NICHOIR BLOG

“ ... and so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees … I had the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”

26/6/2024

Well, it has been a very long time since the last Blog Post - and it's good to be 'back'!

Not long after the last Post, in early March, I was diagnosed with a thoracic aortic aneurism. This required urgent surgery and after an array of tests and checks I was admitted to CHU Rangeuil in Toulouse. I was there for about a month, with a fortnight in ITU. The operation was successful and, thanks to the support of my wife and family, I made good progress. After leaving hospital I had a period of rehabiltation in a specialist clinic and eventually returned home in early May.

The time that I had in ITU made a considerable impression on me - the mix of technology and physical and emotional care was deeply effective and affecting.

On coming home I returned to my precious garden that was in a lovely state - thanks to the work and care of my wife, Noella, and also of our kind neighbour, Inge.
I cannot resist a little 'art gallery' .....

Even the Winter Cabbage joined in the mood and produced delicious florets of broccoli, that steamed and with some lemon and butter are more flavoursome than asparagus ….. very toothsome! And out came the first wisteria flowers - a couple of weeks ahead of its usual time ……

Well, quite a sight to return to and a great emotional boost, helped by visits from family and some worryingly accurate cards from our Grandaughter!:

As May merged into June, the mix of sunny and rainy weather continued - and meant that the humidity levels remained high and the levels of growth in the garden were unprecedented - very obvious from the water levels in the big pond, the sheer luxuriance of the roses, to the observable growth in the ornamental grasses and even the big trees. We had never seen anything quite like it - it felt an almost tropical environment:

And what of the wildlife? Due to the high humidity there has been a plethora of insects of all sorts and because of that (we surmise) the bird population increased, less in terms of variety and more in terms of numbers. So, we have had the hoopoes (sometimes 10 or 12 at a time), woodpeckers, blackbirds (normally rarely seen here), golden orioles (usually only heard, but very rarely seen), nightingales, milvus, black kites, little owls and buzzards of course:

Now, you may remember that last year we were privileged to offer accommodation to a pair of kestrels, nesting in one of the small window indents, high on the south wall of the house - and we were delighted when babies arrived and, over the early and mid-Summer rapidly grew and successfully fledged. Sentimentaly we hoped 'our' kestrel family would stay around and we would see them from time to time .... and this turned out to be the case, for throughout the Spring we have heard the distinctive "klee, klee" call and we usually see one or two younger kestrels (with their lighter feathers) whenever we drive or walk down the lane from the house. We had read that kestrels often return to the same nesting site and wondered whether we would be fortunate enough to see "our kestrels" return. Well, in early June we heard some familiar rustling and flapping noises up at the 'kestrel window' and looking up, above the big wisteria branches, there was a baby kestrel:

.... they had returned! And it was soon evident that a new family had been started, with what appeared to be three babies, and we soon saw a consistent pattern of parental care and the very rapid growth of the babies:

By the end of June the babies had grown to the point where they were clearly ready to fledge - the 'baby, fluffy' feathers were rapidly going, their stance was much more upright and confident and they were starting to move around on the window ledge and stared back at us when we peered up at them to take a photo:

.... we were just glad we were not mouse or vole-sized! Then one day in early July it looked as if (just as last year) nest was empty. We walked around the house and, glancing up, there was one of the kestrels, high on the apex of the roof. During that day they flapped around the roof, going back to their window nest occasionally and then swooping away to find another perch. And in the distance, at the edge of the garden there was one of the parents, occasionally calling:

Throughout July we saw the kestrels - three or sometimes four at a time, flapping, gliding and soaring on the environs of the garden and beyond, occasionally sitting on the tall, dead branches of the ancient tree that was the preferred perch last year. Then, as the weather grew hotter in August, and we had visitors and there was more noise around the house and garden, we saw less of them .... but we still heard them and, driving out from the house, there one or two of them were, perching on the telephone lines, glaring down and occasionally taking off to fly upwind and, with the speed of the wind against them, being able to hover and scan the surface of the fields, detecting movement and swooping down on the prey, scuttling across the newly-mown fields.

July and August's weather was mixed - alternating warm, sunny days and wet periods with some big storms so that everything in the garden continued to grow apace, with none of the pause that unremitting heat can bring. So, mid-Summer saw the continuing abundance of colour and vegetation and wildlife, with appearances from some creatures that we had not seen in the garden before:

Community events started up as usual over July and August, with birthday celebrations in Le Bruel, village fêtes and music evening in the vineyards. These social rythms bring a stability and comfort when so much else is disturbed:

And this Summer bought family visits and some time with grandchildren - particularly meaningful this year:

The mixed weather has moved into Autumn now and we're not sure what this year's Winter will bring - we trust that there will be some cold snaps, just for the health of the soil and the growth patterns of the plants and trees.

,We're hoping to re-start the Bruel Film Club, which had to close early in the year, with the health disruptions: so, a 'welcome back!' screening before Christmas and then a season of screenings for the New Year.

Thank you so much for reading this Blog Post and we wish you a tranquil and contented Autumn.

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Where are the songs of Spring?!

26/2/2024

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Well, we’re not there yet! Since our last Blog Post we have had a variety of seasonal scene - demonstrating how unpredictable Nature is, particularly in the early months of the year. As we entered January, one day’s views demonstrate the opening repetoire:

- and then something arrived that we had not seen for a little while!

