Sunshine and Success!

After a truly frustrating and damp period, things started to work and the sun came out.  I had scoffed about a wine order from down near Nimes arriving chez nous without any issues, but they said they would deliver on Monday in the morning, and at 10:30 while I read the local paper, the daylight was blotted out by a lorry parking up outside, with our (modest) wine order inside.  How could I doubt them?  Also on Monday, there was a flurry of messages from the passport office as my photo was accepted by the bots sometime on Sunday evening, and by Monday morning the document was printed, packed and on it's way to France.  Again, it arrived when expected on Thursday morning, after it had been on a trip to Germany on its way to France.  I can travel again!

I'm not sharing a photo of the passport, but I will share a photo of the daffodils that came out on Tuesday to celebrate sunshine and good will to all men.

The big news of the week locally is that with a scant 5mm of rain during the whole week, rivers have mostly returned to their beds, although still flowing full and fast, and people can get down to clearing up and waiting for things to dry out.  We dug up the remaining potatoes during the week - a heavy, depressing venture, as the fork became as one with the heavy clay soil, while the potatoes were generally rather small and nibbled by slugs.  The bottom allotment plot is really rather unpleasant, although good for brassicas.  Otherwise the ground is too wet to do anything yet, although I did resort to sowing some seeds in modules just to cheer myself up.

The enduring damp, combined with nice weather, did mean that yesterday we finally had to make a start on making safe the dead walnut tree near the ponds, as we had no more excuses.  While good for insects and birds, the tree is highly dangerous, with "widow maker" branches all over the place and low branches that threaten to block access to the ponds.

Using a generator, an electric pole saw and a lot of elbow grease, we got down the most dangerous bits, and created access for getting at the bits that are blocking the hidden path between the Orchard and the Meadow.  The wood is quite light, but even so, there is a bit of firewood there for us in due course.  The area is now rather lighter which might encourage the brambles a bit too much, so as well as carrying on with the tree, we need to get in there with brush cutters of different sizes and power to push those back too.

Looking at one of the large, dead and partly broken branches, we did spot an amazing large fungus.  Not edible and not conducive to plant function or keeping qualities of wood, it is an impressive size.

Our fun was cut short yesterday by an unnecessary shower of rain, very localised but very wet.  It did create a rather nice rainbow though, which is just about visible on this photo.

As getting to the ponds is now rather easier and safer, with the walnut a bit curtailed, I was able to get to the ponds and decided to check on the trail camera based down there.  The camera is fine, although I think I need to bring it in soon, if only to watch the boar doing their best to dig a new channel between the second pond and the larger area of bog and pond to the east.  What a mess!

Spring is clearly on its' way now - if there were no other clues, the bird song has a distinctive character to it, and the mix of birds is slowly changing.  The Cetti's Warblers are strident, and the chiffchaffs are back.  I think there must be food sources appearing too, as the various tits are spending less time on the fat balls and bird feeder.  With grey skies and rain, I haven't paid attention to the wild plum growing by the chicken run, but this morning I could not miss the blossom!

The forecast is set fair for the week, and there is so much to do outside, I feel I must get going now and do something useful.  I hope the weather is kind to you too!  Have a good week!

Wet and bother

What a frustrating week!  There has been so much rain and the ground is so saturated, we have spent too much time watching forecasts, traffic alerts, flood warnings, scary videos of how the rivers are rising, and amusing videos as people try to make the best of things.  It is worth seeking out the video of someone canoeing through the underground car park of the E LeClerc superstore in Saumur, and of the prize (edible) chip makers of Angers dealing with a flood closure.  We have stayed away as best we can, as we remember flood tourism in Worcester, and it is a challenge for the locals.  We did go up to la Fleche on Wednesday for the market and saw floods, an ambulance and the emergency services.  Since then, as I wouldn't use the photos of that, I have stolen this image from Facebook to give an idea.

Locally, we don't have issues with big rivers, or even small rivers, but just down from The Shack, the side of the hill, with tree attached, gave way due to all the rain.  While there is a row of trees along the bottom edge of the farmer's field to hold the bank in, that only works if you don't relentlessly plough through the roots uphill four times a year, and if you don't cut off all the uphill branches, so the tree is weighted to the downhill or road side.  Anyway, another tree and chunk of hillside lost the battle with gravity - it has been tidied up a bit, but I'm not convinced.

