It's not all about Myrtle...

The first of a few picture-posts about some of the other wildlife that we've seen here....
over the past couple of months...

No, honestly, it isn't that we are preoccupied by moorhen activity....
although Myrtle has taken up quite a lot of our blog space over the past few months.

It is also about seeing...

....a Grizzled Skipper backlit by the morning sun...

 when you had seen it....

....on the same plant the previous evening!!

It's also about seeing...

a Kingfisher through the kitchen window...

and it stayed put until you'd rushed upstairs to get a clearer view...

"This is my left profile....

...and this? My right!!"

It's about being out of an evening and meeting...

...Mrs.Toad going about her business.

or seeing a....

...a Glow-worm halfway up the longère wall....
using the white to double her glow.

Or seeing....

...a male Beautiful Demoiselle delicately perched on a leaf, near Myrtle's platform...
the metallic blue and green sparkling in the sunlight...

or seeing...

... a Leaf Cutter Bee in the act of taking a large chunk out of...
the Cut-leaf Maple that we'd raised from seed!! What a cheek!!!

It's about trying to photograph Orioles....

...as they fly towards the house...
(it is the yellow blob)...

...and actually getting something recognisable...
it is a male... it is black and bright yellow...
hold it... I can see the eyes!!

It is all about SEEING...
seeing the world a hundred different ways....

through a hundred little lenses!!

Hope you enjoyed this...
there will be more!!

One of the old records: August 2008

11th
Dry, overcast with a little drip of rain early AM and Very late PM. Just before dusk - two Muskrats by tractor ford plus Moorhen and chick. Later, after dark [10.30'ish] with a very light sprinkle of rain - Glowworm [♀] by fence / telephone pole - very bright - showing three bars [reception must be getting better]. Also very cricket'ous - bloody loud and everywhere.
When looking at laiterie to check on building progress, checked also the Black Redstart's nest - all hatched - John later confirmed that all had fledged and flown about a fortnight before. I just love the idea of a wild bird that uses a double glazed room to raise its young!! But it's got to stop... we've sealed the hatchway and John has finished the bathroom light-pipe so no way in now.

14th
Frédéric mowed the verger, etc... Tim strimmed the rest of the field. Standing on the bridge, Pauline heard the Kingfisher  ... it came at speed along the bief and then came back and perched on a branch in full view - no camera!! That's the second time it's done that [the first time it had the temerity to turn round and give both side views [I wonder what a kingfisher's snigger sounds like?] It flew up and down a couple of times before shooting back towards Le Moulin de Favier. It looked fabulous in the sunlight.

Today [13th July 2010] - for the last few nights we've been unwillingly interfering with nature again... our lounge windows/French doors have a pair of pale green net curtains to help keep the sunlight levels in the room down [they face due South]. However, at night, the male Glowworms gather in number [15 last night].... given the colour is close to the female's lights it must be a case of "Cor!! Look at the lights on her then!" They'll just have to up-put until we go to bed.

Point to note; we've not seen/heard the Kingfisher for about two years now. The Aigronne was made very muddy by an extremely severe storm two years ago that washed fields away [5 litres of rain per cubic metre fell in 45 to 50 minutes] and the water quality changed overnight! It is now recovering... but no visible fish. The Banded Demoiselles are increasing in number by our bridge though.... and real weed is beginning to overtake the amount of blanket weed.

11th to 27th August 2006

Observations from the Nature Diary

11th
Glow-worm [♀] on front lawn.

We get the males on the window since we put the pale green curtains there [a touch of bigger is better might be the reason why... as in "Cor! Look at the lights on her!!]
[Shown right is a glow-worm larva on a snail  >>>]

<<< These are the curtains

12th
Weather windy and showery during the day... very clear night 15 degrees Celcius.
Moons of Jupiter very clear; also waxing moon... astonishing views of Mares.


27th
Went to Chaumussay for their "foulées" [track events / mini marathon] and vide-grenier - Pauline heard bee-eaters when we got an Orangina to drink.
As we left around lunch we went the Etableau route and heard and saw them again near the Croix Jourdain [on the 1:25000 Grand Pressigny map 1925O] by the railway crossing.
Back to La Forge for bino's, 'scopes, etc. and headed back.
Less than 0.75K from the house, near Gatault, in "OUR" valley - a flock of about 50 to 60 feeding over a field of tares [or similar vetch-type plant] on the bees, butterflies and grasshoppers. Superb views of aerial manouvres [wheeling, gliding and stooping] with the trill calls going all the time... and of them settled in the top of a nearby tree [just out of telephoto range!!] - fab views through the 'scopes though.
This was followed by the passage of three eagles over the valley [probably Booted, going on the jizz]