Mad March Hare pays a visit.... in April!

Well, what a surprise just now.... a mad March hare in April.... at the backdoor [almost]....

I was just about to take some compostables outside when I spotted a hare lolloping towards me, out in the potager... it then turned down towards the big rhubarb and out of my site.
We do get hares from time to time... usually in the field next door or out in our watermeadow.
But always too fleeting, or too fast...

"Compost be damned!" I thought, as I grab camera and carefully open latch on back door...
and lo, the lievre comes lolloping back round the corner of the wall.... and towards me... WTH!
So I start taking photos as it comes right up to the grassy side of the Woodchipio®, pausing only to taste the grass... it was a wet hare... needed a blowdry?
It would have come via the roadside fence... so had probably been in the Winter wheat or barley on the other side of the road... 

Until this morning, I hadn't really appreciated just how big they really are...
the normal view being, always, from a distance... with little to give scale!
It was as large, possibly larger than Baron our small black panther....
as long in the body, the head was half as big again as Baron's...
and the hoooooge ears, amazing....
it may not have weighed Baron's eight kilos, but I think it was possibly not far off!

So, please... share in my "wet hare" moment....
I rather like the punkish topknot!

This was the closest it came... and I couldn't fit it in the frame!

This, however, was what I thought would be my closest view... the inspection hatches for the fosse filter bed!
Was I about to be surprised... it suddenly turned towards me just as I had zoomed out to get a better shot...
so, I got this...

Terrible picture.... ears all cut off, but still somewhat magical to me!

After having a nibble of the grass along the edge of the Woodchipio®, it turned and lolloped away towards the potager... much the way it had come... but, as it went... it did the Mad March Hare routine....

I had zoomed back out enough... but it decided to keep exploring..
so off it went!

This is a more normal "hare shot"... going away!!
As it lolloped it showed a clean pair of heels... but muddy feet!

Then... it stopped, sat on its haunches and did a bit of "shadow boxing"....

Followed by getting really "wild" with its opponent...
standing on tiptoe... and really throwing those punches!!

And then away it went.... much in the opposite direction to which I saw it arrive...

Although it may look to be in the classic "hare at speed" pose...
it is, still, just lolloping along...

.... and, after this last shot, it stayed around for about five more minutes.... having a nibble here, a nibble there... not, seemingly, worried by being near habitation!
So, an Easter Monday Mad April Hare came to visit.......

Improving the Aigronne part II

The planned amenagement of the Aigronne valley continued rapidly this spring between Le Grand Pressigny and at least Charnizay. The work we blogged about here to improve the river flow has settled in nicely, with green algae and sediment softening the whiteness of the new stone. The "restoration" of the riverside vegetation has proved rather more controversial.

Acting to preserve the environment

Vegetation in a bad state:

     presence of unstable trees, leaning, withering, dead
     poplars in great numbers
     zones inaccessible to users (fishermen... )
     presence of trunks and branches in the bed of the river

Work done:

     Cutting down trees threatening to fall into the river in the medium term
     Creation of clearings to enable users to reach the river
     Selective removal of encumbrances on the river bed

Many of the poplar plantations in this area are way beyond any economic return, being good for nothing but firewood. Poplar is an excellent constructional timber, and according to one tradition we have heard, new parents plant poplars on the birth of a daughter, with the eventual proceeds to pay for her dowry. That would make a poplar harvest at about twenty years old, but many of these trees are much older. They are loaded with heavy balls of mistletoe (gui), and many trunks have heart rot.

Rotten poplar trunks near Le Moulin Neuf

The stump in the foreground of the picture above typifies the problem trees. It is all that remains of a poplar that crashed across the road in last winter's storms, which tipped it over roots and all. The stump has been carefully relocated, to preserve the line of the riverbank and the streamlet that empties into the river via the ditch.

It is good to see so many of these rotten old poplars waiting to be taken away. We are speculating whether some of the large piles of "lop and top" such as the one on the far bank are awaiting a mobile chipper so the scrap wood can be made into pellets for fuel.

 
But the scale of clearing along the riverbanks is causing some riverains some concern. Along the Aigronne. and its tributaries such as the Rémillon below La Celle Guenand, all the riverside trees and shrubs, regardless of species, have been coppiced (cut to the ground) in some places. Yohann Sionneau, the river technician, insists that his team have been removing nothing but poplars, in accordance with their policy. But, he said, some individual proprietors, working on their own stretches of river, had been rather too enthusiastic.

Bare banks - not much cover here!

Coppicing will not kill the living trees, and is necessary from time to time, but for so many proprietors to do it simultaneously is "too much" as our neighbour Anne said. The trees will regrow enough to provide some cover in a couple of years. However, before that happens the amount of shade along the Aigronne - a premier trout stream - between Charnizay and Le Grand Pressigny has been massively reduced, all at once. In hot weather the water will become warm, the oxygen level will fall and the fish will die. We have heard from someone involved with La Gaule Pressignoise (our local fishing association) that of a recent release of trout, six were picked up dead.

The trees and shrubs along the river provide an essential wildlife corridor, linking isolated patches of woodland and enabling birds, mammals and insects to find food or a mate or a nest site or somewhere to roost. The cover will grow back, but right now the banks are bald. We have not seen a single squirrel this winter - we saw them regularly last year. However we have heard three great spotted woodpeckers drumming simultaneously at different points along our still-covered stretch of riverbank. We have not yet heard an oriole, that lover of poplar plantations - many poplars have gone, but there are still plenty left for the orioles.

Wildlife corridor along the Rémillon

First cuckoo of spring

We heard our first cuckoo cuculus canorus coucou gris yesterday! It sounded more like an "oo-cuck-oo", rather hoarse and rusty, and just the one call, so he was probably just passing through. No photo, naturally - we didn't see him, but the cuckoo has actualy quite a weak call, so if you can hear him, he's close enough to see.

