Houdini, La Chasse and the Village

There are daffodils in bud on the verges and the milder weather this week has been very welcome both for the plants and for just feeling better without hunching against the cold.

My rhubarb is coming on well and I should be able to pull some to eat in March.  It came from my gardener in Gloucester to my garden there, then to Cornwall when we moved in 1996, then here to Brittany in 2006.  It is so prolific and loads of people have had crowns from this bed.

This morning a woodpecker was drumming on a neighbour's tree.  I couldn't see him, but I could hear the rapid fire of his beak and I love all these sights and sounds of nature.  A wild rabbit ran across the road by the calvaire as I came back from my field, not an unusual occurence, but refreshing and lovely nonetheless.

A few more sheds which I photographed this week:

I keep getting glimpses of deer in the woods around me here, and I get them running across the road in front of the car in spite of the efforts of la chasse, the hunt who are always out in force, particularly at the weekends.  Every lane junction seems to have a cluster of little white vans with men standing around in bright coats with guns hanging off their arms, cigarettes hanging from their lips and usually one of them peeing into the verge.  It is strange that they do not, on the whole, wear camouflage, but instead sport orange jackets, perhaps it is so that they do not shoot each other.  Not all of those killed or injured are chasseurs, and one of the most vocal objections of protest groups is the manner in which the shooting groups monopolise use of the countryside because of safety fears by walkers and others.  Certainly there are few weekends when you don't hear the baying of the dogs and cracks of the guns during the season.

This photograph is by Ouest-France and is of a simulation of a hunting accident.  You can see the orange jackets on the hunters that I talked of above.

It is the second most popular ‘sport’ in France, with between1.4 and 2 million registered chasseurs, far more than any other country in Europe.  Football is the most popular activity.  Here are the accident figures for the last ten years:

2003-2004: 201 hunting accidents: 78 mild, 94 severe, 29 deaths

2004-2005: 167 hunting accidents: 68 mild, 74 severe, 25 or 26 deaths

2005-2006: 169 hunting accidents: 84 mild, 61 severe, 24 deaths

2006-2007: 179 hunting accidents: 24 fatalities 

2007-2008: 163 hunting accidents: 15 fatalities
2008-2009: 145 hunting accidents: 22 fatalities
2009-2010: 174 hunting accidents: 80 mild, 84 severe, 19 fatalities
2010-2011: 131 hunting accidents, 18 fatalities

They hunt on foot with dogs, but have a strange attitude to their animals.  Frequently, dogs remain in the countryside when the hunters go home.  The dogs have got lost or have been slow coming back and they are just left behind.

Here are three of the beasts one of my neighbour's has on his land at the moment.  He trades in cattle and the animals are always changing in this field.

I think the mole population has increased in the last two years.  One of my neighbours has so many mole hills on his lawn which must be very frustrating.  Nothing he does seems to do the trick.  I don't have much grass around the house, mainly shingle, but on my field they are making their presence known.  The earth they bring to the surface is lovely and I often spade it up and use it in the veggie beds, so it's not all bad.

Lastly, my ducks, one of whom, the third from the left in this photo, is now called Houdini.

For about three or four weeks now I have had one duck who insists on going outside the duck field and she gets stuck between the duck fence and the bank at the side of the road.  First of all we tried putting chicken wire along the bottom 2ft/60cm of the stock fencing then we tried orange flexible plastic barrier fencing, the sort they use on roadworks, most of the way along the fence.  She still escaped and occasionally took an accomplice with her, though usually it was just her.  On Friday night I clipped her wing as she was still getting over or through.  Yesterday she was out again.  We finished the whole fence on that side of the lane with the orange plastic fencing, not pretty but necessary.  I wonder if she'll be out again tonight?  Anyone got a good recipe for duck?

Three things I like:

1.   Watching the horses in the field across from mine charging across the grass and back again.

2.   Having a steaming bowl of homemade chicken soup for lunch.

3.   Seeing all the different visitors to the bird table and the top of the garden wall where I've put some old cat food and bits of solid fat from cooking the beef and duck this week.

Sheds, sheds and sheds

I have a thing about sheds.  I always have.  One of my friends in Cornwall called my garden "Shed City".   I had a duckhouse on the island in the pond, a chicken house, two log houses, a bike shed, a rabbit shed and three summerhouses.  Most of them were bought in flat packs although two were homemade but very conventionally.

Here in Brittany, coming down the lane from the nearest village to me there is a selection of wonderful sheds.