The weather drives you to comfort food (not so good for the waistline) and after years of avoiding it, I finally made John a steak and kidney pie like wot my Mum used to make for him.  I had to make a very large batch of filling as the butcher would only sell me a whole kidney, so we have filling for a smaller pie in the future.  I was quite pleased with it anyway, and it did taste good.

The bother comes from the hassle of trying to get a photo accepted by the Passport Office.  I feel like I am on my 20th attempt, though it may not be that bad.  I even resorted to one of those awful booths, as I was assured that a photo from that with a code would work.  Sadly it wouldn't - the code was no good for the UK, so that was 7 Euros down the drain and a set of really nasty ID photos that won't be useful for anything.  While the latest photo was accepted as good, I don't believe them.  I had a good one rejected during the week for not having enough contrast.  As the booth clearly doesn't work, there could be more annoying photo sessions, leaning against John's van as the only untextured, white surface we have available to us!

However, on the upside, there are signs of spring!  My adorable mini narcissus are flowering away.

The hyacinths that I used to buy for my Mum when she was in the nursing home, then planted out in the garden, are doing their thing.

There are also orchid rosettes turning up everywhere - this image includes both lizard and bee orchid rosettes and the rather posh lady orchid is also visible elsewhere.  It will be a while before they flower, but good to know that they are still there.

For the moment, we just have to live with the wet and the positives that come with that.  Our two ephemeral ponds in the One Acre Wood have water in, and watching the pool surface, we can see that newts or salamanders have been getting it on, so it's not all bad!

The weather promises a bit better this coming week, so I might find some seed compost and be positive about the growing season to come, while waiting for the waters to recede.  I hope you are staying dry wherever you are, and have a good week!

 

Time for an Ark?

January and February always seem like long months - the endless nights, and the cold (sometimes), and the dark.  This year has also been marked by the Wet, with record floods further south and rumours of a possible breach in the levee of la Loire towards Angers.  In this week alone, we have recorded 87.5mm of rain - for those who do Imperial measurements, that is 3 and a half inches.  No wonder there is a pond in the chicken run!  Earlier in the week, when it was too wet to leave the nominal shelter of The Shack, I spent a happy while trying to photograph what I used to call rain fairies when I was a small child.  This was my best effort.

It wasn't as though it rained all day every day either!  Thursday was slated to be vile, but there was sunshine at first, and the rain held off where we happened to be, which was really good news.  Thursday was special as we had a day at the Races, at Angers Hippodrome.  A nice course tucked behind housing estates and just off the motorway, but with a good sized circuit, stabling for over 100 horses and three different tracks, including the obligatory (for France) all weather trotting track.

We were there to see Legend Race do his thing, for the first time since we last saw him a year ago.  His trainer, Louisa Carberry, said he was looking good, but that she didn't think he would win, but should get round.  He had grown and filled out since we saw him first this time last year.

Like I said, the facilities are excellent and there is a nice big screen so you can watch the action all the way round the track.

In the end, we didn't need that to admire Legend Race's progress.  He was way too keen and over-confident, misjudged the water jump and dropped his jockey at the second obstacle!  He then carried on to do a good three to four circuits of the track before he could be persuaded he had had enough fun and that his hay net called.  Both he and the jockey were fine, but we gave him a bit of a talking to when he was back in his stable!

Louisa had two other horses running that day, and we were able to stand on the owners' mound in the parade ring for a different race to admire the horses again.

Here the horse of interest was number 8 or the one in the middle.  He had a replacement jockey (the one that Legend Race ditched), as his intended jockey had fallen earlier, won his next race but was feeling a bit off.  The replacement jockey had to be called back as he had started to go home, but was back in time for the ride, which was a good thing, as he won!

Yesterday was also not actively rainy, so we were able to do a bit of work in the One Acre Wood.  The lower of the two clay ponds now has water in it - hopefully the local newts and salamanders will enjoy that.  I suspect that after today, which has been totally wet, the upper pond may also start to fill up.  Broken branches are providing a good ecosystem for fungus - this example was rather beautiful, if difficult to photograph well in February murk.

Hopefully next week will not be quite so outstandingly wet, but the weather forecast holds little promise of a day when I can dry the laundry outside.  At least I have exercise classes twice a week or I would be feeling like Jabba the Hutt!  Anyway, for now, I am going to do battle with a kidney, to see if I can recreate one of John's favourite dishes - steak and kidney pie!

Have a good week!

Winter is waning

I'm afraid there was a glitch and the layout is all to pot this week!

