Going back a bit and catching up with the garden

I seem incapable of keeping up with my blog - in a way maybe it's a good thing that I have too many photos from too many outings to get around to sharing. Makes a nice change! Truth be told I haven't been in the mood for sitting at the big computer processing photos, and I've been out working in the garden recently and whilst I'm in the mood for that, that comes first.

A few photos of work in progress in the garden:

This has been a nightmare - weeding around my currant bushes, which hasn't been done for about two years and so the creeping buttercups had got everywhere, and there are other plants just inside the fence too which I wanted to keep, so it's taken me hours on my hands and knees hand weeding. But it's now done!

Corner shady bed having a partial revamp.

I've some older photos here I wasn't going to post but I liked the photo of the wren and didn't know how to fit that into another post. So here are a few taken way back in March when we made our annual visit to the Marais de Sougeal, which is a water meadow which is purposefully flooded in late winter and is an important stopping off point for migrating water fowl. As usual all the birds are a long way away, although this time we caught the Marais just as the water was draining and there was a nice selection of birds, and some not as far away as usual. We could also get to the newest hide which is actually inaccessible when the water level is really high - duh to the planning of that one!

There are always a lot of Pintails here.

What was that I said about never seeing Canada Geese here? This is a first I think for us in France. There are abundant in the UK as they have been introduced, but as we are not that far away I guess sometimes they fly over the channel!

I tried to get a bit closer as this is shot from the footpath, but they weren't having any of it and wandered off to safety further away.

Do you spy the distant Great White Egret? We saw a fair few of them this spring; even on the way to the supermarket twice we saw one standing in a field near a lake! And another time we saw a flock of them in a field near a lake, including some flying towards them which was great to see.

Yet this is supposed to be their distribution in Europe! It's the map at the bottom and blue is their overwintering distribution. Now my book is 20 years out of date, but I checked a recent book and it hasn't changed. I'd say they need to update both Little and Great White Egret distributions as they are becoming more and more common here in Brittany.

On the way back to the car we were rewarded with this Wren quite close up, however I only had time for two snaps before it was gone.

Some phone photos here from the day we went out shopping to get me some new 'fat' jeans and trousers - having an impromptu lunch afterwards. I enjoy applying different filters to people and flower photos to get fun effects. :-)

We don't see Herons by the pond as often as we used to - they would hang around often when there were baby Moorhens around as they make great Heron food. This was taken through the kitchen window and is at the far end of the lake.

A baby Blackbird having a preen and demanding food.

A Thrush (Mistle Thrush?) - yup I still can't tell the difference!

In the garden all is pretty now it's blossom time. This ornamental cherry by the pond has looked fabulous but its time is so, so brief.

Another photo given a bit of treatment.

Forget Me Nots - it's their season now and I love how they self seed and appear in amongst other plants with a lovely touch of bright blue.

It's been bluebell time here for a while too and although they are thugs which take over somewhat they are so pretty - here with Euphorbia characias.

Aquilegias are starting to bloom - here with bluebells in the background.

And eating cherries are now in full bloom; with the lovely weather we are having at the moment their blossom looks fantastic.

Here's a little video I took with my phone yesterday. I only discovered there was a video on it recently, when I was looking at a photo I took of my hens and I could swear I saw the hen's bum wriggle. Thought it was my eyesight then I realised I had taken a 1 second video by mistake! Duh, the words Smart, Phone, and Mandy do not go together. :-)

I don't know what happened to the quality of that video - I tried to show it larger but the quality is rubbish - yet it views larger on the computer much more clearly. I didn't bother with YouTube but just uploaded directly from my Mac. Oh well. :-( 

I still have moths to share, not to mention a four day MoHo trip....... will try to get it together but as we're off to England next week (and gazillions more photos will be taken) don't hold your breath! :-)

More wildlife sightings

It seems to be lizard season here right now, but unfortunately that means they are easy prey for the cats. One of the rotters brought this beautiful large lizard indoors and dumped it there. My OH yelled at me to get my camera, and when I saw it I couldn't believe it! It measured 4 inches (10cm) from head to the base of its tail. Unfortunately it had lost its tail, not such a big problem as they grow back, but I also saw in some of the close up photos that I took that it had bite marks on it, and a bit of blood. 

Poor thing. We put it back by the steps to the garage under the Euphorbias and just have to hope for the best. It's a Western Green Lizard (Lacerta bilineata) and I've never seen one before, so really surprised to see one here. Apparently their head and body length can reach 5 inches, and up to 16 inches to the tip of the tail! The next day I saw a small one with green colouring under its head so assume it's a young one of this species. That one was OK, thankfully.

