The wait is almost over

The murmuration Toft starlings is growing everyday, they are using the old dying birch tree as a congregation point. I see Roe deer most mornings in field next to gite, the most I have counted is five, I hope they become a bit more aware of the presence of people before the hunting season starts. There have also been charms of goldfinches and family groups of Long tailed tits and tree sparrows forming up, autumn must be on the way.

Two roe deer (at a distance)

Firstly, sorry I haven't been on here for a couple of weeks, no excuse but not a lot been going on, so this will be a round up and look forward. 

So one week to go before we move into Maison des Lis, as you can imagine we are getting excited and doing a lot of mental planning. However there have also been practical things that needed to be done. Sharron was back for the weekend, she hadn't been here for a couple of weeks and I had definitely been missing her. We had arranged a meeting at a local bank to open an account on Friday afternoon at 2pm when the bank opened after lunch. We needed to open the account as we needed to take out house insurance, you cannot buy in France unless you have arranged insurance in advance. We arrived armed with a mass of paperwork but as it transpired not quite enough, they needed an electricity bill, luckily Sharron managed to download one. The whole thing took over two hours and if it wasn't for my brilliant wife and her language skills I would have still been there.

On Saturday we went to the house, this was only the second time each of us had been there and the first time together. We wanted to some time with Gill and Grahame who are selling so they could take us through various systems and things we need to know once we move in, there is a lot to know, but they are amazingly well organised and there are folders full of notes and instructions. I am not going into any details as I want to do an in depth look around the house next week once we are in.

When we left the house we visited the member of the family who has been on her own private vacation, Warrior. Warrior is currently residing in a very nice cattery and seems very happy, but I must admit I don't like seeing her in there. 

It will be quite interesting when she does come home as we will need to not only keeping the house for a couple of weeks but also keep her separate from Ollie, the resident cat at least until he has come to terms with three large dogs invading his space.

On the subject of large dogs, space on the sofa is still very much at a premium

On Sunday we decided to have a day out at one of the many recreational lakes in the Haute-Vienne department. We drove down to Lac de Vassivere which is a huge man made lake covering about 1o square kilometres. 

Built just after the war. It has 45km of shoreline and in the middle is the ile of Vassivere which is where we had decided to visit. We parked next to one of the shoreside cafes. There are facilities all around the lake, parking is free and that includes overnight camping for RV's. The lake is used for various water sports, Water skiing, swimming, sailing fishing etc.

The island is the home to a chateau and art gallery housing some really interesting modern art created by a succession of artists in residence. I is reached by a causeway or ferry.

One of the more interesting installations was this.

in the lake. it is made from plastic sheeting and barrels, but looks amazing.

I also loved this view up the inside of the observation tower on the island.

On Monday decided to spend the morning at the lake nearest the gite at Eguzon, but I took Sharron to a beach on the other side of the lake that she had not been to before.

It is a bit quieter there than the main beach, but has a cordoned off swimming area and facilities

While we were there we watched a Carp fisherman getting ready for a 2-3 day trip to one of the less accessible areas on the lake

Yes, that is 2 boats tied together! I couldn't believe the waders, he spent 2-3hrs wearing them while packing the boats, the temp was 30 c + he must have been melting.

I hope to write another post before we move, but if I can't the next one will be from the new house. We have to arrange broadband at the house which will involve a trip to the Orange shop at the weekend. Interestingly the package includes a landline which gives free landline to landline calls internationally which will be good for keeping in touch with family. But if there is a delay you can keep up with developments on Facebook & instagram 

4th August

I. think we have a Lesser spotted woodpecker visiting the garden, Difficult to get a good look but it looks small enough. Saw another new butterfly for me scarce swallowtail, smaller than the common swallowtail (see pictures below). 


Sorry that there haven't been any posts since last Wednesday, technical issues I have been running Beta test software on my Macbook ( geek thing!) and I had a stability issue with my photos, the next software drop has resolved it so I am back.


