Wildfire and eclipse - it's all go!

What a week we've had!  In many ways, it has been very quiet, not least as we have been "enjoying" our fifth chronic heatwave of the season.  While "only" about 39 degrees for much of the week, it saps the strength and any determination to do something useful.  The best I could find was to carry on sorting through photos and videos from the trail cameras, to delete the rubbish.  Occasionally I got a nice surprise such as this shot of an arriving blue tit, which makes sifting through the dross worth the trouble.

In other ways, it has not been quiet.  On Monday afternoon I drove up north of la Fleche to see a friend who is in hospital up there.  On the way back, and once past la Fleche, I noticed a column of smoke off to the south east.  My heart sank - the fires four years ago destroyed a large tract of woodland and were very scary - I did not relish going through that again.  At first I feared it was in the same patch of woodland, but as I drove further south, it became obvious it was in a different area.  For those that know our bit of France, it was behind the cemetery in le Guedenieu.  

This was the view from our garden, but social media, doing a good job for once, gave us more details, kept us informed on progress in the fight against the flames, told us where not to go, and supplied the occasional excellent photo - so this one isn't me, but was put out there to show what was happening.

After a massive effort by some 150 firefighters, 52 engines, lots of farmers, 2 helicopters, 2 small planes and one very large Dash aircraft, the fire was first contained, then mastered, but won't be declared out for quite a while yet, as roots and peat burn slow and deep until they find a pocket of oxygen and flare up again.  The worst is behind us.

That did not affect the spectacle that was the partial eclipse of the sun on Wednesday.  We saw the total eclipse in 1999 on the Normandy coast, and it was spectacular.  This time, it was only 95%, and in the evening so the light was already getting a bit odd.  It was still nearly 40 degrees when we donned our slinky eclipse glasses and started to track the moon's passage.   Last time we got photos by using an old school SLR camera with telephoto lens and welding glass.  This time, the best we could do was the fabulous, old school pin hole camera effect, which was very effective.  In the main, we just watched and enjoyed the experience.

While we did actually have some rain yesterday, the signs of drought are all around us.  There is a new phenomenon of ready cooked apples, although only on one side.  People have been wondering if it is a new disease - no, it's just an immature apple being fried by the sun, on the tree as it grows.

Other things are doing OK - the three aubergine plants like the lack of competition (last year's got dominated by the courgette monsters) and also the weather conditions, so are producing good quantities of tasty fruits.

The pumpkin plants that started slowly, now look like they will produce at least three fruits between the two of them, possibly more if the weather cools down and gets a bit wetter.  One snuck up on us and looks like it will be a reasonable size for the variety (potiron, so quite small).

Last year we did very well for tomatoes.  This year we just have three coeur de boeuf plants, but they should provide enough fruits for a few punnets of tomato sauce for the winter.

We did our last picking of blackberries today - I would love to say that we were being altruistic and leaving the rest to wildlife, but if I am honest, I am fed up with lots of little cuts on my hands and arms from bramble thorns.  I think we have about 6 pounds of fruit which will make a good few jars of bramble jelly when I am ready, so it is time to call a halt.  When I did that this morning in the Meadow, I was then treated to an aerial display by a couple of buzzards.  I couldn't tell if it was a pair, or a parent teaching a child, but it was lovely to watch.

That brings us full circle from birds to birds, which works nicely I think.  Now I must go and do things with stewed plums, and wipe down the jars of Victoria plum jam I made earlier.  This week brings a few sewing challenges, and the final decorations for the Float for the Comice.

There won't be a blog next Sunday, as I will be with the float at the Comice and hoping it stays dry (but not too hot).  I will do the Comice blog(s) on the Monday and/or Tuesday the following week.

Have a good week or so!