Western Green Lizard just after we put it back outside.

It didn't look very happy so I hope it survived.
I didn't want to share the better photos I took which show up the injuries behind the head.

And in other wildlife news:

Tadpoles! More excitement as I haven't seen any here for years.
I also got to test out how a polarising filter really works against reflection!

But to get to the tadpoles I had to pass the ducks on the
narrow path, so they went into frantic nervous preening mode!

Drinker Moth caterpillar (Euthrix potatoria).
I couldn't find the ID myself but I have just joined an excellent insect group
on facebook and I get IDs in minutes, the people there are that good.

Yet to get an ID but this is either a wasp, or a bee that looks like a wasp!
That's a tiny weevil in the background and this activity is all inside a tulip.

A male Orange Tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines).
They are hard to capture as they never stay still for long.

Speckled Wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria).

We went back to the Marais de Sougeal last week. By this time the water meadow has been drained although there are a few mini lakes that are permanent, and water channels, streams and ditches, so plenty of water for the water birds that stay here all year round. This time we got to walk along the new path which was no longer flooded and discovered that the hut in the distance was none other than a brand new hide! With windows that open too, shock horror! 

The birds and ducks were very distant but we did clock up yet another Lifer - two Whimbrels (Numenius phaeopus)! They are migratory waders, wintering in Africa and here they are en route to their breeding grounds in the far north. These two could end up in northern Scotland, Iceland, Scandinavia or northern Russia, who knows! 

The path to the new hide. The bank is brand new and has been planted up with shrubs and trees.
I guess eventually we won't have much of a view over the meadow except from the hide.

Rubbish photo because it was so far away but I can't see as clearly
as this through my binocs! A Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus).

I went wandering off looking for bugs amongst the stinging nettles and comfrey that covered the bank between the meadow and the path, and found my first damselfly of the year!

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans), violet form.
I believe this is an immature female.

After a while it hopped to another blade of grass.
I'm not sure what the red blob is, I wonder if it is an egg of some kind?

Then got fed up with the camera in its face and flitted off further away!

What amazes me is how grass and other plants survive being under water for a month or two then spring back and carry on growing like nothing happened. In the meadow were also many Cardamine pratensis flowers, known as Cuckoo Flower or Lady's Smock. This is one of the food plants for the larvae of Orange Tip butterflies.

The Marais de Sougeal revisited

I'm going back about three weeks when the weather first turned lovely. The Marais is a water meadow that we like to visit around March, because it is flooded on purpose in late winter to allow a resting place for migratory water fowl. Only the last two winters have been wet and the area that is flooded has been much bigger than normal. But comparing with last year's photos the flooded area is even bigger this year! 

Something new this year - a gravelled path
where before there wasn't even a track.

Only we didn't get very far because the path was also flooded!

Further along from the previous pictures there is a hide, but all the ducks were, as usual,
on the far side of the lake area. All the ducks bar one are Pintails (the males are the ones
with the long tails) and there's one Wigeon on the right with a browny red head.
This is seriously zoomed in and I couldn't even ID those ducks with my binocs!

The only bird anywhere near the hide was this gull. (Black Headed?)
It had caught what I think is a newt!

Which it brought up onto the grass and then thankfully lost it.
I have no idea what are all the thousands of little flies (?)
covering the water surface.

Diving in search of something else for dinner!

Another view; this place near a parking area and the path from the first two photos
was less flooded last year.

Just to finish off here's a picture of the chateau at Combourg. I took this the same time as I was taking pictures further up the lake for my Graduation Challenge album. Only chateaux didn't fit the category Nature!

Le Chateau de Combourg.

The return of our summer birds

March is the month that sees the return of our three favourite migratory birds. The one we most look forward to seeing again is the Swallow (Hirundo rustica), a true migrator that overwinters in sub-Saharan Africa. I saw one flying in the field next to my veg patch on the 23rd March and if it had any sense, it would have turned right round and gone back to somewhere warmer like Spain for a couple of weeks! I jest, of course, because so long as it's not pouring with rain continually, there are plenty of flying insects for them to eat and it's normally pretty chilly around the time they return anyway.

The other two birds are ones we hear far more often than see, namely the Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) and the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), both of which are Warblers. The Blackcaps don't migrate far and in fact I have seen them as late as December in the garden, and some of these birds will spend the winter in warmer corners of France. Whilst Chiffchaffs migrate greater distances they too can overwinter in milder parts of coastal France, southern England and Eire. Our first Chiffchaff was heard in the garden on 17th March and the first Blackcap on the 28th. Blackcaps have the sweetest of melodic songs which I love to hear when I'm out in the garden. Even though the weather is not nice right now it still makes me think of summer!

