Postcard from the end of the earth

Black-winged Stilt (Julian Hughes)

​Much of June has been spent in Finistère, the rocky western end of Brittany that translates as “the end of the earth” from Latin French, and also from the Breton Pen-ar-Bed. Amid the colourful heather and Thrift of the coastal path, much is familiar. The cultural and language links with home are strong. Many place names on bilingual roadsigns are recognisable, the anthem Bro Gozh ma Zadoù is sung to the same tune as Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and you can even visit Bangor - although it’s a boat ride to get there.

Most birds are familiar, but with some notable differences. Treecreepers are Short-toed; the tinkling song of Serins projects from almost every tall tree, it seems; and Swifts are abundant, groups screaming over every village square in numbers I sadly never see in Wales. Higher temperatures undoubtedly help, but so does the style of architecture that creates lots of crannies in which they can nest. Insect-life seems rich, especially butterflies, of which I raised clouds on every walk, including species we don’t yet see in North Wales – White Admiral, Marbled and Black-veined White – but almost certainly will in the coming decades.

Every coastal wetland held squabbling Avocets and Black-winged Stilts, Cattle Egrets fed among livestock and around the Golfe du Morbihan, Turtle Doves purred gently on almost every farm. The scratchy song of Melodious Warblers was encountered daily from scrub, woodland and hedges; it is a scarce visitor to Wales, but as the climate changes, perhaps British birdwatchers should learn its song. The monotone buzz of Zitting Cisticola – called a Fan-tailed Warbler in bird books of my youth – is also widespread here, the last we heard as we boarded the ferry at St Malo.

Cetti’s Warblers are everywhere. While we associate them with a small number of wetlands in North Wales, they are spreading fast: the latest UK Breeding Bird Survey results show they have increased by more than 1000% since 1995. Other species are absent, most obviously the falling cadence of Willow Warbler, a bird still widespread in North Wales but declining rapidly from the southern edge of its range. A Europe-wide atlas published just a few years ago showed Willow Warblers still abundant in Brittany, but I wonder if they have now gone as they have from some lowland parts of southern Britain. A study by the British Trust for Ornithology showed that Willow Warblers are faring worse than the similar Chiffchaff where it is warmer.
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It may be a postcard from northwest France, but is this a postcard from our future?