Marking time before the big event

We are now heading for our nth heat wave - currently it is 37 degrees in the shade in the garden, where the grass is brown, there are no cyclamen yet (normally there are a few by now) and there are corpses of dried out, unripe fruit under most of the trees.  The quince seems to be coping the best, but then they are from Persia originally so it is probably feeling at home.  The victoria plums are making me feel guilty on a daily basis and shortly I will brave the heat to pick a few to bake.

Checking my camera roll for the week, I could only find a few photos of a cat sprawled in its basket after having spent too long outside yesterday evening (he is in disgrace).  This failure on my part led me to thinking about what photography I do and what works.  This is all the more important, as we await the Big Event, the near total eclipse of the sun on Wednesday.  We must dig out the welder's glass for the camera and make sure that it is fully charged, ready for the main event.  It would be even better if we could find the link for the tripod, which would make a good photo that much more certain, but we've not seen it since the last partial eclipse in 2005 or 2006.

Perhaps half of the photos and all the videos I share here come from trail cameras, fixed around our land and triggered by motion sensors.  I suspect it is mainly luck, and trial and error, that mean I find places to put the cameras so that they get interesting shots, such as the badger family looking for fallen cherries.  The speed at which wild animals in general, and birds in particular, move, means that getting an unfuzzy photo is a matter of luck.

Pine martens are so speedy and small that this is often the best that can be hoped for, but is too granular as the animal was too distant from the apparatus.

Photos in daylight are a bit clearer - you can see the markings on its face rather better - but it is still fuzzy and granular.

Of course some blurry photos are actually quite clever, in that you get the idea of motion quite nicely, as with this pheasant that is just landing to see whether it too can find some fallen cherries.

It is astounding that some beautiful animals can be such bad subjects for photos.  My beloved hares are often around but moving so fast, photos blur or are unappealing.  This one is a bit too distant so zooming in gives it a granular quality.

This one is rather better in terms of quality, but the subject is not looking at its most appealing!

Bambi is also guilty of this - here he looks a bit fuzzy and blurred, and he is looking away from the camera.

Here he is looking at the camera but pulling silly faces.

Occasionally, you are lucky and catch real life moments that are quite impressive.  Here one of my vixens is proudly bringing home lunch for the cubs - either rat or baby coypu.

Rather more dramatically, she then brought something rather larger home for dinner - I'm not sure how I feel about this one!

Squirrels tend to be just a flash of red blur, so this one is quite good, and you can see the flash of white on its belly.  They are also often too far away from the camera or actually on it.

Boar make good subjects as they are large and don't move too quickly, on the other hand, they damage cameras when they can and aren't always totally visually appealing, especially from behind, especially males...  The cute little ones move way too fast.

Actually there were a few photos on my camera, but they are preparations for our float for the Comice in two weeks time, and I am not unveiling that excitement before the day of the parade, so there!

Anyway, if things work, there will be a bunch of black and white photos next week of a disk with a light ring around it.  Remember, don't look directly at the eclipse, even through a camera (unless covered with welding glass) unless you have the special, approved, eclipse watching sunglasses!  Enjoy the spectacle if you are in the path, and if you aren't, wait for the photos!

Dog days and memories

Late July and August used to be referred to as the dog days of summer, not least if there was day after day of hot, sunny weather.  It could well be related to the French word canicule, which describes a period of intense, hot weather (going back to the latin for dog, canis).  This year is proving to be exceptional in terms of sunshine and heat, and it is affecting all sorts of things.  Our eating grapes that grow on the side of the house are ripening, as are the Victoria plums.  Apple trees are shedding fruit, and not in a good way - some are burnt by the sun and then discarded by the tree to concentrate on undamaged fruit.  

This week I have been picking blackberries.

There are quite a lot (probably too many) brambles growing down the edge of the Meadow that gives on to the neighbouring farmer's field.  They shelter us from the wind to some extent, if it comes from the East, and give haven to birds and small animals, as well as a bit of food.  The ones that face west seem to provide the best fruit too, quite large and sweet.  Today I picked perhaps half a kilo - this is just one punnet.