The sheds are all within a run of 200 metres and not one of them has been "bought in".  I love the materials they are made of and how they have weathered and rusted.

Here in my hamlet I have a duckhouse, chicken shed, barn, straw shed, rabbit house, barn, shelters and two small houses for hens.  Here is the rabbit shed in the snow a couple of years ago.

And this shows my barn, straw shed, shade shelter and the old pig shelter on my field.

 

Here's my neighbour's collapsing barn and my other neighbour's shed in the orchard.

This is my old pig shelter which the goats have always liked to sunbathe on.

When I used to go back and forward to school at the beginning and end of terms, it was by steam train and from the train you looked into everyone's back garden and saw the most wonderful sheds.  Perhaps it was this early experience which has promoted my love of sheds.

Three things I like:

1.   Making a meal from leftovers in the fridge.

2.   Finishing the novel, in good time, that I am reading for the Book Club next Monday.

3.   Finding all the ducks in their area and not outside the fence this evening.

Versatile Blogger Award and Things You Never Knew About Me

I feel a thank you speech coming on!  I was Very surprised and honoured to find that Mandy at http://chateaumoorhen.blogspot.com/ had awarded me a Versatile Blogger Award.  Thank you, Mandy.

I have now to present this award to other bloggers and would like to give this award to the following three blogs:

http://jardinmiranda.blogspot.com/

Who writes about gardening and posts the most beautiful photographs, particularly of birds in her garden.

http://railwaycottage.blogspot.com/

This blog is about everything.  It covers things happening and the countryside around Glastonbury, crafts, cooking - everything.

http://vegplotting.blogspot.com/

This blog, unsurprisingly is essentially about veggie growing - all aspects.  Also about Chippenham and the changes in the town.

As I have nominated three blogs for this award, I have to disclose three facts which you probably don't know about me.

I used to sing.  I was in the Gloucester Cathedral Choir, The Brussels Choral Society, The Huntley Singers, The Society of Suppressed Songsters etc. etc. and loved it.  I lost my singing voice due to the drugs I take for my asthma.  It is possible that my voice may return now that I don't take them except when I have a cold.  Only a very small percentage of people's vocal chords are affected by the drugs and, of course, I had to be in that minority!

I was a snake handler many moons ago.  I worked for a company which had a snake house, and used to milk the venom from the Malayan Pit Vipers which was then fractionated and used to produce an anti-thrombotic drug.  The snake man had a python, Rex, and I used to demonstrate him when we had guests to the laboratory. 

And lastly, when I got married my hips were 34" and I could make a skirt from a yard of 36" wide material!

Grafitti, Animals and Cake

Yesterday I had to take back to the Clinic, the recorder which I wore overnight to see if I still need my oxygen extractor and breathing machine at night. Afterwards I drove around a part of Guingamp trying to find a particular shop and took these photographs.

There was house with a very thick and neatly cut hedge which stood out as I came down the hill.  The postbox was cut into the hedge itself.

This photo shows a very old, tall and long wall, with a blocked doorway now painted with grafitti - but - not knowing what it says - I though the graffiti was quite beautiful and I loved the colour.

I spotted the roof of a house with two chimneys each with a large capital letter on them - I wonder why?  The trees on this street are pollarded which is a very common way of pruning trees here in Britanny.   When they're without leaves they do look a bit strange, but I love them with or without leaves, and they're so Breton!

This morning I drove to collect a rice cooker and I was stopped for a bit while a young farmer brought her cattle across the lane, and then when I pulled into a picnic area I saw a very strange sight. 

Unbelievably, this dead badger had obviously been put in this pose and left there.  It was fairly strong smelling, but sort of fascinating.

It was bizarre, but there was no-one else in the area to talk to about it, so I just took some photos and then drove away.

It was a day for wildlife.  As I came into the last village before mine, a deer ambled across the road and there was a field covered in lapwing.  Unfortunately, as I opened my Land Rover door to get a photo the whole flock - 200 plus birds - took off and landed in a wheat field, where the plants were just too high to take a photo.

Lots of horses on my route back

and this church in St Servan with the lovely coloured dogwoods in front of it.

It was a grey day, really dull and calm, but in spite of the lack of light, I enjoyed the drive and when I got home I enjoyed this, which I bought in a boulangerie in Callac.

There things I like:

1.   Having a full log pile next to the woodburner thanks to Flick.

2.   Finding that one of the white chicks I bought last year has just laid her first egg.

3.   My neighbours coming out to round up two ducks in the lane this evening.