Sabbatical Bulletin no 11 - sights and sounds, flora and fauna, and things that go bump in the night.

I thought it would be fun to have a post about some of the natural things we have seen and heard.

When we first arrived au Cantalus there were two things especially which struck us. One was the cuckoo, calling every day, seemingly from below us, across the valley, but as ever with cuckoos you can never really tell. They stayed till about a week ago when we got back from the Grandes Alpes.

Then there was a beautiful song from a practically invisible bird. He sang round the boundaries of his territory, which includes our garden. He’s still with us and it’s a very mellifluous tune. He sits just below the tree tops to do this so is difficult to spot. To boot, his plumage is dull to the point of wondering why he bothered to get up in the morning. But I have tried to write down his song. Here it is:

Yes that is crochets 180 and there might be a little turn or mordant at the beginning of the second bar. I’ve written it out in the C clef (middle C on second line) so as to avoid too many ledger lines. The bird might be a fauvette à tête noire.








When Lucy came the weather became very hot and several afternoons we had three big buzzards lazily and expertly circling on thermal currents. They fly silently, but a smaller, perhaps younger member of the trio was calling about something. They were probably milons noirs (or milvus migrans in latin). They haven’t been around much for the last three weeks however.

The heat also brought out the quintessential insect sound of the Provençal summer, the cicada. What a din they make. We had one in residence in the oak tree below the pool. They sound like the recording here(that’s a tree-full in Greece, from Wikipedia). The article fails to say that the cicada lives most of its life underground (several years) and emerges as an adult for just 40 days or so, to make a din, mate and die. Our cicada has stopped making a din. No doubt you’ll draw your own conclusions.

We saw many beautiful wild flowers on our trip through the Alps. Here are a few.

Back at Les Cantalus we had these pretty butterflies on the lavender.

The sky of Provence is of course also legendary and few cameras can render its clarity and the depth of the blue satisfactorily. Mine is no exception, but here we go anyway…

Most days have been really clear, just like that.

One of my sabbatical projects was the garden. It’s been more difficult than I expected, but I am pleased that it looks greener and tidier than before. We have also had good colours in the lauriers roses.

And the lavender is classic.

Sarah has taken charge of geraniums, giving us this very pleasing sight

What about things that go bump in the night? Driving home from dinner at Chateaudouble last night we did see a couple of very attractive foxes, but that's not what I mean.  In years past we have had strange scrambling noises on the roof, attributed by our neighbours to badgers (appropriately). This year…

...nothing.