As I think we’ve said in previous recent Posts, snow used to be quite a regular feature here - we usually had falls in late November, and in later February and in April. But recently there has been very little snow, as Winter temperatures have risen. But this time it was quite a fall!

I love snow. I like what it does to the landscape, forcing one to reassess one’s relationship to what we’re used to seeing. But most of all it is the change in acoustics. As a child, waking in the early morning after a snowfall, but with curtains still drawn, I knew immediately there had been a snow fall: it was a muffled world, with the occasional distant sound of a bird call or a human voice piercing the stillness. Walking in fresh, heavy snow is such a sensory delight - with the air, sharp and clean and the crunch of footsteps as it compacts the snow amid an otherwise silent world. I used to get up immediately and go out into the fields to walk before anyone else was around …. it was like discovering a new land.
Anyway, here’s a little ‘gallery’ to celebrate:

I have a tradition of making a snowman when we do have snow - an activity that causes some bemusement amongst our neighbours: “why would he want to do that - what’s the point?”; “is this ‘an English thing’ ?”; “do you think he’s alright?”. Of course, I just say it is to send photos to the grandchildren …. which of course it is - but it is also to make a point to myself that I still like doing it. This year was no exception - but we had noticed that Graycie the Cat, in her discerning and thoughtful way, is usually quite interested by snow, once she has got over the immediate sensory experience:

So I thought that instead of the usual ‘snowman’ I would build a ‘snowcat’.

It is actually quite tricky, as one has to build the four legs and then make the body and place that on to the legs ….. and the head, with as delicate ears as possible, has to be on the end of the body (of course ….!) and tends to fall off. However, after a couple of hours the ‘snowcat’ was complete and was quite a size as 'snowcats' go:

I was pleased with the result - maybe a little ‘Corbusier’ in its chunkiness, but of quite a cheerful disposition. So, the next step was to introduce Graycie the Cat and see what she thought - would she, as cats do, simply ignore it and walk on the Gift Shop; or perhaps be worried, thinking she was encountering some icy rival? This is what happened:

There was a quite lengthy appraisal and then a dismissal - “well, if that’s how you want to spend your afternoons it’s up to you ….., but I’m going in for some tea”.

The snow lasted for a few days and gradually the ‘snowcat’ grew slimmer and slimmer, as snowcats do.

Since the snow disappeared, we have had a mixture of weather - some very warm days, with temperatures in the lower 20’s; but then a lot of rain and temperatures falling back down to zero. But whilst one has to look more closely and in different ways, January and February, so often characterised as ‘grim’ and ‘dull’, can provide true visual interest:

As we said in the last Post, the high humidity this late Autumn and Winter has meant a lot of moss and lichen - it still feels surprising after the very hot and dry conditions last Summer.

In the garden, the short spells of warm weather have been enough to encourage Spring flowers to emerge, in amongst the Winter stalwarts - a mixture of open display and quiet discretion. During some afternoons, on the south side of the house, the lizards have started to race around the walls, diving into the cracks in the stone - and Graycie the Cat is always in hope of catching one, but is usually thwarted:

When we have had drier days, there is the usual pre-Spring pruning to do and the vegetable garden to mulch. There are still Winter greens growing - the more you pick, the more they grow, giving tender shoots of broccoli-like deliciousness! As we prune, the more the ‘wild corner’ of the garden is filled …. it is a large area now, with tree and shrub cuttings, rotting piles of leaves and brambles and so a haven for wildlife of all sorts. We rarely have bonfires (and are rightly restricted in doing so, limited to the wet, Winter months) and when we do, we have small ones, lifting the stuff we want to burn from the ‘wild corner’ area and making a small fire, that is controlled and safe - it is a good system.

There will be more pruning to do, if we can …… mainly quite easy (although a lot of it!), providing one has a ‘long-reach lopper’. The clumping bamboos we planted about eight years ago now have remained in clumps (contrary to the dire warnings we received), but are very thick and luxuriant and a real haven for the garden birds (something we never really anticipated). And the hornbeam hedging is very healthy, upright and even and, we’ve noticed, hanging on to last year’s leaves - that do not fall until the new ones grow.

And what of the wildlife? Well, one particularly noticeable phenomena has been the number of bumblebees that have appeared on the warm days we’ve had. We are used to a reasonable number of bumblebees in late Winter making an appearance, but this year there are very large numbers. We’re assuming it is because the average temperatures have remained high (although we have had that snow, there have been no frosts to speak of or sustained temperatures below zero). We do not know if this will result in more colonies surviving the Winter, as well as the newly-mated queens. We are not knowledgeable enough to know if the bumblebees are mainly Bombus terrestris (Winter Active Bumblebees).

Other birds in the garden are the usual ones we see at this time of year - in good numbers, encouraged by the regular feeding we’ve provided in a rather more organised way than usual. We have seen more jays than is usually the case - flapping around and screeching in their habitually raucous way - we have called the thick hedging at the bottom, west-side, of the garden the ‘House of Commons’. There have also been regular visits by green woodpeckers, hopping along the ground, rooting up the turf and making a suprising mess of the soft and muddy earth. Of course, what we have really been looking out for is ‘our kestrels’ …. and we are still have daily sight of three or four of them, within a kilometre or so of the garden. Last year’s nesting place is ready and waiting for them! We also regularly see a hobby, hovering and manoevering alongside the hedges at the bottom of the garden. So, we await to see what Spring will bring.

x
In my last Blog post, I commented on how beset we feel we are with the ‘newsfeeds of the world’.

