Walking Around Boussay

 On Sunday, despite the miserable weather, we walked twelve and a half kilometres around Boussay.

Snowdrops in a garden between the end wall of a house and the main street in Boussay.

Shrine to the Virgin Mary in the Lourdes grotto tradition, in the woods.

Polypody fern Polypodium sp.

Wildlife crossing in the forest. It was being monitored by a trailcam.

The sign on this tree says it is managed sustainably and is certified as such. It urges you to choose wood certified under the PECF programme [link].

We encountered the hunt in one parcel of forest. It didn't seem like these guys were going to see any of the action, but they didn't seem bothered.

In the course of conversation I learnt that this year there has been a problem with the game that is shot being found to be suffering from an infected old bullet wound. This makes them unsuitable for butchering and consumption so they have to be buried. Theoretically hunters are obliged to track down and dispatch wounded animals, but some aren't as diligent as others. There are recovery teams with small dogs that are trained to track wounded game but sometimes the wounded animals genuinely elude the hunters. It could also mean there are poachers around, hunting in the dark and not respecting the rules.

Sign forbidding 4x4 and heavy agricultural vehicles on this trail between October and April ie the wetter months when the trail would be damaged by this sort of traffic.

Several of the trails were being monitored by trailcams where wildlife obviously crossed.

The land is heath (Fr. landes) in transition to forest, cycling through various ecological stages as timber is cut and regenerates naturally. In this parcel the mature oak and pine has been felled and birch dominates for the time being.

A neatly restored bread oven on the end of a farmhouse.

A big solid old farmhouse on a ridge, dating from the days when your home had to be a fortress.