A lot of people have asked me why we have decided to move to this part of France, well today we visited our local castle at Crozant, I had driven there last week which was why there was a picture of the castle last Wednesday. As Sharron was back this weekend I decided we should explore..

The castle sits on a granite outcrop at the confluence of the rivers Creuse and Sedelle

It was built by supporters of King John ( yes, that one) but swapped sides tho support the French king.

The valley is know locally as the valley of the painters.

It was 30 c as we were walking around, I can't imagine what it must have been like building it, of climbing the towers in chain mail.

As I mentioned in my nature notes at the top of this piece we saw a 'Scarce Swallowtail' butterfly, Sharron was quick enough to get a couple of pictures.

Wordless Wednesday

A picture paints a thousand words

So Wednesdays will now be wordless

Lac Éguzon 

Crozant

29th July

Flock of Great tits in front garden at least six birds, can’t remember ever seeing a flock before. Saw more Booted eagles over the weekend. 

Over the weekend whilst Sharron was here we visited Warrior in the cattery to see how she was getting on, pleased to say she seems very settled and happy. I don’t having to keep her in a chattery but it was a much better option than trying to keep her in the gite. 

After we left her we attended a fete in a nearby village that celebrates the potato. The weather was not very good so I think it was a bit subdued but it was interesting browsing the stalls. We came away with some prune liquor, some sparkling Eau d vie, charcuterie and a selection of cheeses. We also tried some of the local potato pie which was delicious.

I went to explore the local lake at Éguzon today. The lake was formed in the 1920’s when a dam was built on the river Creuse to generate hydro electric power. It is used as a recreational area for water sports and as a nature reserve.

I parked near the man made beach area where there is a swimming zone with water slides etc and followed the trail around the edge of the lake.

The trail is well marked but fairly rough going, it hugs the edge of the lake and gives access to landing stages a jetties. At one point I had to squeeze past a party of primary school kids and their teachers who were obviously on a nature walk. I then retraced my steps back to the beach where there were more local children, slightly older learning to sail.

When I left the lake I went for a drive around the area and visited the nearby town of Crozant which has a ruined castle on a bend in the river, I will post pictures of it tomorrow.

26th July

Lizards on the patio. Treecreeper on apple tree. Two deer or road to St Sebastian. Bat feeding frenzy around street lamp, I think Pipistrelles and Noctule from size and frequencies on detector.

Well the Canicule is over, 4 days of 30 degrees plus temperatures, It was so hot that I hardly ventured out apart from an early morning trip to the supermarket. Outside apart from the lizards nothing else seemed to so itself during the day the birds making the most of the early morning or evening.

This morning I had to go to La Soutteraine to meet Sharron from the train. She has been back in the UK for a week and is coming back here for the weekend. Her journey was an overnight coach trip to Paris then train down. I hadn't been to La Soutteraine before so I left a little early so I could have a wander around the town. When I got there I parked beside the church in the middle of the town.

Sadly the church is covered in scaffolding but there is a lovely old medieval gatehouse. This is the biggest town I have been to since we got here and there were some interesting shops and bars. 

We drove home, had a little lunch did a shop at the supermarket then went out for a drive to explore a bit more of the countryside. I  haven't done much exploring as I haven't liked leaving the dogs on their own but as it was a lot cooler today it was safe to shut them in the house for a couple of hours. We drove out towards Argenton and looped back via St Sebastian which was when we saw a couple of Fallow deer cross the road. We stopped for a drink at a local bar 'Le Cottage', very odd place, never  sat in a bar full of teddy bears before, sofas covered in throws, feather boa around the lights really odd. We were the only people in there which also made it feel stranger. 

The last couple of nights I have watched a massacre going on outside the front of the house. The is a street light that attracts moths and other insects, this makes it a feeding station for bats. Having finally remembered to get a battery for my detector I picked up feeding calls Ain the mid 20 kHz and 40 kHz ranges. Going from this and the fact that one of the bats is quite large I think there are Noctule and Pipisterelles feeding. 

