Birding in France and Wildlife Tours

Birding Languedoc is the only organisation offering locally operated bird watching and wildlife tours to the beautiful Languedoc region of southern France.

From our base just south of Narbonne, on the western shores of the Mediterranean, we cover an area that includes a multitude of habitats from the high mountains, lakes and plateaux of the eastern Pyrenees to the south, through the Corbières hills, coastal lagoons and vineyards of the Narbonnaise, up into the Minervois hills a little further north.

These extremely varied habitats are home to an equally good range of birds. An attractive diversity of resident species provide year-round interest, whilst spring and autumn migration add considerably to the list, as do a whole host of colourful and tuneful breeding birds. One of the top areas for birdwatching in France, the Languedoc covers the majority of the emblematic Mediterranean species.

The members of our small, friendly multilingual team live locally and are all passionate about sharing the amazing fauna and flora of this little-known and unspoilt region with other natural history enthusiasts. We are sure you will agree that you always see more with a local guide! Our intimate knowledge of the area means that we know all the best spots, what can be seen at any given moment and how best to adapt each day to the particular conditions so that you get the best possible experience.

Our team is made up of professional local wildlife experts and a fully bilingual tour leader who fell in love with the area on moving here over 15 years ago. Together we host small-group fixed-date tours, custom tours and scheduled day trips, as well as offering private guiding services.

We strongly believe that it is the whole experience that counts and not just the list of species you can tick off. Our attention to customer service and choice of accommodation reflects this as we focus on warm, welcoming and friendly guest houses and hotels offering delicious locally sourced food and wine – so that you can enjoy the full experience of your birding or wildlife trip to the south of France.

Whilst our main focus is on providing high-quality birding trips, we also work with local specialists in butterflies, reptiles and plants and sometimes host guest guides who are international specialists in their field.

You can even come by train from London or Paris for a low carbon travel option to discover some wonderful Mediterranean wildlife with Birding Languedoc.

COVID-19
We commit to putting in place all the necessary precautions to allow you to enjoy a birding or wildlife trip and feel safe (e.g. disinfecting the minibus before your arrival)! And we commit to working closely with all accommodation providers to ensure that their premises meet Covid cleaning requirements.

If you wish to avoid sitting in a minibus with people you don’t know, why not put together a group of 6-8 people and we can give you a quote for a bespoke birdwatching or wildlife tour just for your group.

Please contact us if you have concerns or wish to hear more about the precautions we are taking at our end to ensure your safety and well-being.

Coming by train may well be a safer option than travelling by plane and we can guide you through the different options.

Tours:

Wildlife:

White Stork

White stork migrate along the coast in both spring and autumn in groups of up to 500. A few also breed and overwinter in the Narbonnaise area.

Spotless Starling

Confined to coastal areas and very localised, the Spotless starling can be seen amongst its more common cousins, often looking slightly scruffy with an oily appearance.

Short-toed Eagle

From February through to October, the Short-toed eagle mainly on reptiles, avoiding competition with the resident Bonelli’s and Golden eagles. It can be easily seen throughout the Languedoc in good numbers.

Sardinian Warbler

A small skulking resident species, the Sardinian warbler provides a year-round soundscape with its harsh rattling alarm call. This is a very common bird throughout the area and can be seen darting in and out of the dense scrubby bushes of the “garrigue” habitat.

Kentish Plover

This diminutive resident shorebird is easily spotted feeding and nesting around the margins of the many former salt pans, using the broken wing tactic to entice potential predators away from its young.

Golden Oriole

The melodious song of the Golden Oriole is a common favourite and a delightful sound to awake to in spring. Present from late April through to mid-August this shy bird can be found in woodland near streams and rivers, although sightings are often restricted to a flash of yellow!

European Honey Buzzard

In mid-May, if there is a strongish NW wind, spectacular numbers of Honey buzzard can be seen heading north over the Leucate headland, with the daily count sometimes reaching 12,000.

Eurasian Hoopoe

This spectacular but unobtrusive bird seems to enjoy feeding in the vineyards and olive groves but you may also see them in the coastal dunes or in urban parks and gardens. Most are summer visitors present from late February to September although a few now overwinter.

Blue Rock Thrush

The Blue rock thrush is resident throughout the Languedoc and is relatively easy to see. Locally this species seems to favour disused quarries as well as rocky canyons.

Conservation:

Birding Languedoc is a non-profit organisation, set up to improve the knowledge and understanding of local wildlife and to promote its conservation through education and sustainable tourism. Most wildlife companies will contribute 10% of their profits to helping wildlife, but as we are a non-profit organisation ALL our profits are reinvested into local projects.

Birding Languedoc is currently supporting two important local projects:

The Jardin Botanique de Foncaude: Covering 7 hectares of the Feuilla river valley this fascinating botanical garden is a haven for wildlife. Established by his father over the past 30 years, Jeremy Jalabert and our local bird guide Karline Martorell are now resident on-site and have plans to develop much-needed visitor facilities. Birding Languedoc is supporting this project financially but also on the ground to develop the capacity of the garden to host visitors, installing benches, composting toilets and information boards.
Med Migration: Migration counting at the Leucate headland helped highlight how local hunting was impacting the European Honey-buzzard population and successfully managed to convince the hunters to stop shooting these magnificent birds. The migration count then stopped! But Sébastien Roques managed to find funding to relaunch the spring migration count in 2020, demonstrating the incredible numbers of European Honey-buzzard but also many other species that pass over this important site. The historic data is invaluable in order to highlight changes in different species numbers passing through, but current data needs to cover at least three years to be meaningful. Birding Languedoc is helping Med Migration to find finance for the migration count for at least the next two years (2021 & 2022).

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