This month I have been diagnosed with a serious heart conditiion, requiring urgent action. Unexpected, as I was not looking in that direction. I am fortunate enough not only to have had that diagnosed, but to be in a circumstance where the ‘system’ and, ultimately, a skilled team of people are going to do something helpful for me.

Aware that I will need to adjust the way that I live, I have been considering how to make a start. I've decided that a wise start would be to stop trying to actualise ideals, otherwise I shall have no time for much needed composure. So, let's see how that goes.

We do hope that Spring has warmth and colour for you.

p.s. ……. just as I finish this, I have had a real laugh: the app I use to write these Blogs has just offered me assistance in expressing the emotions I have been trying to convey. The bright yellow and red emoji it proposes is just perfect ……. far too exquisite for me to waste on this page.

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- it must only get better .....

5/1/2024

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A very happy and joyful New Year to you - and thank you for continuing to read this Blog.
We have been rather disorganised with the regularity of our Posts and the end of 2023 period has been no exception! It has been a demanding time in terms of the health of family and friends, both in France and the UK.

The Autumn warm weather lasted until the end of October, then on La Tousaint (All Saints' Day) we saw a mix of sun and storm clouds - presaging wetter and colder weather, which duly arrived in November, but has been interpersed with sudden warm days, with bright blue skies.

But it does not feel like 'full Winter' yet; we have not had the heavy frosts and snow at the end of November that seemed a regular event seven or eight years ago. So, the ground has weclomed the amount of rain there has been, after the very dry August and September period; and flowers have kept blooming and leaves have stayed put on the trees, shrubs and creepers throughout November:

At an entirely anecdotal level, it just feels as if temperatures are remaining higher, There were plenty of berries on the holly before Christmas and while picking the holly for Christmas decorations I saw that there roses were still in bloom, abeit rather soggy!:

Whatever the weather this year, it has felt particularly necessary to have colour and warmth and that we were fortunate enough to have some of that, shared with friends and with family through video-links.

And while we have been celebrating Christmas, what of the wildlife? Because it has remained comparatively warm, with still plenty for the birds to eat, we have not seen the number of birds that this time of year usually seek out the bird feeders that are around the garden. Indeed, the wet weather seems to have led most of the birds to 'lie low'. The buzzards and our precious local population of kestrels have just disappeared. In their place we have only spotted the very occasional Tarn Vulture and around the garden itself, no surprise here, it is the robins that have been making most appearances. So, we have been taking the opportunity to put up some new nest boxes, in the copse of eucylypus trees by the pond, and we will be renovating old bird-feeders and placing new ones around, in case we do get some truly cold weather:

One outcome of the wet weather, and a very welcome one, has been the replenishment of the big pond - its water levels are now up to 'normal' at this time of year, quite a feat after the Summer's drought. It has meant that the water level has risen by at least 1.75 metres and this has led the carp to put in an appearance and we spot their shadowy forms in the early mornings and evenings ..... very difficult to see them clearly, let alone photograph them ..... but they are there alright!:

January is often thought to be a fairly 'dead time' in the garden - which in one sense of course, it is. But look closely at the trees and shrubs and there will be the buds; and looking at the soil, where one can see for the fallen leaves, there will be the tips of bulbs:

Something that has been particularly noticeable this Autumn and Winter has been the growth of moss, on roofs, pathways and trees. Being entirely ignorant regarding the conditions that would encourage this we have been surprised .... because we thought that the droughts we have had would mitigate against moss growth. But clearly this is not the case and we believe that the growth has more to do with humidity levels which, in previous Blog Posts, we have commented have been increasingly high across all seasons. The moss growth is observable not only on roofs and walls but also on trees and shrubs. It is difficult to assess how serious this is, but certainly on roofs high levels of moss growth is a problem - from the moss retaining moisture and penetrating gaps and expanding and contracting according to temperature.

And alongside the moss growth (literally!) we've noted the increase in lichen growth. We understand that there are a range of views regarding lichen growth - the one we're choosing to note is that it is a sign that the air is particularly free of contaminents and that the lichen does not in any sense 'feed on' its host tree(s) ... so, we're sticking with that and enoying the subtle colours and shapes that the lichen display:

If anyone believes that January/February offers a 'break' from garden work - think again! In particular the season offers the opportunity to prune and renovate trees and shrubs and to re-form shapes and designs within the garden - suddenly two months or so becomes a short time! So, into the garden we go .......

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Postscript:
I have been very aware, while writing this Post, that one can 'strike the wrong note'. As I have been writing, I have had various news feeds playing. How is one meant to absorb and deal with this? How can photographs of Christmas lights, decorations and cakes be in any sense 'right' in the context of the traumas that we know are being suffered? I have touched on this before, in previous Blog posts - that we need a change in 'investment'. Not 'investment' in a fiscal sense. We have to make a personal choice, allied with direct action (however 'small'), that we invest in the belief that the vast majority of our fellow humans understand what wellbeing means and wish to create it for themselves and for others.

Listening to the news feeds I am reminded of the following:

“A student, filled with emotion and crying, implored, "Why is there so much suffering?"

Suzuki Roshi replied, "No reason.”

We hope that 2024 will be kind to you and yours.

