The enthusiastic historian and naturalist Michael Clegg travels the Yorkshire region meeting colourful characters, looking at interesting places and uncovering some off-beat jobs and trades. In this episode of Clegg’s People, Michael Clegg visits the Camargue region of Southern France with a party of birdwatchers. The film opens with a title sequence, showing artists pictures of wildlife drawings of people who work and find recreation in the countryside finishing with a drawn colour...

The enthusiastic historian and naturalist Michael Clegg travels the Yorkshire region meeting colourful characters, looking at interesting places and uncovering some off-beat jobs and trades. In this episode of Clegg’s People, Michael Clegg visits the Camargue region of Southern France with a party of birdwatchers. The film opens with a title sequence, showing artists pictures of wildlife drawings of people who work and find recreation in the countryside finishing with a drawn colour portrait of Michael Clegg. Title: Clegg’s People Michael Clegg speaks to the camera on a street in Arles in France. An information board on a post at the roadside lists a number of towns Arles is twinned with and Michael quotes Wisbech in the Cambridgeshire fens. Michael assures us that the reason for the twinning will become clearer once we’ve travelled down the road out of town. A travelling view from on board a coach shows the driver and through the windscreen the Rhone River as we traverse across on a road bridge and onwards to the Camargue region in southern France. Michael explains that he is with a party of Yorkshire bird watchers. he points out the similarities of the countryside they are travelling through are similar to Wisbech with flat fields either side of the road. The bus stops at one of the fields flooded to grow rice. Michael immediately spots a Mediterranean gull in flight; the other keen bird watchers follow his guidance to locate the bird. Michael describes the team of bird watchers on this trip as a mixture of new and experienced watchers, but it’s the first time for all of them in the Camargue and for their efforts they spot another species which visit the are gull billed terns. The coach travels further along a narrow straight road. The vantage point from the coach helps Michael and his bird watchers to choose places to stop when they see something interesting. They spot cattle egrets standing next to one of Camargue’s white horses., the film shows another egret in flight. Famous for white horses the Camargue is also famous for black cattle, a large bull grazes with attendant cattle egrets. Michael describes the Camargue terrain as a complex of mud, water, bushy vegetation and low trees. The bus stops on a road which runs past an inland sea known as the Étang de Vaccarès. Michael has spotted a little egret foraging in the shallow water. He wonders why some of the birds are on edge and alarmed, then he spots a bird of prey, a black kite flying high above them. Michael comments on the stop and start nature of this tour, especially for Chris Steel tour organiser, driver and bird spotter. Michael has a chat to Chris about his role as tour driver and bird spotter. The next stopping point for the tour is at Lacapeliere a reserve centre. Michael and his fellow tourists make use of one of the bird hides which overlooking a small lake or lagoon. The film shows a number of species spotted from the hide including a black wing stilt, spotted redshank and little egret. A coypu a south American mammal and a species introduced to the area swims past. Michael and the group take advantage of the nature trail which is one of the attractions at Lacapeliere. They’re on the lookout for tree frogs. A couple on the tour have spotted one, a bright green frog on the upper branches of a tree. Michael chats with other tourists on the trip as they sit around a picnic table Chris Steel concentrates on his driving as the party head for the west side of the Camargue and the town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and the region’s capital. The bus drives through the busy town. Some people fish at a small stream not far from the beach, some pony trekkers pass by on Camargue horses. The bird watchers aim for the town’s marsh areas to see what species can be spotted. The film shows a common tern in flight, and in the distance on a reclaimed lagoon a wading bird known as a whimbrel. A trio of flamingos filter the water of a lagoon through their beaks to feed on brine shrimps. Michael states that tourism isn’t the only threat to the area, out of the many industries in the area salt extraction is one of the biggest. The film shows huge piles of salt on the sea edge. Michael visits an old acquaintance, Alan Johnson who works at the Tour du Valat a research station which monitors the Mediterranean wetlands. Michael accompanies Alan to the salins or salt marshes. Flamingos wade in the brackish water. Both men use aids to vision with Michael using binoculars, and Alan a monocular to observe the birds on the marsh. Alan manages to identify an individual flamingo of 9 years of age. Michael asks how long flamingos live Alan says he has known one reach 34 years. An aerial photograph shows the size of the flamingo colony. The film shows one of the flamingos taking off from the lagoon, followed by a group of six in flight. Michael talks at length with Alan about his work, and the Camargue generally and how he came to study the flamingo. The bird watching group have now moved to the northern edge of the Camargue at Mas D’Agon a mixture of farmland and marshes and, according to Michael, a paradise for water birds. One of the first birds identified is a white winged black tern. Another black winged stilt is spotted and, in full flight a bird of prey, a female marsh harrier. Sheltering in a bush they spot the distinctive hoopoe, colourful with a crown of feathers. The tourist bird watchers seem to aim their binoculars in all directions as there is so much to see. A coypu appears with its unusual orange front teeth. A grey heron is spotted, followed by a view of a native purple heron as it comes into land followed by the familiar little egret. A rarer bird follows, a squacco heron and Michael lists off the birds he has just seen to the other bird watchers around him. Black terns fly into view and sitting on fence posts, whiskered terns. In the distance in the shallows a male garganey, in the trees a nightingale sings. Egrets wander in and out of Camargue horse’s feet as the evening light fades. Michael states as the film ends, the visiting group’s list of bird species spotted reached 189. A setting sun sits behind the credits. Credits: Editor Richard Jackson Graphics Richard Wisdom Sound David Pape Dubbing Mixer Tim Wheeler Producer/Director/Camera Charles Flynn Executive Producer David Lowen. © Yorkshire Television Ltd 1990 End credit: A Yorkshire Television production for ITV