The other insect story to report is that I had to remove my first Tick from one of the dogs. Bella came in from the garden with what looked like a piece of blue/grey sweetcorn above her eye, I removed it quite easily and all three have now been dosed with an anti tick compound.

The other exciting news is we now have a date for moving into the house, I am not going to announce it here yet as we haven't told members of the family yet, but the end is in sight.

22nd July

Turtle doves appear to be in every tree around the garden, real rarity in the UK, must be down to the lack of intensive farming here. Getting a lot of horseflies in the house, guess it is due to the sheep and cattle housed nextdoor, they are annoying the dogs.


The heatwave has returned with temperatures in the low 30's and predicted to hit 40 by the end of the week. It has been to hot to do much other than walk dogs early in the morning and late evening, catch up on some reading, online French course and drink vast amounts of green tea.

I have also had time to reflect on the differences I have noticed between here and the UK, I know I have only been here a week and I am still on an initial high and this is rural France but here goes:

1. Much less traffic on the roads
2. Better behaved traffic ( The French have a lot of unmarked police cars and hidden speed cameras).
3. I haven't had to pay to park anywhere yet
4. People are friendly, if you walk into a cafe everyone says hello.
5. People are proud of their communities, I think down to the autonomy of the local mayor.

6. This is an interesting one, I have always been a classical music fan and listener to Radio 3 and occasionally classic FM. I am now listening to the French equivalent. They play mainly the same composers (not heard Elgar yet!)| but different pieces of their repertoire. This must reflect the national taste I guess, it is great for me as I am hearing lots of works I don't know.

7. Much of the food in the local supermarket is locally sourced and I haven't seen a straight banana anywhere.


Finally a couple of photos I took whilst walking the dogs.Was in a bit of an artistic mood, but they also show good nature conservation practice of leaving fall trees to decompose naturally, giving a home to all sorts of invertebrate life such as beetle larvae. Stag beetle larvae for instance live in decomposing wood for up to 7 years before emerging, our habit of tidying up is why they are now so rare.

20th July

Saw my first bats this evening, typically the battery in my detector was flat. Moonless evening ironic as today was 50th anniversary of moon landing. However Jupiter looked magnificent.


Went out early today to go to a brocante in Saint-Agnant-Versillat about 30km away. the whole village centre was sealed off for the event. I love the way the do this, the local mayor agrees to it and that's it, diversions put in place and its sorted. As well as stalls temporary bars and food stalls pop up and lots of stalls with the usual range of items, I think that some of the stall holders think the more woodworm an item has the better it is. Having been involved in running our local feast week back in the UK it is really interesting to see how it is done here, you get the feeling that there aren't as many rules and regulations to follow...

My find of the day was this

lovely old leather Gladstone bag, I will use it for my drawing materials, although I think I might have to fight Sharron for it.

I have been going mad not having a field guide of any sort for identifying insects mine having gone into storage. So this afternoon I drove to one of the nearest big towns, Argenton sur Creuse to try and find a bookshop. I did find one but they didn't have a proper field guide  I did however get a lovely book about insects that will help. The book is of course in French so it will help me in two ways as I will need to work out what it is saying.

It was worth the drive just to go to Argenton sur Creuse, As its name suggests  it is on the river Creuse and the views are amazing

although no unusual for this area of France, it is a bit like the Forest of Dean and the Wye valley but with Oak forests rather than pine.

19th July

Had a ringlet butterfly (Aphantpus hyperantus) land on my finger this evening. Also had a saddle back bush cricket land on the back of chair.

The local farmers have spent the last couple of days bringing in the hay harvest. This area of France is known for it's cattle but one forgets that cattle must be fed through the winter, so a good hay harvest is important. Back in Cambridgeshire hay was seen almost as a by product as the main use of the land was for arable but here it is the other way round with only occasional fields of wheat or barley. One other nice thing is there is a lot of wild mint in the fields which gets harvested with the hay so the smell is fantastic.