There are signs everywhere that winter is waning, even if we are only just into the second week of February.  The big question is whether it will come back to bite us on the bum, but for the moment the February forecasts are just for ever more rain.  While that doesn't do much to help the soil dry out for gardening and planting, it does help a bit with energy bills.  

It's not just the weather that says things are on the move.  Winter's guilty pleasures of being curled up on the sofa with a rug, a cat or two and undemanding TV are slowly coming to an end.  The deep winter pleasure of the Dakar Rally and nutters racing through deserts is long gone.  The 17 week binge of pure trash TV that is Star Academy finished last night with a new winner crowned, who will hopefully not be a major provider of lift and supermarket background muzak - they are promoted ruthlessly for about a year across most French radio and TV platforms.  While the mental preparation for spring, with watching 30 well built men throwing balls around in muddy conditions started on Thursday as the Six Nations kicked off.

In an effort to keep our local pub alive, we watched one and a half matches down there, with the luxury of a HUGE screen and not having to fight for the sofa with a stroppy old cat.  France versus Ireland was a pleasure to watch, England versus Wales not so much.

While the trees are mostly behaving and not doing much at all for the moment, spring bulbs are doing their thing.  The snowdrops are amazing in that the flowers keep going for such a long time.

My favourite miniature narcissi are starting to come through and should put on another good show I hope.

The vegetables are starting to look interesting - the cauliflowers are looking a bit pregnant - the curds should appear in about 5 or 6 weeks time I think, and the plants don't seem to have suffered at all from being frosted.

The broad beans are starting to pull away, and with any luck, will start to flower in April.

I fear the leeks are never going to fatten up however - they suffered from drought big time in August and September last year, and by the time there was ample water, there wasn't enough daylight or warmth for them to really develop.  I guess they will make a nice hors d'oevres though.

I am still working my way through the bird feeder camera files - there are only 6,600 in the folder now, or 4 Gbytes of "stuff", most of which is rubbish.  I have still only spotted robins, blue tits and great tits, but since they are what I heard and saw on every visit to the garden in January, I am guessing that is no surprise.  Here is one proving that there is actually food in the feeder.

Butterflies are to my mind pretty well impossible to photograph well for the amateur, so the fact that I was buzzed today by three Brimstone butterflies, daring me to waste my time trying to capture their image was rather trying.  On this photo, there is a little spec of acid yellow - that is the Brimstone saying "nah nah ne nah nah" at me.

The forecast for the coming days is wet, so I expect next week I will be writing about and sharing more photos of birds on the feeder.  Have a good week!

Review of my latest trail camera

Actually, although I got it from the same place as my good trail cameras, this is actually a bird feeder camera, as I rarely get much good bird footage from the trail cameras of birds other than pheasants, ducks and the very occasional woodpecker.

The camera is quite small (and was on offer, which says something), and takes perhaps 150g of bird seed at a time.  It has solar panels to keep the batteries charged up, which seem to be very effective, and takes a 32Gb SD card.  We have it strapped to a redundant lamp post in the middle of the Garden by the Shack.

I first installed it at the end of December 25, and brought it in during the week to clean it out, see if it had done anything and to check that the solar panels keep it fired up - spoiler alert, they do.  Getting it programmed isn't as easy as I had hoped, hence the date/time stamps on the following photos being rather weird, and there are no videos, although it will do them.  Having said that, with 10,218 photo files to go through from about a month in situ, I think the burst of photos are probably all I need to go through!

So, what have I seen?

Well, as  you can see, tits are inquisitive and hungry.

They also like to pose and know which is their good profile.

And the good profile isn't the same for every bird.

Occasionally, you get a really good action shot of an arrival.

Or leaving.

And there are occasional excellent shots of a bird in flight, like this.

Or this.

But there are an awful lot like this - perhaps 90% of the photos - which just need to be deleted.

So far there is a very limited range of birds using the feeder: there is the great tit.

There is the blue tit.

And there is the robin.

Or at least that is who was using it for the first 2,000 files that I have been through thus far.  If I spot anyone else, obviously I'll let you know!

And a reminder - here is what the camera looks like in situ.  Overall, Num'Axes have done me proud again.  The feeder will be out now until the end of March, when we stop feeding birds and let them raise their young naturally.

I'm not sure what this week will bring, but I hope you have a good one!