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Ode to Autumn ... delayed until further notice

1/10/2023

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Well, we're about three weeks away from the start of the Autumn Equinox, but it feels as if Summer is still fully with us: as I write this on October 1st, the temperature at 5.00pm is 32 degrees C.

As we've covered in the Blog Posts this year, the weather has been mixed - with a very wet March and April and significant storms throughout June, then gradually heading towards some very hot weather in August, with temperatures in the early 40's by the last week of the month. The early warm but wet weather led to some extraordinary growth in the garden during late June and throughout July. So, despite the lack of rain over August and September, it is not like last year, when the drought lasted throughout the Summer and well into Autumn.
So overall it feels as if plant and animal life has been responding to some decidedly unpredictable conditions: have a look at these roses:

They have been blooming throughout the late Spring and Summer, helped by some continuous pruning (rather than just 'dead-heading'), but the odd thing is how they have changed colour ..... starting as yellow roses and then gradually morphing into a light and then significantly darker pink. This has been the pattern with a number of the roses, with white roses taking on a red hue and some red roses becoming ivory coloured. We have noticed some shifts in colour over the years, but never this pronounced. We have no idea why this should be, but we're told that it can result of significant temperature changes, but can also be the result of grafted stock showing through their original root-stock at times of high growth.

This year, as the trees started their Spring into Summer activity, we have been looking for long-term signs of damage from last year's drought. In fact it seems that the damage has been less than we feared - there are a very few trees that have definitely not survived, and many of the ones that looked as if they were badly damaged have sprung back into action - for example, the crab apple trees .... and look at this quince tree ... always prone to looking rather sickly and earlier this year it did not look at all good ... but see the fruit it is now delivering:

..... extraordinary ! Our mighty eucalyptus trees have continued to flourish (possibly because their roots may now be reaching the edges of the big pond), the different varieties shedding their bark, like sloughing snakes, at varying times during the year:

And this year it has been noticeable that soft fruit has done well, but has produced early - so, laden plum and damson trees and hedgerow blackberries in late July and early August. The Autumn and Winter berries are making a show and, unlike last year, it looks like there will be holly bushes covered with berries.

August, normally lacking in colour in the garden compared to the Spring and early Summer, has been quite vibrant - helped perhaps by our being able to do some consistent watering, thanks to the well with its new pump being so productive and reliable:

The well has also enabled us to keep the raised vegetable beds going. By mid-August we had to abandon the potager further down the garden - the amounts of water to keep it productive were too great, but we had potatoes and french beans from there, and transferred seedlings to the raised beds. As the years go by I am a bigger and bigger fan of raised beds - they're just so controllable and productive in ratio to their size. So, this Summer we've had over 30 kilos of the wonderful 'coeur de boeuf' tomatoes, and there's chard and picking cabbage and kale doing well, as well as lettuce, mache, peppers and a variety of herbs - most encouraging:

And what of the birds and animals this Summer? Well, first of all we must report on the kestrels (tempting to say "our kestrels", but we know better than that!). We're very pleased to report that all three kestrels fledged safely and we saw the family of five up in that big bare-branched tree over beyond the west side of the garden. For a number of weeks it was very clear that the three young kestrels were having flying lessons from mum and dad, going further and further from their 'base tree' and sometimes ending up on a similar tree, right over on the north side of the garden. The adult kestrels continued to be very defensive of their brood, harassing any buzzards or kites who appeared (usually when combine harvesters were clearing the fields). Gradually we had less sightings, but over September we've been seeing one, two or even three at a time, flying around, within a kilometer of the house. Of course, when we see one we cannot really know that it is one of 'the family' .... but we're sure it is! What we don't know now is whether they will migrate, or stay put here, given the warmer weather - we sort of hope that they will stay.

As we said in an earlier Post, the bird population in and around the garden has been impressive this year and this has largely continued. But we only had a very brief appearance of the house martins, during the last couple of weeks of August, and then they disappeared as quickly as they arrived. We don't think this short presence was due to lack of food, because there's been a plethora of insects this year - but we've been told that it might be because the ground turned so hard (heavy rainfall in early August and then baking heat) that they had no mud to make their houses. The butterfly population seems to be low this year and we're not sure why - possibly the early, very wet conditions compromised breeding and perhaps the rise in the bird population meant that they have been heavily preyed upon - so, we've been seeing some of our usual butterflies .... Painted Ladies, European Peacocks and Silver-Washed Fritillaries; but we have not seen the butterfly we have been seeking - the Black-Veined White butterfly, which we have seen in past years:

We have seen just a few Aesculapian snakes - but they are so very shy that they disappear as soon as one spots them .... unsurprising, as they are relentlessly persecuted, despite being entirely harmless:

There have been fewer dragonflies this year, as far as we can tell - we're not sure whether it is because the level of the big pond has dropped, or again whether it has been the early season fluctuations in temperature. But we're always fascinated when we do see them - but they are so difficult to keep sight of, let alone photograph - here's one that got itself 'stuck' on an outside curtain and we managed to free it without damaging that amazing wing structure:

We have had quite a few visitors this summer, mainly family and friends - and it has been lovely to welcome and spend time with grandchildren and great grandchildren and for them to enjoy the house and garden.

