Rate birdingplace Plan d'Eau de Plobsheim
Description
The lake of Plobsheim is a large basin that was build to regulate the water of the river Ill. There are shallow waters in the south and deeper waters in the north where the basin is conected to the river Rhine.
In migrating times the south is a good place to watch waders like Коловодник звичайний , Коловодник чорний , Коловодник великий , Побережник малий and Побережник чорногрудий . Other migrating species are Крячок річковий, Крячок каспійський and Скопа . There is a chance to see rarer species like Крячок білощокий , Крячок білокрилий and Мала біла чапля hunting for fish. In spring and summer the northern part of the area is rather uninteresting for watching birds. That changes in autumn and especially in winter.
Almost the whole year but especially in winter the area is one of the best places in the Upper Rhine region to watch all sorts of ducks, grebes and divers. Even rarer species like Гагара полярна , Чернь білоока and Крех середній can be found here. For divers the north of the area is a good place to have a look in winter. It can be worth it to look a the gulls more closely. Sometimes there are Мартин малий , Мартин середземноморський and Мартин жовтоногий between the Мартин скельний and Мартин звичайний .
In the forest near by you can see Вивільга звичайна and Мухоловка строката in summer and all sorts of woodpeckers.
Details
Access
The area is near the city of Strasbourg. The nearest trainstation can be found in the village Erstein. From there the site can be reached by bike. Furthermore there are many spots to park your car. Click on a P in the map for directions.
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FR: Hélas, les distances d'observation sont un peu grandes. Mais, en hiver, les espèces sont exceptionnelles ! Un incontournable !
EN: Unfortunately, the viewing distances are a bit large. But, in winter, the species are exceptional! A must!
I have been there in late August from approx. 15:00 - 17:00. I haven't really seen anything special, just a lot of Лебідь-шипун and the usual waterbirds. Баклан великий ... I started at the point in the north where there was really nothing to observe until the point where there is the red sign on the map above. There I could see many Лебідь-шипун (but nothing else). I tried going a bit further but I did not have enough time to really go any further. I would really much recommend to start the route at the other side and then consider on how far you wanna walk that trail. This site might be better in winter, but for me in summer the place was nothing special today.
FR: Super sortie, sur un magnifique site. Observation exceptionnelle de Крех великий, de Гоголь зеленоголовий, de Чернь червонодзьоба, de Гагара полярна et de Баклан малий ! Un site incontournable pour les oiseaux d'eau hivernants en Alsace.
EN: Magnificent site. Outstanding observations of Крех великий, Гоголь зеленоголовий, Чернь червонодзьоба, Гагара полярна and Баклан малий! An essential site for wintering waterbirds in Alsace.
The Krafft end of the Plan d'eau de Plobsheim can be a source of constant disappointment given the distances involved and the possibility of inconsiderate fishermen spooking every bird in the area, but it's also the place where I've seen Баклан малий, Чапля жовта, Побережник білохвостий, Коровайка бура, Осоїд євразійський and several other species that are very unlikely to be found anywhere else in the Bas-Rhin. A spotting scope is essential rather than merely useful, and close-up photos are highly unlikely, but it's worth checking out faune-france or faune-alsace for recent sightings to find out whether a visit might be worthwhile anyway. (The northern end around Sept-Ecluses probably deserves its own page)