, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Juvenile Alpine Accentor, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Alpine Accentor, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Crag Martin, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Black Redstart, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Low cloud on my last visit kept the raptors at bay but as the morning warmed up Griffon Vultures started to appear below us, eventually thermalling up to eye level and above. Lunch with the family enabled some more time with the Snowfinches and Alpine Accentors around the picnic tables, and the Crag Martins continued to entertain.

Pyrenees from du Midi - the notch in the ridge on the right is La Breche de Roland on the French/Spanish border - I hiked miles up to it in 2006 to see my first Wallcreeper. Seeing them at Pic du Midi was much easier!

Pyrenees from Pic du Midi

Clouds built up as the morning went on on 3rd July

The family walking the plank at Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Crag Martin, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

So despite the slight disappointment that we weren't treated to repeated views of the Wallcreeper coming back to the nest site, it was still a great day for close encounters with alpine species and I would strongly recommend Pic du Midi be included in any itinerary to the Pyrenees.

White-winged Snowfinch, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

White-winged Snowfinch (juvenile), Pic du Midi, 3rd July

White-winged Snowfinch, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Wallcreeper, Pic du Midi, 3rd July

Sunday, 23 August 2026

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.