23/10/2021 Almost a month since my last blog.........

 The maximum temperature here today is 16⁰C, minimum 4⁰C. Sunny and blue skies. Wind 13km/h chilly North-Easterly winds with gusts up to 29 km/h!

As winter approaches I might be able to catch up with all the photos I have taken and not managed to do anything with........ in the meantime some photos still from September.

16/09/2021 the setting sun.

24-09-2021 the moon going down early in the morning.

Shield bug (graphosoma italicum)...

As above...

As above.

The Wall or Wall brown butterfly (Lasiommata megera).

Shield Bug (Eurydema dominulus) on the glass of our back door....

As above...

As above.

Western Whip Snake (Hierophis  viridiflavus)...

I opened the back door to find this dear little fellow (about 45 cms long -  18inches) heading straight for the open door,  I shot in to grab the camera and by that time it was nearly in the door, I managed to head it off in the other direction but it was not really happy about my ideas.   It finally went and hid under the garden table so I left it to sort itself out and find a better place to go,..

I guess that it thought the house may be a little warmer to hibernate in!!...

As above...

As above.

Bugatti seen at the local supermarket advertising the historic car racing last month in Angouleme.

02/09/2021 La Rochelle Aquarium - Surgeonfish and Oriental Sweetlips

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea), the first one we have seen in the garden in 15 years.

03/09/2021 Seen at 'Les Oiseaux du Marais Poitevin' - Northern Pintail (Anas acuta).

Photos of Spoonbills are on my bird blog see link below.

Take care everybody, keep well and stay safe.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 20/06/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World. 

16/09/2021 More photos from August and still I have not caught up!

 The maximum temperature here today is 24⁰C, minimum 15⁰C. Raining as I type this. Wind 10km/h icy North-Easterly winds with gusts up to 26 km/h!

Moth Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica)...

As above.

Cyclamen

A rose with a fabulous perfume.

Sunflower.

Garvinea Cheeky Pink

Melodious warbler (Hippolais polyglotta).

Nasturtium.

Tomatoes.

Tiny sunflower with a busy bumblebee.

Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album).

Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria).

Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).

Wasp (Scolia hirta) on the sweet potato flowers.

Western Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera)...

As above drinking...

As above all at the water bowl.

Garlic chives in flower (Allium tuberosum).

This bee is very dark but possibly Western Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera)...

As above.

European Peacock Butterfly (Aglais io).

Take care everybody, keep well and stay safe.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 20/06/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World. 

15/08/2021 Eating out again :-) Plus a few extras.

 The maximum temperature here today is 28⁰C, minimum 18⁰C.  Dry but there is a slight chance we may get a shower.  Wind 17km/h  North-Westerly winds with gusts up to 41 km/h.   

This visit was at the end of July to Restaurant L'intemporel.   I had only been here many years ago, but it has recently changed hands, been improved and has excellent references, so as we are now allowed to eat out we thought this was a chance to try it.  Sadly it was rainy and we could not eat in the garden, but in fact, eating in the conservatory was probably even better.

We were right next to the Tardoire river and the Pont dit du Château de La Rochefoucauld. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1935, this 15th century freestone work of art links the castle to the city.

La Rochefoucald Chateau.

Part of the view from our table...

as above, plus a glass of wine had arrived by the time I took this 😉

and just in front of the bridge we had company.

The menu changes every day so we just had the standard menu.  The starter was Fois gras, something we do not eat out of choice as we do not like the way it is obtained, but I have to say it was delicious.  Served of course with sliced French pain (bread).

Main course was duck breast with a few vegetables - melt in the mouth.

Dessert was apricots with ice cream - (possibly raspberry flavour but we were not sure) served in a melon sauce.

Coffee followed and we went home very satisfied without feeling like we had eaten too much.

They do a tasting menu of five courses on weeknights and weekends so we plan to try that out for our 40th wedding anniversary on the 28th of August.

Meanwhile in the garden life goes on.....

The Star Gazer Lily was flowering well.  A gift from our French neighbour for my birthday about 12 or so years ago.  It has done so well.

Cosmos with an unknown bee, it was carrying so much pollen its body was out of sight. 

Calendula with yet another bee, possibly Colletes succinctus, but I am happy to be corrected.

Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus).

and with a bee, unidentified.

Beating the birds to the raspberries.

and a Black Cap juvenile (Sylvia atricapilla)  getting there first!

Another unknown bee pollinating the pumpkins

The white-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) in the lavender.

A close up of the stamens of the Star Gazer Lily.

Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta) on the agapanthus.

Finally, we have de-stoned over 1000 plums, they have been dehydrated ready for use during the year until next years batch arrives hopefully.  I use them in cooking and chopped they go into our homemade muesli breakfast cereal.

Note: We are now allowed to eat out, but by law, we have to present our ID and our certificate of a double vaccination.

Take care everybody, keep well and stay safe.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 20/06/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.