As John was doing a bit of strimming (before midday and with a good dollop of water if he set off a spark, as is the only way to do these things at the moment), I was able to wander around picking and bury myself in my own thoughts.  

When I was back in England in June, I met up with an old school friend.  We found a secluded café in Hythe and talked solidly for two hours - the maximum time she could get away from caring duties.  One area we touched on was blackberrying.  She was out with a couple of nieces I think and had found a patch of blackberries and was feeding them to the small children, when she was accosted by someone.  How dare she feed unknown berries to children - did she want to poison them?  No, my friend said, I'm just letting them enjoy wild blackberries.  "But they might be poisonous, they aren't from a supermarket, how do you know they are blackberries?"  We both expressed suitable horror at people not being able to identify blackberries in the wild, but that bit of conversation stays with me - how do I know which are blackberries, and which are the right berries to pick?

Naturally, you don't pick any that are too low down - anything that a fox can pee on is left for wildlife!  I know there are quite a few foxes in the zone!

Some of my earliest memories are going out looking for blackberries with my Granny, my Dad and my aunt (my Dad's sister).  All were born before the First World War and while not necessarily country folk, could access open spaces where blackberries might be found.  We knew to take a walking stick - not to help with walking or fend off stray dogs, but to draw down the vines with the best berries.  We knew to pick only what was ripe, to leave the rest to ripen for others, and we knew not to pick after the end of September, at which point, any that were left were for the Devil (actually for overwintering wildlife, but also they have less pectin and are less tasty).  Whenever I am out picking blackberries, I have this Black Country voice in the back of my mind telling me to get the best, to not mind the scratches and not to get stains on my clothes - Granny!  But my age group are now the grannies - how many know how to identify blackberries, and importantly, which black berries not to pick?

Each session I'm not getting enough fruit to do much with, so the day's booty goes into the freezer, ready for me to make bramble jelly in about a month's time.  However, it feels too early in the year to be picking blackberries.

The kitchen garden is challenging this year - the searing heat and the drought does no favours.  Courgettes, cucumbers and pumpkins are reluctant to produce female flowers, the sweetcorn is a disaster and the ground is too hard to work so that I can plant leeks and cauliflowers for the winter.  Still, this little haul, with a couple of added onions that had already been harvested, made a delicious lunch.

There was an event this week - rain - a whole 7 millimetres of it!  The cat bed Rebus sleeps in on the bedroom window sill got soaked, as did he, the road was running with water and dusty scum for a while, and by the afternoon, any sign of rain was gone, but the air was unpleasantly humid.  We need days of solid drizzle, but perhaps not while people are on holiday.

So there we have it - a week of mostly dog days, plus a morning of rain.  The forecast for the coming week is similar, so I shall keep picking the blackberries in the mornings and keeping cool in the afternoons.  Have a good week!

Flowers and fauna

It's been a quiet and not too hot week this week, time to rebuild strength and energy after the sapping heat, ready for the next round, as we are, after all, still only in July.  I've been out to lunch twice this week - both meals were excellent.  Once in Chinon, where the Restaurant de la Gare produced a weekly menu that was so enticing, it was a real challenge to choose what to eat!  And it did not disappoint either.  The second meal, with the Ladies That Lunch, was at Chigne where a small village restaurant is building a really impressive reputation for good food and excellent service.  The choice was more limited, but the food was delicious.  I don't believe in taking photos of meals like that, so instead, here is a sunflower, because it is that time of year!

Other plants are looking very pretty too.  Wild chicory is tough as old boots and seems to thrive on thin soil and extreme temperatures to produce a really magnificent display of flowers.  These are by the parking for The Shack.