I was lucky enough to see a Chiffchaff through the kitchen window the other day, hopping about in the grass!

Chiffchaff

We also saw a number of them in the middle of March when we revisited the Marais de Sougeal, a water meadow which is flooded in late winter for the benefit of migrating water fowl. I featured it back in January when there was hardly any bird life except for a load of seagulls. This time there was plenty of interest, but unfortunately the vast majority of interesting ducks were on the far side of the lake! We did see a handful of Chiffchaffs flitting about by the water's edge, and even wading into the water, catching small insects. It was freezing that day and still some snow lying on the ground. Yes, this was my OH's birthday treat yet again, bird watching in the freezing cold. :-)

Chiffchaffs at le Marais de Sougeal.
You can click on this photo to view it larger.

That visit we also saw a Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta), not a bird we will see in our garden so it was rather exciting and I had to spend some time with my bird books trying to figure out whether this was a Water or Meadow Pipit. I came to the conclusion that it was a male just going from its winter to breeding (summer) plumage. According to Wikipedia and the RSPB site the Water Pipit is a winter visitor to this part of France, and breeds further south in the Alps and other mountains of central and southern Europe.

So this was a perfect example of a winter bird and a summer bird in passing on their various migratory routes, and why I wish that the water meadow was just up the road as I'd be popping by several times a week!

Water Pipit

Back to the garden birds, we had a handsome pair visit during our last lot of snow in the middle of March. Both male and female Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) visited. These are finches which are winter visitors only, breeding in Scandinavia and Russia. We rarely see them except during harsh weather when they come to feed on the bird food that we put out.

Male Brambling

Breeding season has commenced for the early birds, notably the Magpies (Pica pica) which have decided to use one of our lime trees (Tilia, not the citrus kind of lime!) in full view of the kitchen window. It's been amusing watching both male and female build their twiggy, messy nest and quite astonishing how they start with just a few twigs wedged into place, and in no time at all a whole nest appears. Complete with twiggy roof as can be seen in the photo below this one!

Both male and female Magpie construct the nest together

The top part of this nest is a roof!
I don't think it's very waterproof though.

I haven't noticed the other regular garden birds starting to gather nest material yet but I do know from experience that many of these nests will be lined with lovely duck down courtesy of my ducks!

Female Blackbird (Turdus merula)

More garden birds.
Left top: Great Tit. Left bottom: Blue Tit. We can't tell the sexes apart with the Tit families.
Right top: L-R Mr House Sparrow, Mr Chaffinch and Mrs House Sparrow
Right middle: Mr House Sparrow
Right bottom: Mrs Chaffinch
(Proof reading this before posting I have got too lazy to look up any more latin names!)

Various garden birds

Of course I can't do a bird post without mentioning my ducks, but first here is a wild Mallard drake that has been visiting regularly for many weeks. Often he is accompanied by one or two females. What is funny about his visits is that he is really upsetting my drake, Dirk, who is desperate to see Mr Mallard off. However, whilst Dirk is bigger and can swim faster, he can't fly, but Mr Mallard can. So every time Dirk gets to within a few inches of Mr Mallard, off the Mallard flies to another part of the pond, and really winds poor old Dirk up. All the while the females, both wild and domestic, have been watching these goings on with what seems like the duck equivalent of rolling their eyes around thinking "Boys, oh how typical". We've been having hysterics watching this most days!

Visiting Mallard drake

.....and here comes poor Dirk, who has just missed him again!
(you can just see the Mallard taking off top left)

More duck pics for a friend who likes to see them :-)

And here's a funny picture of the range in egg sizes I collected one day last week. The tiny duck egg is from Freckles, the old white duck, who is into her 7th year of laying! The eggs only contain white but they are rather cute. Then there's a regular hen egg, a slightly smaller than average duck egg, and then.... the monster egg that Doris laid one day. It weighs 223g and an average duck egg will be about 90-100g!! I haven't broken it yet but am hoping it might be a triple yolker. We've had double yolkers before but this is by the far the biggest egg. Ever! Needless to say she had the day off from laying the next day.

The measure is centimetres, not inches, but it gives an idea of scale.

As for the hens, we lost one of the older red hens last week who went the best way possible, just toppled off the perch one night and I found her stone dead under it the next morning. She wasn't laying any more so it is one less mouth to feed, and going that way means no stress to anyone.