2024 has not been a classic year on many fronts, not least the weather. Often the autumns here are truly blissful, warm or hot days, cooler evenings, sunny with the odd day of gales. Sometimes we aren't actually that keen on the prolongation of summer, but this year, with perhaps two weeks of summer in total, more than a week of nice autumn would be good. Alas it is not to be, so the rare days of idyllic autumn have to be savoured. Yesterday was one such day - crisp, sunny, inspiring! The Saturday morning market in Baugé was quite classic, with yummy local products, the dulcet tones of Yann Mas warbling in the background and bright sun, with the Chateau watching over us!
Today was the annual antiques fair at Durtal, some 12 kilometres to the north of us. Since Covid and Brexit, it is smaller, with fewer traders and fewer English voices to be heard as you go around the stalls. Actually the size now suits us better, as say 10 years ago, it was just too big. But today there were very few punters out and about as well. Okay so we were there between 1pm and 2pm, but even so it seemed a bit sparse. The quality and the range of stuff was impressive this time so we enjoyed our 3km walk around from where we parked the car, but the weather was not propitious and by the time we got to the car, it was raining. Durtal Chateau loomed over our arrival and departure in a gloomy fashion, given the weather conditions.
With two nice days in the week, we got done as much as we could by way of gardening, and in between I did useful things. For a start I stewed a couple of kilos of windfall apples from the garden which are now in the freezer waiting for me to make apple crumble in due course. I then batch cooked a load of cristophines so I have some ready to be a gratin when the need arises.
I also brought in a trail camera that had been in place in a secluded area for the past 3 months to see what had been going on. I was actually a bit grateful for poor weather, as there was so much going on, and I had time to enjoy the footage rather than feel guilty about it.
To give an idea of what has been going on, here are some highlights:
The tree by the camera, which has been shown to be a really good scratching post for boar, is also a favourite scavenging point for the Great Spotted Woodpeckers. This is a rather nice short of one giving the tree a once over.
While there is the well known phrase "breed like rabbits", I tend more to the phrase "breed like wild boar", as they can produce two litters a year and litters are big and there are just so many around, but on the other hand, baby boar are so cute!
While they aren't my favourite animals by a long chalk, young coypu aren't as unpleasant to look at as their parents, and the family that live in the zone seem to have had 4 babies this year. This little fellow is about a third the size of its parents.
I adore pine martens, and for a few weeks they seemed to spend a lot of time playing and searching for food around the camera location. I've decided to share a number of videos of them this time, as later blogs will be more about the fox, the duck story and those wretched coypu.
At first there was just one pine marten, but then another, smaller one joined it. I've no idea if they are a couple or whether it is parent and adolescent, but I love them and am always rather excited to see a photo or a short video of them.
So, first just one:
Then two of them:
The trail camera is back in place again, but I still have over 200 more files to go through and see what is there in detail. The badgers go through there, as do deer occasionally, and I still hope to see the water rail again one of these days. All three cameras are now deployed and it is the time when all the animals we share the area with are looking to put on winter stores to help them through the cold season. I wish them luck as it looks like poor pickings this year and I refuse to provide feed - nature must take its course.
That doesn't apply to the blue tits and great tits that eat the pine processionary caterpillars of course - they are encouraged to congregate in the zone to then take the evil invaders out when they appear!
The forecast for the week isn't great, but I hope there will be some fine days to take advantage of out in the gardens and woodlands. Have a good week!
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