Simon and I did a 2 kilometre circuit walk around Abilly on 14 March, after checking on the Snakeshead Fritillary colony just out of town. It was 10°C, no wind and starting to cloud over. The fritillaries appeared to be thriving.
Eurasian Red Squirrel Sciurus vulgaris (Fr. Ecureuil roux) in a weeping willow. 'Squirrel' is one of the hardest English words for a French speaker, and conversely, 'écureuil' is one of the hardest words in French for an English speaker to say.
Look how close it came to me! This photo has been cropped, but it was taken with my mobile phone!!
Le Relais de Touraine, an old hotel recently renovated with help from local government grants, and next door the small grocery store.
This side of the water mill has been in this ruinous state ever since we've lived in the area.
This side of the water mill has been restored and is lived in.
A gate made from two old wooden cart wheels.
I wish I had taken the time to take a better photo of this Art Nouveau leaning house. This is just a phone shot taken in passing from the corner of the street.
Cowslips Primula veris (Fr. Coucou) on the side of the voie verte (greenway), with Simon striding out into the distance.
Snakeshead Fritillaries Fritillaria meleagris (Fr. Fritillaire pintade), a species that can be found in the wild in a band across Central Europe from France to Siberia. The species is threatened and is protected wherever it occurs in France, but it has gone extinct in Belgium and parts of France, and is critically endangered in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Snakeshead Fritillaries grow in damp habitat and are one of the earliest spring wild flowers.
Snakeshead Fritillaries are pollinated by Buff-tailed Bumble Bees Bombus terrestris and other early emerging bees.
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