06/06/2022 Trying to catch up..........

 The maximum temperature here today is 22⁰C, minimum 13⁰C. Rain most of the afternoon, 50% forecast for today and 90% for tomorrow!   South-Westerly winds of 10km/h with gusts up to 25 km/h.

Apologies for the long break but just to let you know that I am still in the land of the living.  The garden has been very demanding and we are redecorating the house.  Our nephew from Australia arrives on the 21st for a few days and it must be finished before he arrives!!!  I still have the photos of the apes to finish and these photos only bring me up to mid-May.  Download on the computer seems to be getting slower and my frustration is getting worse.  I will visit when I can but time is not on my side at the moment.

April, out walking, lupins as far as the eye can see.

and rape flowers also everywhere - April.

April - Early-purple_Orchid_(Orchis_Mascula).

Common Wall Lizard, (Podarcis Muralis).

Ending April off with a grey sunset which I quite liked!

The flowers of May appearing - Azalea...

Snowball bush (Viburnum opulus)...

Top: Left - Rose, Centre - toadstool. Right Geranium.

Center: Left - Californian Poppy. Centre - Choisya Ternata. Right - Violas

Bottom: Left - Peony. Centre -Borage. Right - Pansy

Love-in-a-mist, (Nigella damascena)

Peonies (genus Paeonia)

Caterpillar of the Lackey Moth (Malacosoma neustria)...

As above,

 A few moths appeared in May, hopefully I have the ID correct

Pale Oak Beauty (Hypomecis punctinalis)

Spider Zilla Orbweaver (Zilla diodia)..

Scarlet Lily Beetle (lilioceris lilii).

Brimstone moth (Opisthograptis luteolata).

Butterfly -Pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne)...

As above.

White Ermine Moth (Spilosoma lubricipeda)

A Footman moth (family Erebidae)

Maiden's Blush - (Cyclophora punctaria).

Pale Tussock  (Calliteara pudibunda)

A Prominent moth - not sure which one (family Notodontidae).

Bumble bee.

Iris with a tiny Iris weevil.....

Iris weevil (Mononychus vulpeculus).

Western Whip Snake (Hierophis viridiflavus). This guy shot across about a foot in front of me on the lawn, I saw it for about 5 seconds before it vanished into the pampas grass. I cannot believe how lucky I was that I had the camera in my hand turned on as I had just taken a photo of some peonies. It was all of 1.5 metres long and so close I could not fit it all into the photo. I was so thrilled to see it, and even more so to have caught it in action.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 02/12/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.

23/04/2022 A few local photos before I return to the third post on the Primates.

 The maximum temperature here today is 16⁰C, minimum 10⁰C. Rain most of the day, 90% forecast for today and 80% for tomorrow!   North-Westerly winds of 20km/h with gusts up to 43 km/h.

23 March we had a meeting in Angouleme where I spotted this new mural. I have tried to find out a bit of info which follows. 

 

The city of Angoulême pays tribute to the designer of Asterix, Albert Uderzo.  Alberto Aleandro Uderzo was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the Astérix series in collaboration with René Goscinny. Note he is sitting at his desk in the centre of the mural.

 

This mural is part of a series of tributes paid to the cartoonist, who died in March 2020. It will join the Goscinny obelisk, which was inaugurated at the 47th International Comics Festival in 2022.

March 31 - Back home in the field next to the house...

As above.

Moving into April, so far I have only added blogs of the Primates (which there are still more to come), but here are a few local photos.

April 1 and no April's Fool, we had snow then heavy frosts.  The cherry trees were in full blossom at the time, I do not think we will see any cherries this year - third year in a row!

April 3 - the commune had their free pensioners lunch.  Generally, this is an annual event, but due to COVID we have missed two years! This one more than made up for it 😊

The table was laid with red cloth and decorated with the flowers of prunus padus, ivy and little Easter eggs. See menu above.
 