In the spring, I bought something that purported to be a hydrangea from a local discount supermarket.  It was basically a forked twig, so I was pretty dubious, but it wasn't expensive and didn't say it was one of those fancy blue or pink ones, depending on the soil.  Instead it was supposed to be a strawberries and cream style pyramid flower one.  I repotted it, because it was in something the size of a yoghurt pot, which wasn't going to be feasible outdoors, and plonked it with the other random plants by the front door.  We were pleased to see leaves and amazed to see positive growth, so the fact it is now flowering is rather beyond our expectations!  I'll have to look after it a bit better!

I've had a bit of time to look through more of the videos from the row of fruit trees at the bottom of the Meadow and found some rather fun things.  It's a nice sheltered place for roe deer to raise their young - I've followed a Bambi's progress a couple of years ago, so was pleased to spot new deer life once again.  Small already seems to know the area!

There is still just a hint of the spots he would have had when first born on his coat.

A couple of weeks later and he has grown rather, although still very attached to Mum.

Dad is also in the area (or we assume he is the father) and rather disapproved of the camera - honestly, these poor cameras of mine to get a pasting from boar, badgers and deer!

Less obvious, but there are pine martens in the zone.  In general they move too quickly to be anything more than a blur on a photo, unless there is something they want to do that happens to be where the camera is pointing.  Not easy to spot, but it is there!

The badgers are always a delight, here are three, yes, three, rummaging for fallen cherries.

The fox family continues to delight me in the videos.  I've seen the cubs a few times in person too, but less recently.  They may have moved on or become much more shy as they realise humans aren't their friends.

I am not a fan of coypu - I'm sure I've said before, they are a non-native, invasive species that damages water courses and competes with native fauna for scarce resources.  I mean, look at all those babies!!  Having said that, even baby coypu are rather cute.

They may be vegetarian, but female coypu will defend their babies with agression.  The fox knew to run away!

And I can attest to the bravery of a defensive coypu female!  Yesterday, while wandering around the Meadow, sussing out the blackberry situation, I met Mamma Coypu with two of her babies.  We both froze (the babies continued doing what they do), so I had time to dig out my phone, turn on the camera and take a few photos.  Something unfroze in her and she charged at me, so quick as a flash I growled at her (they have big teeth and I have heard that if they bite, like badgers, they don't give up), which stopped her in her tracks.  She then gathered the two babies and ran off.

Assuming it was the same female, three of the babies haven't made it - I can't be too sorry about that.  Like I said, they aren't native and they are competing in this awful summer for very scarce resources.  I prefer my badgers, martens, hares and foxes.  Having said that, respect to her as she was quite scary, despite being the size of a Jack Russel terrier.

In theory, the week ahead should be quiet, but hot.  While I (reluctantly) believe the second prediction, I am not so sure about the first.  Life in France has a way of springing surprises on you.  At least we are well away from the current batch of wild fires, although we are on orange alert for fire as there has been no rain to speak of around here for ages, everything is tinder dry and there are strong breezes.

Have a good week!

What a difference 10 miles makes

I have to say that I've not gone rubber necking myself to see the damage, I've taken the two relevant images from Facebook pages dedicated to the town.  The heatwave broke on Wednesday, with rather vicious thunderstorms kicking off at about 5pm around here.  After such prolonged heat, the end was always going to be dramatic and I do worry when people say they are looking forward to a good thunderstorm to clear the air.  Many years ago, when I was a child, that might have been the right thing to say, but now climate change and the more erratic and extreme weather conditions that brings, mean thunderstorms are often something to be feared.

Here in Bauge en Anjou, we had some rain (not nearly enough), but also some really violent gusts of wind, so that rather than go and buy a new kettle, as intended, I scuttled home to check on cats and put the wooden heron in a place of safety, then sit and watch the rather marvellous "real time lightening" website tell me where was having a bad time.  I could see that we were lucky and that the main storm centre was further north despite a few close lightening strikes.  I could also see it wasn't moving that quickly.

Those that know la Fleche should recognise the main road beside the river - I gather most of the platanes on this stretch had some branches down.  For those that know the little car park beside the town football and athletics stadium, ALL of the plane trees there were uprooted.

