France: Brittany in Fall

Black-tailed Godwit © Rick Wright

World-class, easy birding in one of Europe’s most stunning natural and historical landscapes. Our visit is timed to coincide with the impressive high point of migration along this captivating region’s wild coast, heathlands, and scrubby forests. Excellent photographic opportunities throughout, at natural and cultural sites alike.

They call it Finistère, the ends of the earth, and this westernmost jurisdiction in France preserves some of the wildest and most breathtakingly beautiful landscapes in all of Europe. Rocky headlands, deep ocean bays, and vast sandy beaches are the backdrop to scattered villages where the Breton language and ancient Celtish folkways survive, while scrubby forests, dunelands, and heath are home to breeding birds now rare elsewhere in Europe.

Not even the most single-minded of birders can visit Brittany without succumbing to the allure of one of Europe’s richest cultural and historical landscapes. Mysterious and imposing stone monuments bring vivid life to the dim Neolithic past, and houses and churches—built of the same rugged granite—recall the splendor of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Nature and culture come together most delightfully in October, when the year’s cider is pressed and migrant birds pour in from all directions: over the years, more than 330 species have been recorded here this month, including hordes of Arctic shorebirds and waterfowl, finches and pipits from Scandinavia and Russia, and hawks and owls and warblers from continental Europe.

Seabirds, too, can occur at this season in incredible numbers, and we will watch from coastal vantage points for jaegers, alcids, shearwaters, and gulls. Most of our time, though, will be spent birding terrestrial migrant traps in search of everything from Crested Tits and Zitting Cisticolas to Firecrests and Fieldfares. October is prime time, too, for a wide range of scarcer migrants, among them such fine rarities as the enchanting little Red-breasted Flycatcher, the bizarre Rosy Starling, and the irresistible Pallas’s Leaf Warbler. Even if a given day passes without our discovering a real rarity, we can count on enjoyable days in the field with large numbers of birds, a chance to truly get to know species seen elsewhere in scattered ones and twos.

After assembling at the airport in Brest, we will be based for our entire tour in a single elegant seaside hotel 40 minutes north on the Iroise Sea, with its own fine restaurant and spa. Recently remodeled to the strictest environmental specifications, our hotel is just minutes away from the finest birding spots in northern Brittany, and on many days, the lawns and gardens surrounding the facility offer excellent opportunities to watch migrant and resident birds without leaving the grounds.

Excellent food and accommodation in an elegant hotel built to the strictest environmental standards; moderate pacing and easy walking in pleasantly cool temperatures (typically in the 50s and 60s F).

Pontusval Lighthouse, Brignogan-Plages © margouillat photo/Shutterstock