Grues...STOP, grues!! Part the second of a good Sunday out.

Having left the hide at Purais, we returned to the car. Just before we got there we heard what sounded like the "grue" of a crane.
We both stopped stock still and listened for another... but no, it was just the one, difficult to locate... but behind, the way we'd come...
Continued to get sorted and into the car... Carpe Frites awaited.

We continued on our way, slowly, towards the Maison du Parc at le Bouchet, but saw little other than more Great White Egrets.

The car park was almost empty at the Maison...
parked, went in, restaurant had about half-a-dozen people in....
"table pour deux, SVP"...
have you reserved?
No we hadn't...
"Desolé"... they were full...
some comfort shopping in the 'boutique' was called for!
Yet again... NO CARPE FRITES!!

We had a look around the exhibition en-route through the shop....
it was on Eco-building... and there was a very good photo exhibition as well.
Back down the stairs and we found a new book...
Les plus belles balades du Parc naturel régional de la Brenne
[The nicest walks in the Brenne National Park] published 2011...
explains why we hadn't seen it before!!
we will be doing some of these this year...
but, typical of French walks books, a 7km walk will take you 2hrs...
not if you've got binos and/or camera with you it won't!

The book and a peek inside... note the illustration of the correct IGN map for the walk... but NO latin names!
[However, there are Latin names for some of  the  fauna shown in the identity guide at the back]

We also bought a get-well card for Céléstine...
a perfectly apt Hirlay cartoon...
then we set off for the Étang Foucault.

We went down via the Étang de la Mer Rouge... but apart from a rather nice 'blasted' tree...
pile of wood to some, habitat or feeding station to others... and yet another Great White Egret!
So carry on via the D20 towards Rosnay [pronounced Ronnae] overtaking a couple of cyclists.
Suddenly Pauline yelled "Grues...STOP, grues!!"
There, to our left were three Common Cranes... feeding in an ex-Maize field...
camera in back of car... creep out of driver's door...
[thank goodness we were in the re-registered old Merc... right-hand drive!]
Extract camera from bag and slowly rise over top of car...
cranes didn't seem at all worried... just kept feeding [same as when Simon and Susan saw them the other day.]

Took some pictures... but they were a little distant, even for the long lens.

Just milling around in the maize stalks...

and marching in line.

But... it was Pauline's first ever sighting of cranes on the ground... and my second.
The first being in the late '70s at Hickling in Norfolk. It was the first to be seen...
and I was out walking with the "thenwife" and the dog...
didn't even know what all the fuss was about until I asked one of the hordes looking out over the broad...
and I think we were probably the only ones to actually see it... it was feeding, like these three were, in a field... behind them!

The cyclists came up and asked what we were watching...
"Les Grues"... "oh, yes", came the reply as they glanced in the general direction of the troupe...
obviously an everyday occurrence for them.
They asked to look at the map as they wanted the Maison du Parc.... back the way they'd come....
but, having looked at the map, they decided to carry on via the long route.
That delayed us a little, fortunately, because seven minutes after the first pictures I was taking pictures of more!

We'd just turned up the D27 to Rosnay when there were four more, right by the road...
on the nearside of the car....
                       and where was the camera....
                                            in the bag, in the back of the car....

yet again!

I'd pulled up a little beyond the opening in the rather decayed hedge the we'd seen them through, so it was out of the car very, very slowly...trying to keep my head beneath the hedge top.
Got the camera and turned round even more slowly... taking the first shots through the hedge...so I moved into the gap in the hedge... they weren't at all concerned... just kept walking and feeding.

Cranes do Country... or line dancing to all but the French.

It seems that either they are not concerned by the presence of people... or feeding is a priority....
when one stopped to have a good scratch, I leant towards the former conclusion.... we don't worry them....
a nice feeling that these huge birds are more concerned about living.

When you gotta scratch... you just gotta scratch!!

Pauline noticed on Grus-Grus, when we got home, that 25,000 had been reported leaving Spain on Saturday... so they were  probably spread all over the Brenne.... fuelling up for the next leg!

Onward and upward?

Watched them walk over the crest of the field and then it was on towards Rosnay...
wow, what a sight, cranes that close.
Rosnay on the horizon with the masts of the Nato communications centre towering over it...
Left just through the village and past the triple fence... all electrified...  
No Photos, No Stopping.... cameras facing the road.... tank traps.... were there mines?
It is probably a wildlife haven, though! Most bases and Army ranges are.

Had there been space in the restaurant... we wouldn't have seen these... I don't mind missing me Carpe Frites if I see things like this...The next part is the Étang Foucault.... and can the day get better.... yes it can!

21/11/2001 - A movement of Cranes

We had three successive flights of Common Crane [Grus grus] Grue cendrée name over yesterday. Plus another two at least that we heard but didn't see. It is the latest we've seen them [it is after all almost December!!] and this is an entry just to put the fact on record.
[And to allow me to put some new pictures up....]

Stacking cranes.
This was the first flight of nine.

Six of Nine

Nine of Nine

Stacked - ready to glide

A thin ribbon of twenty cranes.... the second flight.

The third flight [14 individuals]....
the best shot of this bunch..
the autofocus on the camera was having great difficulty staying in touch!!

But the weather is very strange at the moment... the weather hit a balmy 19.6 Centigrade yesterday too! On Sunday we saw butterflies, Clouded Yellow [Colias crocea] le Souci being quite notable with its egg-yolk yellow colouring... and the Ivy [Hedera helix] Lierre is still alive with late feeding insects. All these insects are really quite important... the bats are still around!!

In the potager we are getting sprouts, still, from our "Tender-stem" brocolli. We've had a late crop into November before, but these are still producing a two servings worth a week in the fourth week of November!
There are still numerous wild flowers around.... most obvious are the Nettle-leaved Bellflower [Campanula trachelium] Campanule Galantelée and also Knapweeds, Scabious and Meadow Clary [Salvia pratensis] Sauge des Prés. But it also means that the trees I need to work on this winter are not yet dormant... oops! But, still, I've plenty to keep me going on the bricolage [D.I.Y.] side