The trees are coming into leaf - like something almost being said .....

21/4/2025

The trees have been unsure about coming into leaf - as the weather across the first few months of the year has been very mixed, with a temperature range of over 25 degrees. As I mentioned in my last Post, I thought it would be interesting to track the weather by taking a photo of the same view, at the same time, each day for a month, Well, I managed it from mid-January to mid-February, missing it for a few days. The results are at the end of this Post.

Well, a temperature range of 25+ degrees is quite considerable, and that has included some days of very heavy rainfall and considerable storms, causing the river Tarn to flood in some areas:

- a sight we have not seen for a few years now. This weather has called for considerable resilience in the environment, with some very confused wildlife. And we have had some tree damage, with some ancient chestnut trees succumbing to the unrelenting strong gusts of wind we had in mid-March:

The intermittent days of sunshine has given us temperatures in March reaching the mid-20‘s, encouraging Spring flowers to make an appearance:

- and more hesitantly blossom started to appear on the trees, and even the magnolias, so often buffeted by March winds, managed to retain a display for a few days:

We often hold off planting vegetables until May, when the weather usually stabilises and the temperatures rise. So, when we visited the Minervois region for a few days at the end of March, and went to the delightful small city of Narbonne, we were very envious of its beautiful market and the wonderful vegetable stalls:

And while we in the Minervois, we took the opportunity to visit some of the small, family-run, wine domains. There we heard accounts of just how tough the changing climate is making life in the wine-growing high terrain, with Summer temperatures rising, with less rain and then very cold and frequently very wet, stormy Winter weather. The higher Summer temperatures and lack of rain have led to houses having structural problems, with large cracks appearing in the masonry - and when we visited some of the small domaines near the Cathar citadel of Minerve, with the vineyards clinging to the limestone slopes of the Cesse and Brian rivers, we could see some of the results of the climatic conditions:

We met some very handsome donkeys on the high pastures, who looked as if they knew a thing of two about resilience:

Back at home the wildlife has been negotiating the changeable weather - the little owls have been making intermittent appearances .... always managing to look self-important and slightly irritable when we see them perched on one of the barns or hunting on the ground which, wet as it is, makes foraging for worms and insects quite easy.

The little owls have been joined by a variety of other birds - woodpeckers, wagtails, collared doves and, of course, jays .... those ‘barrow-boys’ of the bird world:

And the kestrels, up to five of them, are still coming and going - constantly flying around the south-side of the house where their erstwhile nest/window-ledge is .... but they still have not made a final decision and the changeable, cold and gusty weather is not helping. Perhaps, with some forecast good weather for the coming days, this will encourage them and they will finally take up residence:

At this time of year we are used to the frogs appearing in the big pond, making a huge racket and generally behaving badly, But they have been more reticent this year and are only making an appearance on the intermittent warmer days. Nevertheless, Graycie the Cat has decided that she is the Great Hunter of the Anura Order and has been stalking both frogs and toads ... not having much luck, but I don‘t think she is actually interested in catching anything:

What Graycie did not notice was this:

- we are used to green tree frogs, but this is a blue tree frog .... the blue colouring caused, we’re told, by a genetic abnormality in which yellow pigment is not produced.

And talking of genetic abnormalities - gardening in this mixed weather has been demanding, but has one distinct advantage: we are detached from media outlets and so don’t have to listen to news of Trump, that doyen of orange pigment.