Winter is here

The meteo has been predicting snow for some while, with an amber alert for today - so much so that Meteociel's server was struggling to cope with the load. At about 2pm today it started to snow - very fine, wet snow (snizzle?), just a few flakes at a time at first. Although the temperature was a degree or two above freezing, the snow quickly began to settle, and by 5:30pm there was a light covering.

Grandmont behind a curtain of falling snow

Now (9:30pm) we have about 2cm, although the weather station registers zero precipitation. Either we've had less than 0.3mm of liquid, or the snow is just too fine for the rain gauge to register.

We also have a red-legged partridge  (alectoris rufa) perdrix rouge sitting on the front doorstep. It didn't fly away when Tim opened the door to offer it a handful of bird food. It just ambled a couple of metres away from the door and returned to pick up the grain. This rather odd photo was taken with flash switched off, so as not to disturb the bird's digestion. The background is our crushed limestone path, with blobs of snow.

Can I come in for a warm?

I'm A. Partridge (a-ha)

The collective noun for a group of partridges is a "covey". This word has associations of secretive operations, like "covert" and "cover". We encountered eight red-legged partridges (alectoris rufa) perdrix rouge on our sand pile in our hangar right at the start of the hunting season. 

 These have to be some of the least covert operators I have encountered since cycling into a flock of young pheasants (poults) somewhere on the Yorkshire Wolds many years ago. At least fifty poults were milling about in the road outside their comfy pens from which they had clearly escaped, with no idea what to do next.

Partridges taking on grinders.

 The partridges had at least some idea what they wanted - to take on the grit which is necessary for them to crush hard seeds in their gizzards for ease of digestion. They showed little fear of us, enabling us to photograph them and observe their leg rings. With great dignity, they walked off in procession past the hangar, flipped up onto the fence, scuttled across the road and disappeared into the maize field. 

Line dancing covey... perhaps?

 According to one of our books, red-legged partridge "only fly if pressed". Well, I'm darned if I can see where you have to press to make them fly. Somehow I don't think they were raised in the wild by Mummy and Daddy Partridge.
There are wild partridge about though, or at least released birds from a previous season - we heard their 'starting a recalcitrant chainsaw' calls all summer, and a single male - nicknamed 'Alan' - has visited us on several occasions.

Alan

He accompanied Tim collecting walnuts and 'helped' by pecking at the ground wherever Tim disturbed fallen walnut leaves. When the shooting started, he flew into our front yard (pressed!) and ran at the barn doors where there is a poult-sized hole he clearly remembered well. Unfortunately it is not a full-sized-adult-partridge hole and he bounced off the doors backwards like a Roadrunner cartoon.

Alan cookin' on gas!!! Look carefully at the leg he's standing on and you can see the ring.

 The hunting season for perdrix in Indre et Loire is from 19th September to 21st November. All eight of our gormless covey appeared last week in the field opposite the house, right next to the road, so they're all safe. We've seen Alan again too. I'm rather pleased to see them as I feel they're "ours". On the other hand, a couple of plump partridge would make a tasty meal....

Just a nice brace! Tasty on a plate if they weren't so threatened!!

Worrying though that the Fédération Départmentale de la Chasse d'Indre-et-Loire (FDC37) does not distinguish the two species of partridge in its calendar. The population of the grey partridge (perdix perdix) perdrix grise is diminishing, almost as rapidly in France as it has in Britain. According to La Nouvelle République of 12th September 2010, the grey partridge population in this region is giving cause for inquiétude and there is a study in progress to find out why.