Explore interesting habitats and picturesque villages in search of resident and migrant birds, butterflies, and wildflowers including British rarities and exotics.
A relaxed-pace holiday, with lots of opportunity for photography on daily excursions from from our riverside hotel base. In the woodlands, fields and scrub we look and listen for nesting birds. Orchids are a particular highlight here, with British rarities such as lady orchid found alongside such exotics as violet limodore, while early species butterflies are emerging. Local chateaux, prehistoric cave paintings in the Vézère Valley and the delicious local cuisine add to a week of gentle natural history exploration.
Fly to Bergerac where we meet our guide. From here it is about a 30-minute drive to our riverside hotel in Lalinde. The local area is most attractive, and before or after supper there will be a little time to explore the riverside locally where black kites float overhead, black redstarts sing from the rooftops and green frogs cackle along the banks.
Accommodation: Les Magnolias, 7-nights
Today we visit the dry stony habitats of the local honey-coloured Cretaceous limestone. The trip starts with a visit to the Trémolat viewpoint looking out over the River Dordogne, followed by a short walk to a field with a surprising array of orchids. Nearby we take a deer track through a wood of stunted downy oaks to a clearing with many more orchids, including early purple and the scarce yellow bee. This is also a good spot for getting an idea of typical limestone flora.
In the morning we head for Les Eyzies village, billed as the ‘Prehistory Capital of France’ and home to the National Museum of Prehistory as well as many local settlement sites and caves with paintings. We will take an hour-long trip on a small electric train at Rouffignac to see some wonderful black and white prehistoric cave paintings.
Peregrines, ravens and crag martins nest on the cliffs along the Vézère Valley and the area is also excellent for butterflies and orchids in the marshy meadows. In the woods, golden oriole, western Bonelli’s warbler, firecrest and short-toed treecreeper are common. We’ll stop at several key wildlife spots as we tour the valley.
Eymet reservoir lies amongst arable farmland and small woods. As we walk around the smaller lake we will look for waterbirds and waders plus field and woodland birds such as golden oriole and turtle dove, as well as a variety of commoner orchids, dragonflies and butterflies. The pastures have rich bird populations, including shrikes and black-winged kite, whilst the limestone hillocks amongst the vineyards have a diverse flora including the pretty blue dwarf thistle-like Canduncellus mitissumus, and some vineyards hold scarce arable plants of earlier times.
Bessède is a managed forest on a sandy plateau, where forestry activities create different woodland habitats. We will visit various locations in the forest for birds such as hen harrier, Dartford warbler, crested tit, golden oriole, turtle dove and wood warbler. Butterflies are varied and include marsh fritillary and southern white admiral. Small ponds may hold some early dragonflies and we will visit a couple of good areas for orchids and heathland flora.
Plateau de Faux is a rather special birdwatching area, where species include crested lark, turtle dove, stone curlew, rock sparrow, hoopoe, and occasionally hen harrier and shrikes. Quail can be heard calling from the arable fields whilst nightingales and melodious warblers sing from the scrub. A reservoir site should add to our waterbird sightings, and the surrounding low hills harbour a fascinating limestone flora. The plateau is also an excellent site for butterflies, with knapweed and Glanville fritillaries plus the scarcer mazarine and green-underside blue to be looked for, as well as several orchids including long-lipped tongue.
The Causse de Daglan is an exceptional area for flora and fauna. In contrast to earlier in the week around Trémolat, this area lies on more ancient white Jurassic limestone. Dry slopes here show a typical limestone flora different from the rest of Dordogne.
We’ll visit sites such as Saint Pompon, Montalieu and Veyrines de Domme to discover special flora, including orchids. Sites include damp meadows where there is a chance of marsh orchids as well. It is also a very rich area for butterflies, including rarities.
We should have time for a morning trip on the river at Bergerac in a traditional ‘gabarre’ boat and this provides us with excellent views of nesting black kites as well as species such as kingfisher and grey wagtail. Then we will return to the airport for our flight back to the UK.
An experienced botanist, Corine has lived in the Dordogne since 2003 and has an extensive knowledge of wild flowers in the area.
Corine loves to discover new sites and species and is involved with a range of conservation projects in France. You will find her always willing to share her passion for the Dordogne’s wild flora and fauna!
David Simpson has lived in France for over 15 years, and now lives and works in the Dordogne region where he leads guided wildlife tours.
Previously he worked for over 20 years as a warden on various sites of the coastline of northern England, and more recently he was a warden in Mauritius for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation at Ile aux Aigrettes.
He has published several articles in British Wildlife, Birding Dordogne in the popular BirdGuide series and most recently a complete wildlife guide to Dordogne in the Crossbill Guides collection. David is also the Butterfly Conservation’s European Interest Group contact in Dordogne. An excellent all-round naturalist, he leads several tours to the area and is instrumental in the design of the itineraries as well.
Find out more about the day-to-day sightings and wildlife activities on our group tours from our expert naturalist leaders.
The Dordogne in south-west France is an excellent destination for birding, butterfly-watching and for wildflowers. It represents a ‘stepping-stone’ between the UK’s fauna and flora and that of more exotic regions. With a high diversity of species on offer, it is a wonderful region for the naturalist to explore. Find Out More about {acc:title}
Located in the town of Lalinde east of Bergerac, the wonderful Les Magnolias is a recently renovated mansion situated on the banks of the Dordogne River. The mansion and adjacent warehouse building date back to the 18th century and have been converted to offer comfortable, boutique accommodation. Find Out More about Les Magnolias