The soup which I have not added a photo of was a vegetable soup.
Top left - the Assiette périgourdine was a delicious charcuterie.
The Trou Normand (also no photo) was a pear sorbet, with or without alcohol. Guess what I had ?
Second down on the left - Gigo d’agneau was lamb served with what we think was a potato/parsnip mash and a Tomato Provençale.
Third down on the left - three Cheeses with salad and of course 'pain'.
Right bottom - was the trio of desserts – all so delicious.
Top right – Moi.
Second down on the right- photo was taken from the top table down the length of the room.
A good time was had by all :-)))) 

Apple blossom - a few days after the frost.

Buttercup (Ranunculus acris).

Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata).

Wallflower (Erysimum cheiri).

Apple blossom and Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)...

As above...

As above

Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis)...

As above.

Peonies (genus Paeonia).

Rapeseed (Brassica napus).

Common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris).

Mushrooms in the garden, I did not turn them over to see if they were the edible ones!

The moon over the barns on 16 April, the night before full moon...

Full moon 17 April.  It rose so much later and it was too dark to get any background.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 02/12/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.

10/04/2022 Primates at play and others. “La Vallée des Singes” (Part 2)

The maximum temperature here today is 17⁰C, minimum 2⁰C. Very welcome after an extremely cold spell! Dry. South-Easterly winds of 17km/h with gusts up to 32 km/h. 

Bonobo, (Pan paniscus), also called pygmy chimpanzee, ape that was regarded as a subspecies of the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) until 1933, when it was first classified separately. It is classified as endangered. The bonobo is found only in lowland rainforests along the south bank of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Closely resembling the chimpanzee in both physical appearance and mode of life, the bonobo is more slender, with longer limbs, a narrower chest, and a rounder head with a less-protruding face. Bonobos are not much smaller than chimpanzees: males weigh about 39 kg (86 lbs) and females about 31 kg (68 lbs), but both are the same height, standing 115 cm (3.8 feet) tall when erect... (Britannica.com)

As above...

As above...

As above...

As above; rough play but they seemed to enjoy it...

As above...

Gelada (Theropithecus gelada), is a large baboon like monkey that differs from true baboons in having the nostrils some distance from the tip of the muzzle. The gelada inhabits the mountains of Ethiopia and lives in groups among steep cliffs and high plateaus. Terrestrial and active during the day, it feeds on leaves, grasses, roots, and tubers. The male bears a long, heavy mane and maybe more than 70 cm (28 inches) long, excluding the somewhat shorter tail. Weight is about 19 kg (42 pounds), but the female is markedly smaller only 12 kg (26 lbs).  See my previous post for more photos of the male...

Presumably a female Gelada...

As above...

Young Geladas playing...

As above...

As above.

Mantled guereza, distinguished by their black and white pelts, (Colobus guereza) (known also as the Abyssinian black-and-white colobus) from the East African mountains of Uganda and the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Meerkat, (Suricata suricatta), a burrowing member of the mongoose family (Herpestidae), found in southwestern Africa, it is unmistakably recognizable in its upright “sentinel” posture (See below) as it watches for predators. They live in cooperative packs of 3 to 25 with partially overlapping home ranges of a few square kilometres, which they mark with secretions of the anal glands.

As above.

Red Faced Spider Monkey (Ateles paniscus) is a species of spider monkey that lives in South America. These monkeys have long, black hair and a red or pink face that is bare except for a few short, white hairs. Infants are born with dark faces, which lighten as they age. Red-faced spider monkeys have a prehensile (capable of grasping) tail, and their fingers and limbs are long, agile and strong. They are listed as endangered.

Squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) live in the wild in the forest and tropical jungles of Central and South America and also on the island of La Mère, French Guiana. They are active during the day, spending most of their time in the middle level of the forest, moving from tree to tree looking for the fruits, flowers and insects that make up their diet.

As above...

As above...

As above...

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 02/12/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.