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This is a brief report to alert birders of the possibility of seeing the above two species with relative ease in Tuscany during the late winter and early spring.
My visit was at the end of January/beginning of February, when the wintering Wallcreepers are still at lower altitudes and the Lanners are seen more easily as they are at the very start of their breeding season. I would recommend the best time to visit would be from the very end of January to the third week in February to get both species with most ease.
The site for both is the WWF Reserve near Roccalbegna called Bosco Rocconi. This is in Southern Tuscany, east of Grosseto. The Reserve is absolutely wonderful for all kinds of wildlife, not just birds; mammals include Wild Boar, Porcupine and Stone Marten, signs of all three of which we saw on our visit. In spring the reserve is excellent for Orchids, with 27 species, and Tortoise can be seen with relative ease, along with a good number of other herp species. Butterfly species include Southern Festoon. On the bird front, the area is excellent for raptors, with two breeding pairs of Lanner, the largest concentration of Montagu’s Harrier in Italy, Short-toed Eagle, Honey Buzzard and Goshawk breeding too.
The Reserve is wardened by local man Riccardo Nardi, and you will require his help to access the Reserve. He knows the wildlife of the place in great depth and it is essential to arrange a guided visit with him. Not only is he very knowledgeable, but he is very kind and generous with his time and goes out of his way to make sure the visitor sees as much as possible on the Reserve. His English is very good, but it would be useful to know a little Italian also.
Visit - 31st January 2008.
Riccardo met us at Roccalbegna town and drove us into the Reserve. He set up a Video camera at the foot of the Lanner breeding cliff, showing us the nest. A female Lanner flew from the cliff as we got out of the car, but the view of the bird flying away was not sufficient to tick it! We then drove further on to a watchpoint at some distance to await the return of the bird and look for Wallcreeper which winter on the same outcrop. Lanners are very shy and the only way to see them is from distance – in this case about 800m.
With a scope, in less than an hour, I luckily spotted a Wallcreeper land on the top of the cliff face, and although distant, the bird could be seen well as it searched for spiders on the vertical cliff face. It spent the next hour feeding on the outcrop before disappearing round a corner. This is one of five birds that winter in the area, and the easiest to see because of the size of this cliff.
We then walked down into the ravine and checked out three more cliff faces which hold Wallcreepers (and where they are viewable much more closely), but unfortunately failed. Two weeks previously Riccardo had a Wallcreeper land 5 metres from him at eye level on one cliff!
The area was covered in flowering Crocus of two species – C purpureus and C. versicolor. Also very common is Stinking hellebore and Alpine squill, as well as smaller numbers of Snowdrop. We also saw the overwintering rosettes of Lizard orchid.
My wife Lynne found a Porcupine quill, and there were plenty of fresh Wild boar tracks – in fact we heard Boar scavenging behind some trees, but they didn’t show themselves. For birdlife it was pretty quiet.
Back at the watchpoint Riccardo had fetched the video but the Lanner had not returned before the tape ran out. However, we heard them calling and Riccardo informed us it was the call made during copulation. By the time the scopes were up, both birds of the pair were perched out in the open on the cliff and trees, showing well and preening. To get views like these is very rare for visitors, so we made the most of it. A poor digiscoped shot is below.
This was a stunning end to a cracking day, all this in less than six hours.
Riccardo’s Email address is: riccardonardi@interfree.it
The URL for the Bosco Rocconi Reserve is:
http://www.parco-maremma.it/Inglese/web/natura/riserve_oasi/bosco_rocconi.htm
Getting there:
The nearest Airports are Rome (about three hours away) or Pisa (about two hours away). The cheap airlines run flights to both (in my case from the Midlands, Easyjet run to Rome from East Midlands and Ryanair to Pisa). In our case we flew into Pisa and stayed in Siena, our favourite town in Tuscany. Siena to Roccalbegna is about an hour and half.
Flying into Pisa also gives you another chance at Wallcreeper, as there are two quarries where they winter less than 10 miles from the Airport. One of these is next to the SP30 Strada Provinciale del Lungomonte Pisano north of Avana. For directions, go to www.birdguide.it/twitc/wallcr.htm The birds here are sporadic, however, as there is a large number of quarries, only two of which are accessible. In a two-hour search on 2nd February we failed to find any birds, though there was a single Blue rock thrush, and there had been an Alpine accentor earlier that day.
Pine Bunting can be seen in winter not far from Pisa also: see:
http://www.birdguide.it/twitc/pineb.htm
Not all Hotels are open in January and February so larger towns are a better bet.
We hired a car and use a TomTom One Europe, which now (Feb 2008) costs under £150 and is indispensable for this kind of trip. Car hire cost about £60 for the four days we were there.
Staying in Grosseto would be more convenient if you are on a birding-only holiday, as that is also near the Maremma Reserve, another good site for birds. In spring, the Promontorio di Argentario is a fantastic place for Orchids too.
Thanks once again to Riccardo for showing us his wonderful reserve, and to all the other Italian birders who helped out on the Pisa sites – especially Lorenzo Pardini and Alessio Quaglierini who went out of their way to try and get us Wallcreepers near Pisa.
Sean Cole, February 2008.
seanrcole@hotmail.com