Le Flamant Rose

A lovely day today, so we set off for the Med. Well not exactly what you might think. We were not at Cannes, but at the little resort of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the West of Provence. Still the Mediterranean though.

The reason we were there is because we wanted to visit the Camargue, the extensive, remarkably flat, scarcely populated land that is one of Europe’s major wetland regions and natural history sites. We had been once before, a long time ago and decided to revisit.

First, down to the coast at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and a walk by the sea in glorious sunshine. Then lunch, which was wonderful. Then we went on to the Parc Ornithologique du Pont-de-Gau. This is a great reserve with extensive areas of water and paths to walk round. Not the best time of year for seeing the huge numbers of migrant birds visiting and even most of the Greater or Pink Flamingos had flown off to more southerly climes by this time.

But we did see and watch hundreds of the ten thousand that remain here for the winter. A wonderful sight.