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Sometimes our small existence here seems far away from the events of the wider world. From the perspective that this offers, it is difficult to feel optimistic about the resilience that people require in order to deal with the increasingly relentless, 'always-on' news, information and rants that we and our technologies have unlocked.
It would have seemed unlikely that the felling of a tree in England would draw the attention of the media in France - nevertheless it has, partly perhaps because the film in which it featured was very popular here. But, well beyond this, the action of felling the tree has drawn attention world-wide. For so many people it has triggered a pervasive sadness, not so much because of the senseless vandalism but because the act demonstrates how very far away humanity has moved away from that natural world. We retain a longing to be part of that natural world once again and in our hearts we know that that a tree is so much more than it seems.

We do wish you a good Autumn, with some peaceful time.

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The Daily Kestrel !

10/7/2023

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Well, a new Post so soon .... whatever brings this on? It is, of course, the kestrels!
You will recall from the last Post that we have kestrels nesting, high up in a little, deep-set window on the south wall of the house:

About three weeks ago, it was clear that there were some baby kestrels and it looked like there were three of them, but it was difficult to tell, as they were very little, very fluffy and retreated, out of sight, to the back of the window ledge as soon as one approached.

This window is through to a bathroom in the house, but the glass is frosted and so all one could see from the bathroom was some shadows and shapes. But one could tell that the adult kestrels were sometimes there, coming and going as they brought food for the babies (note: from the sources we've looked at, it seems that it is usually the female parent that stays with the chicks, while the male goes hunting. But in this case it was evident that both parents were leaving the nest from time to time).

The angle of vision up to the window makes any photography difficult and we did not want to start putting up ladders to get any closer or more level ..... so, we had some rather blurry shots of the babies ..... you can just see them here lurking at the back of the ledge:

By the start of July the babies were growing fast and we could confirm that there were indeed three, and that they were in strict order of size (the smallest one is just crouched behind the biggest one!):

And by this time the parents were much more in evidence, flying back and forth, over towards the small valley that is just the other side of our garden, towards the west. We could see them perching on some bare, dead branches of big trees, and we could hear them calling to one another.

By the end of the first week of July it looked as if the babies' fluff was starting to fall away and their new feathers were evident ... at least, on two of the birds, because at this point we were only seeing two and we wondered whether something had befallen Kestrel Minimus:

This past week brought what seemed a very rapid development - there were a lot of flurries on the window ledge, and the view from inside the bathroom was of a slow-motion, feathered brawl! Then getting up early on Saturday and going around to look at the nest on the south side of the house, there was Kestrel Major ..... looking very ready to fly: not sure who was then the most anxious, but judging by that look, we didn't think it was Kestrel Major! So, all we could do was wait and see and keep a look out at the window ledge to see if Kestrel Minor was showing flying signs, and whether poor Minimus was there at all.

On Sunday morning we checked the nest - no sign of anything. But on going back inside the house to the kitchen, we suddenly heard a fluttering noise outside the window and in one of the window boxes we found:

..... there was Kestrel Major, looking fairly composed but rather affronted - not wanting to be caught with these sissy flowers. Those 50 metres away beetle-spotting eyes looked straight at us, not a flicker - good job we weren't wearing black. The window box is just around the corner from the south-side of the house, where the window-ledge and nest are - so, we decided to leave the kestrel for a bit, as it seemed entirely unharmed and we did not want to interrupt any flying lessons:

Later that morning we went to see what had happened .... and found that Kestrel Major was gone and all we could do was hope all was well.

After lunch we were walking around the garden (it all sounds so civilised, doesn't it?), on the north side of the house and what did we see? It was Kestrel Major, hopping around a flower bed, in front of a large glass panel on the side of what we call 'the nook'. We have no photos, as we were not carrying 'devices' and it was not our priority. What we wanted to know was whether the kestrel was injured in any way. It was not too difficult to pick up the bird, gently taking him by the upper legs and ensuring his wings were cradled to the body, so there could be no flapping . It did not seem that there were any injuries and it did not feel like the bird was panicking .... just a cold stare, straight at me, and I felt his talons tighten on my hand, going through the light gardening gloves I had on, but not puncturing the skin. But imagine its power when fully grown, and imagine a really large falcon! We decided to carry him round to the south side of the house, where his nest is, so that the parents would have more chance of communicating. We knew that kestrels have a poor sense of smell and the adults would not reject their babies on account of alien scents. We put the kestrel in cardboard box, and placed this below the window ledge/nest and left it there.

Returning after a couple of hours the box was empty ..... but there was Kestrel Major, close by and quite high up in a particularly prickly climbing rose. Before we could do anything the kestrel extricated itself from the rose bush and half flapped and half flew into the trees and undergrowth that run along the side of one of the big fields adjoining the house. Then we saw it up in some tree branches, about twenty foot up, not much lower than its window ledge and nest. And beyond this tree is the small valley, with its bare-branched trees, where the parents flew and settled.

And then, we were so pleased, we heard the now-familiar sound of the parent birds calling and we knew they were in contact - and so we retreated, to leave them be.

But last night we went to bed anxious - would Kestrel Major be alright; what if Kestrel Minor decided to fly; and where was Kestrel Minimus?

Up early this morning ..... and carefully around the house to look up at the window ledge - and, what do you think?

All present and correct, in height order, and looking down at us with a slight air of contempt ..... "Well, what did you expect, we're kestrels ...?!!

Phew! So, back to the garden table and umbrella (it's going to be a hot day) and a cup of coffee. Ah! - and who is that already draped around the table legs ....?

