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!
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| 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] |
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.
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| Just milling around in the maize stalks... |
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| 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.
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| Cranes do Country... or line dancing to all but the French. |
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.
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| 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!
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| 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!
6 comments:
Fantastic! Wonderful pics and a great day out ...
Lovely. and thanks for the card - my father had the same thought (he'd obviously been saving it for the right occasion, since it is several years since he was here and could have bought it. It seems to me that the cranes are often deliberately heading for the Brenne - they come over from your direction and I see them from our orchard. They either go up the ruisseau de Milonneau valley, north towards Loches, or they go south-east, which must mean they are heading for the Brenne, as it is a real diversion from their northern heading.
Marvellous photos. Wish we could have seen them too. Definitely worth missing lunch for.....you can get carpe frites any day, so long as you book a table !!
Gaynor, there is more to come! As Wallace would say.."That was a grand day out Grommit!"... but chevre and baguette replaced the Wensly&Crackers... along with some pumpkin soup!
That is a very interesting observation, Susan because, three years ago, one group of the ones that should be going South... flew in from the South... heading on a WNW tack... until they got to ours... they then used a thermal over Grandmont to gather [they seemed a bit spread out] and gain height... they then flew off to the SSW as one would expect... had these come from the Brenne after a similar diversion, found the correct landmark and headed on their way?
The view of the landscape from their height would look totally different.... the Brenne would be in sight... the lot we saw come over the other day, though, were aiming to pass over La Celle G and St. S of the Humps...
We are thinking of purchasing the new RSPB film on the cranes BTW.
Jean, thanks... yes the scared fish can wait if we see things like that... but you don't need to book mid-week... we think it has become a 'venue' for the Paris w/e mob... going on the registrations in le parking.
There is more...
the third post will be coming soon.
lovely lovely photos!
We've seen [and heard] them flying over in the distance this week; heading roughly in the Azay-le-Ferron & Obterre direction. Too far away to photograph :-(
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