January stuff

January is such a long month!  While it only has 31 days, they seem to last longer than any other days in the year, but as we drift towards the end of the month, there is a hint of  improvement as slightly longer afternoons become evident if the day isn't totally cloudy.  The harbingers of spring are putting their heads above ground too, as bulbs start to do their thing, and our small clump of snowdrops in the garden put on their annual show.

Over in the country, the first signs of the narcissus fest are also starting to show in the Meadow, with leaves for the less showy daffodils coming up around the edges.

Other plants too are obvious at this time, including the lichen that cover any surface they can get a toe-hold on it seems - trees, plastic seats, gates, fence posts - all seem to be suitable hosts for this rather mysterious plant.

The week started with the annual ceremony of good wishes from the local mayors.  As there will be local elections in March, they can only look backwards at the achievements of the year and of the mandate, as anything that happens later in 2026 could be someone else's project.  For us, it was a slightly sad event, as our village mayor (as opposed to the mayor of Bauge en Anjou) is standing down at the elections.  She has been a good mayor, very understanding and supportive, and not afraid to get her hands dirty on the food line with the Comité des Fetes.  However the work of a mayor in France is varied and challenging and I can understand the desire for a quiet life after (I think) 14 years in the role.

We have spent the week with two recurrent themes.  It has been Truffle Week for us, as 100g of the black gold arrived last Saturday.  Some has been steeped in sunflower oil for a week to provide home made truffle oil, some has been inserted into a mild cheese to create our own truffled cheese, and much of it has been eaten in the usual scrambled eggs, cream sauces and risottos.  We have one day left and then we wait another 12 months.  The photo is leek and mushroom risotto with monkfish and truffle - very tasty.

We have also enjoyed watching as our neighbours had their roof replaced, or at any rate the side of the roof that looks towards our house.  There was much jollity at the Ceremony of Voeux last week as all slates had been removed and all that protected them was a tarpaulin, but from Monday, the roofers were on the job, putting up new timbers to support rather heavier slates than those that were taken off.

Then the insulating membranes were fixed in place with battens.

Before a happy day of putting on the new slates - this is half finished at lunchtime, as when it was all done, apart from being shinier and blacker than before, you wouldn't know the difference from the outside.

From Monday, the roofers will do the other side of the house, which we won't get to see.  The neighbours are very happy with the work.

Friday night was the Comité des Fetes AGM, with the volunteers' dinner afterwards - another of those lovely village events that leave you somewhat fuzzy the day after.  This week will be quieter - perhaps I can get some tidying up done, and find the material for the "new" living room curtains.  I know I saw it when we moved in over 20 years ago...

Have a good week!

Wildlife activity

I brought in one of the wildlife cameras for its regular check up - I clear off the files and recharge the batteries (or change them - I've only got one working set of rechargeable batteries).  Going through the files takes quite a time, even if there are only 400 (!) this time round.  I delete the obvious ones - pictures of my feet and bottom as I go to and fro around the camera - or where they are blurred or where there is no wildlife.  A second pass is required for me to be more critical and determine whether or not I have enough photos of the rear half of badgers and boar, enough blurred pine martens and sufficient retreating deer bottoms.

Some files need a bit of examining to see exactly what I have captured - the ones where the camera is attacked by randy great tits being a case in point!  While others need a bit of editing to show the true beauty of a wild animal in its natural habitat - getting rid of the extraneous background that might give too much detail of the location of the camer for example.  There were some good photos in the first 150 files on the camera!

This badger was rather nice.

While I don't like coypu, this photo is not too bad.

Birds are the hardest to get it seems and I think this is the short-toed treecreeper that I often hear identified on the Merlin bird app.

The videos also need careful triaging - with the camera on a crossroads, you often get the tail of something disappearing, or the backside heading into the distance.  I hope the following selection are of interest.

This one is of a badger just checking things out.

And then there is one with two badgers checking things out together.

There is a red squirrel being acrobatic.

There is a video with a bird and a squirrel!

There is a pine marten being phenomenally cute.

There's a fox checking things out.

And there is a dog fox doing what all canines do.

What a fine brush he has!

We are also in the process of cleaning out the bird boxes before we put them back.  The really cheap tiny one had an acorn left in it by a squirrel, but the other two had fine nests in them so they did their job.  Once we have done a fire clean on the inside, they will go back up for the next season.

And yes, I'm afraid we evicted the spider!

The truffles arrived yesterday, so next week should be all about my culinary adventures with black gold.

Have a good week!