Into the Mistral

Giens Peninsula, Hyères, Côte d’Azur. 21.02.

The Giens Peninsula is very much at the mercy of the Mistral, a cold north wind that batters the coast of southern France. My image of the Côte d’Azur was always one of quiet sandy beaches under stone-pine trees, so this wind-borne strip of sand is something new.

In the summer months, I imagine this place must be teeming with tourists. For now, the holidaymakers are almost entirely French – either locals or Parisians down for the weekend. There’s a good range of southern and metropolitan accents about. Almost all of them are here for the watersports: windsurfing, kitesurfing and hydrofoils are the order of the day, given the superb conditions along the Plage de l’Almanarre.

They’re quite fun to watch. For every surfer that crashes face-first into the waves, there are at least two more that manage to leap clear of the water into the air. I’m keeping a keen eye out for shearwaters, though I’m sure they’re almost all gone by now, bound for the richer waters of the South Atlantic as Europe has pitches into winter. For the time being, I’ll content myself with the aerial acrobatics of my own species, aping the mastery of the shearwaters in their absence.

BIRDA tells me I’m up to an incredible 499 birds this year, the highest number of species I’ve ever seen in a single year. It’s been fun keeping a tally for a change. I’m not out for any particular total, though it’d be nice to cross the half-century mark. No sign of the redwings or fieldfares yet, though I’m sure they’ll have made it back to the UK by the time I’m home. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can’t track down at least one shearwater before I have to return to England in a week’s time.