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Coming up roses ….

18/6/2023

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Well, it has been a little over two months since our last Post. In that time the garden and immediate countryside have been transformed. As we said back in early April, some warmth and plenty of rain had led to shrubs, plants and trees rapidly coming into flower and blossom - but it turns out that was just ‘first gear’, as since then a cocktail of quite cool nights, but rapidly warming mornings and then heavy rain and storms by mid-afternoon, often ending with sunshine again, has provided near-perfect growing conditions.

During May, on many days by about 3.00pm, clouds started to gather in the blue sky and on no fewer than seventeen occasions a storm arrived, lasting anything between under an hour and four or five hours. So, the humidity has been high and this has meant that all vegetation has grown very rapidly. It has been interesting to see the effects of this - well, interesting up to a point …. not quite so interesting with grass needing to be cut twice a week and more - and anyone proposing a “no-cut May” should just try existing with the results of that! As Blog readers will know, we have a significant number of ‘wild areas’ of the garden and of course these have remained so and we have never seen so many insects existing here, in terms of numbers and varieties. Our ‘wildflower/weed’ areas have never been so abundant and alive in terms of its ‘creature population’:

With the proliferation of available insects, the bird population in the garden has been amazing - in the last few weeks it has included golden orioles, hoopoes, nightingales, blackbirds (not usually evident here), pheasants (a pair, being very bold and strutty), house martins and, particularly fascinating for us, a pair of Lesser Kestrels have nested in a small window opening high up on the south wall of the house:

With the rapid growing conditions, the grass crops in the surrounding fields have grown very swiftly, with the farmers cutting regularly to generate additional cropping. Of course, when the grass is cut we see the buzzards fly in, circling and diving to take the creatures that have been exposed by the now bare fields:

‘Our kestrels’ do not take kindly to the buzzards and, although they’re not in reality very close to their chosen nesting place, they fly up and harass the buzzards …. pretty plucky, given that a kestrel weighs around 6 ounces/165 grams and a buzzard weighs in at around 3 pounds/1.4 kg. But the flight of the kestrels is quite something to watch, with high-speed flight, and then braking and fluttering and instant change of direction.

In amongst all this, the butterflies are having quite a hard time. A number of familiar varieties have arrived quite early, attracted to the masses of flowers - but then they have got caught by the sudden and often very heavy rain and we have found large numbers of them on the garden pathways, soaked through and stranded. So, it has been a delicate operation to very gently lift them up and place them in a dry, sheltered place, if possible on that is warm again after the rain has stopped:

- it is remarkable how often they recover and, within a few minutes, fly off again.

So, having gone on a lot about all the flowers I can’t resist a bit of an ‘online flower show’ …. here’s a bit of a walk around the garden:

Right, that is probably quite enough! But we are very struck this early Summer by the sheer abundance of colour, patterns and vignettes as we walk around.
Once again, we have focussed in this Post on our garden here and the immediate countryside. We have had some visitors staying during the last couple of months and they seem to have enjoyed the peace and tranquility. They have also enjoyed the broader countryside and kayaking trips down the river Tarn at a time of year when the river has some movement and one can drift down, away from any roads, and with the water there is still the freshness of a Spring day. Appreciation of and contact with the natural world is very important at the moment - my goodness, an antidote is required to the world that is portrayed to us at the moment.

So, as ever, we wish you an enjoyable and peaceful late Spring and Summer. And as I have been writing this I have to report that, having assessed the increased humidity and rather tropical conditions, Graycie the Cat has decided to become a tiger:

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Is Spring sprung?

2/4/2023

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Having had that snowy and chilly January and February, March has provided a varied menu: heavy rain and storms, high-vaulted blue skies and scurrying clouds, and warm, calm days - a veritable à la carte.

In one regard our menu choice would be for the rain - as at the start of the year, as we have said, it was drought conditions and in our own garden the soil's consistency was bone dry, with the big pond and our well's water levels very low. But now, April 2nd as I write this, the pond has filled to the bottom of the overflow pipe and the well's water level is approaching what we expect and hope for the time of year. We had been very concerned, in case we have a Summer as dry as last year. So, the pond is now full of vociferous frogs, carp lazily exploring the surface and edges, and water-lilies just starting to make an appearance, floating to the surface like skinny green jelly-fish.

The almost daily variation in the weather and the sudden influx of wet conditions has meant that the vegetation has been making its Spring début in fits and starts. It feels as if many of the trees are still making up their minds what to do, although some of the earlier flowering varieties have made their decision and have got rather buffeted for their boldness - although the exuberance of the blossom has been striking:

Gradually the stone walls are filling with the aubrieta; and the daffodils and narcissi are dotting and lining the beds, with bunches of primroses and splashes of hyacinth where we have randomly planted bulbs from indoors some previous year:

We have made a final check of the damage wrought by last year's drought and this year's occasionally savage frosts. Surprisingly it has not been too bad ... we had expected worse, although predictably some conifers and the more exotic small trees have been dealt what are probably fatal blows:

The resilience of the trees, shrubs and plants is extraordinary and, in current times, strangely comforting. Even some of the vegetables have battled through and are now on their way to flowering, which means a proliferation of very tasty green shoots from the broccoli, lacinato kale and picking cabbage - yum!:

Now that there is moisture in the soil and the ambient temperature is rising, it is the time for some planting. But we are being cautious - as ever, our 500 metre height can make early planting risky: so, we're holding off any vegetable planting until later in the month and in May; but we have planted some more trees - like this magnolia that flanks yet another bench that we've made from our stock of old chestnut planks.