Pic Noir!

Tim and I were working this morning on the new potager area when a loud "hip-hip-hip-hip" call rang out from the direction of the poplar plantation next door. "What on earth's that?" I said, or words to that effect. I have to recognize birds by sound, and this wasn't familiar. A wader? too loud. A raptor? Wait a minute, that's an odd-looking crow, just heading west over our meadow. Big round floppy wings? White beak? A black woodpecker (dryocopus martius, or pic noir)! This is a new bird for La Forge, although we've seen another near Paulmy. According to Les oiseaux du bassin de la Claise Tourangelle the black woodpecker is confirmed as nesting in the commune of Le Grand Pressigny, so we were hoping to see it. What we heard was the call of a male bird. No pix, sorry!

2009 March

2nd  
Brambling with flock of Chaffinches - front garden
10th
Cranes flying ENE 5.45 PM [Approx 60 Common Cranes].
 After rainy day quite mild. Wind almost due West, quite strong.
11th
Stone Curlew night call flying over field opposite.
At same time: Little Owl at Bezuard, Tawny Owl in the Lime or Spruce.
Earlier, territorial dispute between two Buzzard pairs over meadow.
Weather sunny, no wind.
12th
Sunny, warm, still day.
Chiffchaffs calling, swifts?, Montague's over field, Black Redstarts, White and Grey Wagtails.
Woodpeckers hammering.

19th February to 6th March 2005 Observations from Nature Diary and Notebooks

19th Feb - 6th March 2005 [Dead Season, ha-ha]
Brenne [Visit on a bright and sunny day] -
Loads of Great White Egrets and G-C Grebes. Also cormorants, lapwings, gulls.
Small flocks [20'ish] of Pochard and Wigeon at Foucault.
Very little else except a Red Kite and Little Egrets
.
La Forge - Accumulated observations...
[Weather V.cold - sunny with occasional snowy days - water froze in minus 12 degrees Celsius temperature.]
Barn Owl seen on road to village numerous times after dark.
Black Redstart around grinding his little steel balls.
Blackbirds, Robins, large flocks of Fieldfares.
Kestrels, Buzzards and a raptor with very white blaze at base of tail flew across field and meadow and up to the trees below la Jarrie. Female Hen Harrier or Monty? definately not a buzzard.
Saw a Water Vole by our bridge....
also three Coypu [ragondins] by baby poplars toward Bezuard and on the bank between Richard's etang and the bief. >>>
Found a fresh Barn or Tawny Owl pellet on the concrete lid of water meter mains tap.

From the Nature Diary:

20th
Dry, cold, sunny. Bodie the buzzard calling - else very little moving.

21st
Sunny - snowed in evening - Loads of birds calling but little to see.

Ragondin [Coypu]

22nd
Snow showers and sunshine breaks - saw coypu in young poplar grove opposite the wier.
Heard tawny, barn and little owls calling after dark [around 8pm]

24th
Found deadish catfish in the bief [there was a little bit of muscular twitching]

21 -29 March 2004 - Observations from the Nature Diary

21st
Trip to the Brenne... 
All seen at La Cherine
Great White Egret
Hen Harrier [male]
Honey Buzzard
Pintails, Teal, Shovellers
except a Grey Wagtail... seen on returning to La Forge
Also Barn owl by road bridge near Moulin du Favier as we returned from a visit to GP for a meal.

22nd
Muskrat swam past at lunchtime
Saw wren, robin, white wagtails
Stonechat and a warbler [buff & pale-buff]
Put car away in the laiterie and disturbed a Black Redstart

23rd
Small warbler by river [very visible cream eye-stripe - pale green and buff-green - probably a willow-chiff]

24th
Swallows appeared at around 5.50pm [along with the sun]
Pair of Buzzards wheeling over the woods in front of the house.

25th
Hen Harrier [male] along below Grandmont towards Petit Pressigny.
Hobby dropped from over the grange [barn] into the field by the willows and then flew off. It was trying to catch Swallows but failed miserably.

26th Woodcock flew over late afternoon
27th And again but I had bino's with me this time... for Woodcock, read Snipe!!

28th
Visit to Brenne again...
Saw Black kite, loads of Black-necked Grebes [at La Gabriere], Purple Heron plus assorted other species and a roost of Cormorants.
Large raptor took off from our meadow on returning - probably a buzzard [ it was behind the barn and away before there was a chance of identifying it. Swallows present AM as we left for the Brenne and heard a buzzard calling from the wood out front.

29th
Chiffchaff calling and hopping around us as we planted trees by Richard's etang. Female harrier [? species... too fast] came low across meadow in front of us, thro' trees and up across fields towards La Jarrie.

As a list of sightings:

Seen round La Forge
Birds seen:

Raptors:

• Barn Owl near Moulin du Favier [by road bridge]
  
• Buzzards
  
• Hen Harrier [male]
  
• Hobby
  
• Harrier [female] - came low across field and up thro' trees to La Jarrie.
  

Passerines:

• Grey Wagtail [by our bridge]
  
• White Wagtails
  
• Swallows [with Hobby in pursuit on one occasion]
  
• Robin
  
• Wren
  
• Black Redstart
  
• Stonechat
  
• Willow-Chiff
  
• Chiffchaff [called whilst being watched]
  

Waders:

• Snipe
  

Mammals:

• Muskrats
  

Visit to the Brenne:

• Hen Harrier [male]
  
• Honey Buzzard
  
• Black Kite
  

• Purple Heron
  
• Great White Egret
  

• Pintail
  
• Teal
  
• Shovellers
  

• Black-necked Grebes [loads - La Gabriere]
  

• Roost of Cormorants