This beastie landed on the back of a chair on the patio. It is a saddle backed bush cricket |(Ephippiger cunii), or grillon or cri-cri in French

It is a large cricket about the size of my thumb and of course totally harmless. It is not a species found in the UK so another first for me.

As an amateur naturalist this area of France is amazing, the region has predominantly a mix of Oak and Chestnut woodland and very little chemical use judging by the number of wildflowers and the lack of dense stands of stinging nettles which thrive on phosphates. I can't wait to get into our own property and begin to record the wildlife living there.

17th July

I think there may be more than one family of Green woodpeckers in the garden. Tree sparrows are really active, watched young being fed on front fence. I need to find a bookshop where I can get a butterfly book, lots around I don't know. Temp topped 28c predicted that it will be higher by weekend.


Not a lot to report today so I thought I would show some maps of where we are and some photos taken near the gite.

View along the dead end lane where we walk the dogs 

Lovely old stump in hedgerow left to decompose and so will become a home to insects and fungi

Hedgerow alive with wildflowers

Sunset over hayfield

16 July

A family of Green woodpeckers are resident in the garden, one adult and three juveniles. Many of the books I read before we came to France commented on the lack of birdlife due to shooting and farming, the bird and wildlife in this area is however amazing, this must be due to the highly wooded environment, mainly cattle farming and low pollution evident in the high numbers of lichens present on the trees.

Bella sunbathing

Up at six to take the dogs on their morning walk, been taking them out this early everyday to avoid the heat and the hassle of meeting strangers.

Strange day today, the first time Sharron has returned to work since we moved here, she is returning to the UK via Paris where she has some meetings. This was always going to be the downside of moving over here and we know it will be the the pattern for the foreseeable future, but it doesn't make it any easier. I drove her to the local station which is about 3 km away and we said our goodbyes, she won't be back for about 10 days or so. 

So now I am fending for myself, a stranger in a foreign land. So first stop a bar for a coffee and then to Le Croquinoix Sarl a boulangerie in Eguzon to pick up bread.  I parked in the town centre and went in a cafe called Le Bienvenue which was exactly as I hoped it would be, I sat at the bar and said hello to all the locals as they entered while I had my coffee. It is the done thing to say hello, even the owner shook my hand as I sat down, it is nice to feel welcome when you are a stranger. I am almost a regular in the boulangerie, I bought a Pain and a coffee eclair for later. 

After picking up my bread I drove back to the gite, this was the first time we had left the dogs on their own, but I deed not have worried they were flaked out in the living room.

This afternoon I went out to the next village to investigate a Brocante we drove past, not a lot to see some nice pieces of furniture in need of restoration but until we move into the house its not worth buying anything.

This evening I stayed up quite late as there was a partial lunar eclipse from about 10pm onwards I took dogs for a walk at about 9:30 then stayed up until about 11.30when the eclipse was at its maximum. I think a partial eclipse is actually more beautiful than a full eclipse as you see the circular shadows of the earth across the moon. I could not help thinking how fitting it was on the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11.

July 15th

Pair of Nuthatches and Long tailed tits in Oak tree next to house. Moles in the garden. White admiral butterfly in garden (new to me) also Melodious Warbler (also a first) in hedgerow. Very similar to Reed warbler but very yellow underside, log pinkish tail, less obvious eye band. 

This is the gite we are renting while we are waiting for our house purchase to go through, it is not very big but more than comfortable for us and the dogs for a couple of months. Sadly it was not ideal for our cat, Warrior, as we were having to keep her in the bedroom with the windows closed to prevent her escaping. The temperatures here are in the mid 20s going up later this week so we had to do something. Sharron did some research and found a British run cattery about 30mins from here and so this afternoon Woz got relocated until we get to the new house. It was sad to see her go as the poor thing doesn't know what is going on but definitely for the best.

The other evening I was messing around with my GoPro and made a video of nightfall at the gite. If you want to see it, it is here Nightfall video