Chestnut Foal, France

 

Another photo from "la Brenne" in the département of Indre, in central France, the area of more than a thousand lakes known as "la Brenne" which has become a wonderful habitat for both wild animals and migratory birds. On this visit to photograph the dozens of semi-wild horses which roam in herds of twenty to thirty or more I came across a foal which was starting to find it's legs and venture away from it's mother.

Marbled White Butterfly

 

This is one of my favorite butterfly shots I uploaded to the Alamy stock agency a couple of summers ago... a Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) feeding on a Small Black Knapweed flowerhead. Early morning is a good time to see the Marbled White as it absorbs the warmth of the sun's rays with open wings. This species can be seen quite easily, even from a distance, and you may see a flower head with several adults feeding on nectar together... especially on the rich food sources Thistle and Knapweed.

Soft Plum Blossom

 

The Plum - which I will always recognize in future after reading-up on the blossom shown here - has many forms and varieties... my favorite being the Mirabelle, which I have never seen growing in England, but is common here in France. It was probably cultivated for European soils by the Romans, from origins in the Anatolia Caucasus. Shakespeare refers to cultivated Plums, Prunes and Damsons... and many gardens of his generation must have contained a large variety of those fruits.

His contemporary, Gerard, in his own 1597 Herball wrote... "To write of Plums particularly would require a peculiar volume... Every clymate hath his owne fruite, far different from that of other countries; my selfe have threescore sorts in my garden, and all strange and rare; there be in other places many more common, and yet yearly commeth to our hands others not before knowne."

Fishing for Enjoyment

 

What's better than a lazy weekend fishing trip... getting away from life, from work, from noise, from shopping crowds, from neighbours, from the TV... the list is endless! There's a lot to think about in a small row-boat on a gentle river... even if you choose not to have a hook or worm on the end of your line as I've done in the past. Man and Nature... back to basics... catching peace, happiness, enjoyment, fun...

"Eeyore" the Donkey

 

I can still remember as a child in the 1950s going for donkey rides along Blackpool beach and being jogged up and down to the soft muffled sound of hooves on hard sand and the tinkling of bells sewn onto the animal's leather harness. Although "Eeyore" was apparently the gloomy donkey from A. A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" books, I always remember them looking and acting rather intelligently... and being gentle too with their soft thick padded coat protecting them from the knocks and rough treatment usually handed out to what are unfortunately called and still treated as beasts of burden. No wonder so many donkey sanctuaries have been set up to rescue these friendly, harmless animals.

Lucky Black Cat

Black cats are said to be lucky, so I'm hoping the shots I took of this example mounted high up on the wall of a building in the town of Chauvigny will be good sellers! Chauvigny, 23 kms east of Poitiers in the Vienne department of Poitou-Charentes, originally derived its wealth from the porcelain industry. The town is also overlooked by a hill with five ruined castles along its ridge including the Château des Eveques (baronial chateau), the Chateau d'Harcourt, the Donjon de Gouzon, and the Chateau de Montleon.

Further down towards the south of France, black cats are referred to as "matagots" or "magician cats" and according to local superstition they bring good luck to owners who feed them well and treat them with the respect they deserve... I should think so too!

Red Poppies

Known by several forenames including Common, Field, Corn and Flanders - every November they are worn in Commonwealth countries in memory of those who fell during the Great War - the particular colour of this poppy is only rivaled, but not matched, by one other British flower... the Scarlet Pimpernel. My ”Familiar Wild Flowers” (F. Edward Hulme - Cassel & Co. 1906) relates the impact of its colouring by saying... ”Though the Marsh Marigold flower is a perfectly pure and brilliant yellow; the White Campion, a white of spotless purity; the Borage as deep and unsullied a blue as could possibly be met with or imagined - these colours, beautiful as they are, must yield in brilliant strength and intensity to the scarlet of the Poppy.”
I love them as they appear in early morning light, back-lit by the rising sun, damp with dew, fragile petals from the newly emerged flowers rising above the nodding heads of those about to cast off their protective sepals.