On the hunt

Today I was working in Bordeaux until after lunch and then I took off to Le Bassin d'Arcachon, on the coast.

See the egret large here

I had lunch with a client on the terrace of a Japanese restaurant and we were forced inside by high winds and torrential rain - this did not bode well for my impending photo session on the coast.

We had a lovely lunch, and on leaving the restaurant the sun returned and blue skies had chased the clouds away.

I walked for about 10 kilometers (5 out and 5 back) in 4 hours, seeing lots of birdlife, including curlew, oyster catchers, sandpipers, herons, hen harriers, cormorants, lots of species of gull, shellduck and egrets - it was a fantastic afternoon, and this is the low season for birdlife - the best times being autumn and spring.

The tide was high and, although we are bang in the middle of the holiday season, I saw only 6 other people, apart from a few local fishermen.

This is a secret spot .. well, not really, but the access to the pathway is a narrow impasse between two buildings and is bypassed by all but those that know it - I found it in winter by sheer fluke, after seeing a woman walking her dog here, I asked for directions to a place where I could go to photograph birds.

The woman gestured with her hand, as if letting me pass before her into a doorway then proceeded to tell me the variety of birds that could be seen - she was a watercolour artist who also knew her onions.

The weather was pleasantly cooler too, at 28°c, perfect for a good walk.