I gather the winds were measured at 140 kmph, which might be just about OK in winter, but not when trees are in full leaf and weakened by high temperatures.  Much of the town received serious quantities of rain, leading to flash flooding, with evacuations and emergency shelters being opened up including at the local gymnasium.  Those poor people!  It will take the community a long time to rebuild from this, and that row of trees is gone forever!

I can attest to the sudden gustiness of the winds - it was actually quite hard to see the way home from Bauge to Vieil Bauge at times due to all the dust in the air.  Just one shrub was a bit damaged at home, but at The Shack a large birch tree was toppled by the wind.  It had died earlier in the year and we had been worrying how to bring it down safely.  Luckily for us, it fell in just the right direct to cause the least damage and be broadly accessible for sectioning when the weather is cool enough.

Honestly, there should be a large tree there, but there isn't!

Tuesday was the Fete Nationale here in France, with the morning's television dominated by the massive military parade in Paris down the Champs Elysée.  We missed a chunk of it, including the massing of the Friends of Ukraine, but we were home from cat feeding in time to see our favourite bit - the Engineers of the Foreign Legion marching down with their axes over their shoulders.  They even have their own speed for marching, rather slower than anyone else, and a band to beat out the time for them.  They are wonderfully scary and it is comforting to know they are on "our" side!

If there has been a Fete Nationale, our own village Diner Champetre is never that long after - in fact it was last night.  I eviscerated a large number of melons, went in and out of the refrigerated trailer more times than seemed strictly necessary, dispensed bread and melon, and was tray monitor for the returned crockery and cutlery.  While many of you were watching England and France slog out a rich and exciting football match, we were wiping down and drying 280 plastic trays, while taunting our French chums about the score line.  We went home at 4 - 2!

Today we were doing final property checks on houses that we thought would have escaped the worst of the storm - fortunately we were right.  We are both tired and a bit groggy - just right for watching the insane riders of the Tour de France race (and no doubt sprint) up an extremely steep mountain road to win today's mountain stage.  I'm inclined to believe Pogocar is an extra-terrestrial as he seems in another category altogether, and when we saw him in the flesh last year, I was surprised at how small and slight he actually is.

The week ahead should be cooler and calmer!  Have a good one!

So What Else is Happening?

Now in our fifth (non-consecutive) week of heatwave, it is getting boring.  One new joke and then I'll move on.

("Is it hot outside?"  "Shut up!")  Shamelessly stolen from a Facebook page, but it says it all.

In other news, currently we are up very promptly each morning to make best use of the less hot time, particularly if we need to do anything at all physical.  So my trips to la Fleche market each week get earlier and earlier.  This week It was even more imperative that I got there promptly, as as the Far Right candidate in next year's Presidential elections made it known that she would be at the market to launch her campaign.  I was at my cheese vendor by 9:10am, and his apprentice was eager to tell me that I had done the right thing, as they had been told that The Arrival would be at around 11am.  I was able to have a relatively gentle tour of the stalls and merchants I use (I had to go as I have regular orders with some), and be gone by 10am.  As I left, I could see the security presence building, although the general pleasant view was unimpeded.

In the end, the visit itself was a damp squib.  I had spotted groups gathering and the odd camera crew doing vox pop interviews.  I gather the Far Left and Ecologist demonstrators made so much noise, Madame could not walk through the market and talk to stall holders, and had to be hustled out of the area after a quarter of an hour - such a shame that a convicted felon can't walk through a market without causing concern....

The only other real excitement was the sight of dark and menacing clouds yesterday morning at Bauge market - sadly they didn't come to anything for us, the rain line stopped about 15 kilometres to the south.  I'm very jealous.

So as promised, I turn to our four legged friends to entertain you this week.  The first is just a bum shot of a hedgehog, but one of two living in our courtyard at the moment, and profiting from food put out for the numerous feral cats in the zone.  We need to keep them ticking over as at some stage soon there will be slugs and snails again and I don't want them (the slugs and snails) eating my plants.  My lemon tree has not recovered from having all its new leaves munched by the slimy hoard.