And there signs that some of the plants that we split and planted last Autumn have survived and are now making an appearance, like this peony:

And it is time for the roses to have a tidy-up and feed ..... although when we do, the following morning we find that something has been along and dug up and scattered the compost and fertiliser!:

How has the wildlife been faring? Well, there are birds a-plenty (including the woodpeckers and Little Owls making appearances, and we have heard the hoopoes call) and we have taken care to continue to feed the birds, given the occasional but quite regular hard frosts. We have been concerned for the bees. They seem to have been tempted by the bursts of warm weather and out they have come, often finding their way indoors and then getting trapped: so, we have been collecting those and putting them outside in sheltered places, with some water spray and hoping they will survive - and often they do seem to recover, at least for that day:

Butterflies have not been so fortunate, getting battered by the wind and caught out by sudden cold spells:

When it comes to animals, there has been one significant change: our good neighbour, Marie-Claude, having just retired from farming has decided to change her mind on keeping just half-a-dozen cows. So, last week the last of her Aubrac herd was sold. No more cows in the immediate, surrounding fields or the sight of them, lazily plodding down the lane adjoining our garden, or hearing the lazy, tearing sound as they grazed on the long grass in the orchard that alongside our east-side garden. This is nothing to do with our increasing discomfort with meat-eating and the politics and big business surrounding the meat industries .... it is simply about looking and listening as country life changes.

And what of other things? As we have said, we were determined to reinstate some of the community events we had been involved pre-COVID. So, the Bruel Film Club has been active again, with feature films, animation shorts, and a post-screening opportunity to have some food, wine and a chat. It has gone well and we have fortunate enough to have attracted new members - so, we now have French, English, Dutch and occasional American attendees. We will run films for another couple of months, closing with the May screening of a selection of short films and animation films from around the world ... this always seems to go down really well. If you want to see what we're up to, have a look here|.

This year it looks like we will be welcoming some guests to the Chambres D'Hotes/Gites, but also a lot of family visitors, across three generations - children grandchildren and great-grandchildren, which is a lovely prospect.

We're well aware that these Blog Posts increasingly focus on our garden, the wildlife that we observe and the immediate community here - we hope that you enjoy it as much as we do.

We wish you a warm and comforting Spring.

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The Iceman has cometh!

26/1/2023

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Well, having written only twelve days ago how mild the winter has been, three days later down went the temperature and down came some quite a heavy falls of snow! So, triple positive: crisp, healthy air; water in the snow; and some beautiful views:

We expected the snow to disappear quickly, given the high temperatures that we have been having - but in fact the temperatures have dropped further and the snow has stayed, and the snowy garden and landscape has started to become familiar:

- and, of course there are jobs to be done:

So, Godfrey (the snowman) has been content to watch the snow occasionally dropping through the branches, and to admire how it forms umbrellas, bench-seats and table-cloths :

In the past twenty-four hours the temperature has started to fluctuate, rising by mid-afternoon, with a little, very light drizzle in the evening and then dropping overnight: the perfect conditions to form 'black ice' - the ice that often occurs after light freezing rain and snow melting and then re-freezing on hard surfaces to form a deceptive, transparent blend with the surface colour on which it forms: so, car roofs and wind-screeens, where it sticks, particularly hard to remove, as it is much 'tougher' than semi-opaque or 'white' ice:

Early this morning, around 7.00am, the temperature was just below freezing and it was possible to see the black ice on some garden pathway steps:

But what was really surprising was its coating of the cement driveway and the adjoining gravel - the latter is quite large, rough gravel that one would think would not be at all slippery .... but it was as if it had had a coating of grease and I almost took a fall when going to the olive tree to feed the birds their meal-worms and mixed seed:

So, a short Blog Post - just to show how quickly weather conditions can change - and, in this case, to welcome that, as we needed some cold temperatures for health of the soil and to confirm to the plants and wildlife that we still have 'seasons'. We'll see what the next week or two brings.

As ever, best wishes, and keep safe and well.

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Bonne année pour 2023

15/1/2023

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Well, 2022 is behind us and perhaps some would be very pleased to wave a 'goodbye'! For us here at 'Nichoir' it is an opportunity to re-open the Gites/Chambres d'hôtes and to look forward to welcoming guests here once again.

The 'quiet spell' around this time of year(s) has also been an opportunity to reflect on an increasingly evident issue: climate change. So, in a very 'micro-way', this Post observes signs of this: the weather has been very mild .... in mid-November we went for a walk around our 'local' lake, only to find that we could have been witnessing a 'summer scene':

- it was warm, there were sailing boats and windsurfers, fishermen in lightweight, summer gear ....... and the water-level was what we would expect in August:

So, in one way a pleasant, welcoming day - but in another way, disquieting.
Throughout the Autumn, the weather has been mild; and while we have had some usual Autumn weather, with mists and damp, there have been only a couple of light frosts, not those biting air frosts that, for us at 500 metres, sweep across and leave a trail of icy white at about one metre's height, often severely damaging shrubs and bushes. Going outside in the early morning we have seen just the merest hint that temperatures may have briefly hovered around zero:

There have been a variety of other signs that temperatures are abnormally high for November/December: every year on the big pond the lilies have disappeared beneath the water by the end of November - but they are still floating on the surface as we approach mid-January. The leaves on the Virginia creeper that surrounds the house are always down by early November, but this year they were only tumbling down, in strong winds, in mid-December and on some other trees the leaves are simply remaining in place:

There are many little signs of the higher temperatures that are easily ignored: parsley is still growing in the raised beds; spring bulbs are poking their heads above the earth; and the birds, while happy enough to gnash the meal worms and seeds from the bird-feeders quite clearly have enough food still in other places:

Of course, there will always be people who say that they have bulbs coming up pre-Christmas or shrubs in flower in December ..... but, we are observing what is 'normal' for us and this year 'normal' it is not!
It makes deciding 'Winter-work' in the garden quite tricky - so, there have been the usual clearing and pruning jobs and, because the mild conditions are encouraging weeds to grow particularly strongly (oh good ...!), we are weeding the veggie beds, putting down cardboard strips and then covering that with well-rotted mulch:

Christmas is beginning to seem a while ago now .... it was quiet one this year, welcoming friends for Christmas Day and insisting that they admire our 'Book Tree'!

And we had a quick trip over to the UK, to see family and to enjoy the company of some of our grandchildren, and seeing how they are acquiring story-telling and drawing skills that very soon will challenge our attempts - what a very good prospect!

By the way, the milder weather has not been standing in the way of a certain cat and her enjoyment of wood-stoves:

So, 2022 ended very quietly - after all the hot-air and gusts ..... rather like the balloon we observed over the hills yesterday, but perhaps the balloon's landing was due to pilot competency, rather than luck:

So, as ever, the Pig surveys the life before him and we wish you the very best, safest and joyful New Year.

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Still warm …..

17/10/2022

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It is over two months since the last Blog Post and during that time we have had very little rain and it has been warm and sunny for most of the time - lovely Autumn weather, with softer light and colours after the glaring sun and ‘full-on’ 40 degrees plus temperatures of July and August.

It has meant that there has been a lot of fruit - figs, edible chestnuts, plums and pears - arriving quite early …. and while the fruit has been small in size, it has been big in flavour. It has also come ‘all at once’, with far more than we could eat - so, we have been trying some bottling: figs in cognac and pickled plums being the favourites.

The prolonged dry weather has meant that by early September, some of our trees and bushes were looking much the worse for wear:

But in mid-September we suddenly had a couple of days of heavy rain - one evening the sky changed dramatically:

- and within minutes there was very heavy, cold rain with some large hailstones. It lasted for a couple of hours, but it was remarkable how while the paved areas were awash, the grass and earth areas just soaked up the water in seconds. The following day we could see that for some plants the water had been crucial - for the vegetables in the raised beds in particular, and the trees and bushes looked a lot fresher:

It is curious how rainfall will always have far more effect than any amount of watering. A few days after the heavy rain (and we had one further night of rain) we noticed that the parched grass suddenly had swathes of green; various plants and shrubs had produced flowers and up through the middle of the pampas grass light golden and dusky pink plumes appeared ….. it was as if some magic trick had been played:

But more was in store - within 4 days of the rainfall, when we went for our evening stroll in the garden with Graycie the Cat (yes, we walk the cat …. or rather, she walks us), we saw a whole array of fungii, at various stages of growth - all shapes, sizes and colours. Within a further 24 hours walking around the big pond was like visiting a sculpture park in minature: we cannot resist a small photo gallery:

But the shortage of rain has been having serious effects - as we have said before, our population of bats (usually nesting in the barns) seem to have just disappeared and we are not sure whether this is because of the heat or the reduction in the amount of available food. The bird population in the garden continues to be vibrant - but their behaviour sometimes seems very erratic; certainly they make full use of all the water sources but it is food that seems to be the issue …. so we are now putting dried meal-worms in the bird feeders and this seems to be very popular and the supply needs to be replaced daily:

So, we are not sure what ‘will arrive’ in the next month or two and whether there will be a truly cold Winter: in some ways that would be positive, as it is good for the soil, breaking down the earth and killing off less welcome bugs. On the other hand, a cold Winter will call upon expensive heating supplies - we are fortunate in one sense, in that we have a ‘mixed economy’ of fuel systems: gas, electricity and wood - we are just about to take delivery of our usual 8 tonnes of wood, and we also have some stocks left as last Winter was not so cold:

The evening before I am writing this we were invited to a Halloween party in the neighbouring hameau. They had gone to a lot of trouble, with decorating the house and garden, and we were happy to dress up and just join in. Our overall local community is made up of a number of small hamlets, none of which have populations reaching one hundred and our immediately local ones are much smaller. But at the party we met not only French neighbours, but people from a range of other European countries - and the stories of how they had arrived at such a local Halloween event were many and various, and truly interesting. For us it re-emphasised how important it is to have a European (and more fully international) outlook. So, aside from the silly (but very inventive in some cases) costumes there was a diversity of experience, knowledge and interest that was refreshing.

Until the next BLOG Post we wish you and yours a healthy, safe close to 2022

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“ ... and so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees … I had the familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”

Where are the songs of Spring?!

- it must only get better .....

Ode to Autumn ... delayed until further notice

The Daily Kestrel !

Coming up roses ….

Is Spring sprung?

The Iceman has cometh!

Bonne année pour 2023

Still warm …..

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