I have taken the opportunity offered by the warm weather to bring in and check over the two trail cameras that are out there in the land.  Trail Camera 2 has a fixed position off the beaten track of humans, and has always produced some lovely images.  While there were only some 380 files, of which 50 were of a new leaf flapping in front of the sensors, there was a good variety of fauna out there to keep me amused.  

In March, three rather hairy boar came to check things out.

In May, a young stag came to show off his lovely new antlers and get rid of the fuzz.

A young badger had a run in with a pesky bramble, but won in the end.

And a fox waited patiently for something, perhaps Godot.

Eventually at least one of the fox cubs found its way over to this area and had a mooch around - all very exciting for a young cub!

Trail Camera 3 is taking more work, going through the files.  For a start there were some 1500 files, of which half are 15 second videos.  Secondly, the camera is by the earliest of the cherry trees, and who doesn't love cherries?  And thirdly, a lot of animals had young to feed, and it is a quiet area, so there are lots of slightly hidden cute baby animals doing their thing.  I shared some a couple of weeks ago, with squirrels and foxes.  Here are a few more.  Following on the fox theme, here is a vixen on watch while her cub seeks out a cherry or two.

And you really can't beat a fox cub being cute.

Or can you?  How about a badger trying to scratch an itchy tummy?  I think this is adorable!

There will be more fun and games from the fallen cherry zone soon - it looks like there were three fox cubs and three baby badgers too, so lots more furry fun.

I am now off to cut out fish shapes, while watching the Tour de France - this is the saving grace of a heatwave at this period - something to snooze in front of/take an active interest in on the television!  

Here's to a safe end to the heatwave in the next few days - have a good week!

Countdown to Heatwave Number 3

This week has been about recovery and some semblance of normality after a seriously unpleasant period of heat.  Sadly it seems it was just a short reprieve as the thermometer slowly climbs back to rather unpleasant levels, although we are not expected to suffer 40 degree heat this time round.  The catch this time is that "they" can't predict when this one will be over.  So the forecast for the next couple of weeks is for daily highs over 30 degrees, but not too many nights over 20 degrees.  We have to enjoy the respite while we can, so last night it was live music at the local pub.

It was the second visit by this rather impressive duo - she is a virtuoso singer, and he is a guitar teacher who is slowly getting into the idea that occasionally, if he has a nice neutral backing track of drums, he can let rip.  Last night there was a bit of audience participation too!

For the garden plants, it is a bit of a respite too and a pot of day lilies decided that it was their time to shine - they have been stuck in this same recycled container for about 4 years now, and this year is definitely the best from them.

We rescued a six pack of pinks from a favourite discount store and planted them out before the last heatwave in a recycled container and a proper window box.  The ones in the container are really giving it their best shot and looking quite wonderful!

I was doing some watering and found that the rhubarb was being used as a zone for a lot of indecent shield bug activity - the leaf was positively quivering with over 20 of the things.  I don't think they caused the brown marks on the leaves, but I don't feel quite the same about that rhubarb plant at the moment!

Another insect that has been enjoying life recently was a newly hatched swallowtail butterfly that thought the Meadow was just the most wonderful place yesterday afternoon.  It led me a merry dance trying to get a few photos of it, and while this one is quite good, I have to confess that it has been trimmed down from the original, where the butterfly was just a cream splodge near the middle!

Right now, it is 36 degrees in the garden (and 27 upstairs in the house), and this is just the start.  For the coming week, any activity will be in the morning and the afternoons will be spent watching the Tour de France on television (no other cycle race will do) and working through trail camera photos and videos to share with you next weekend.  There are only so many photos of scorched grass I can share with you, and there are cute baby badgers and fox cubs that will be far more entertaining than I can be!

Have a good week!