Fête St Georges 2024

There was no blog post on Wednesday - an oversight, because I had written one. This one:

Last Saturday was the fete St George. St George is the Patron Saint of Preuilly (and a fair percentage of other places, as well) and there has been a fete to celebrate him for many years. There have been occasions in the past when the fete wasn't held (recently because of the plague) and occasionally in previous centuries the town was chided by the authorities for not holding the fete and its associated cattle market.

These days there is no cattle market, although apparently some older residents of town remember it and rue its passing. All the local associations hold stands for renewing memberships, there are brocante style stalls, and various comestibles are available.

When we first arrived in town there were also rides and a lot of professional stalls, none of which have made it back after the dark years of Covid. This year the fete was a lot busier than the past three years so hopefully it will continue to grow.

ANZAC Biscuits

ANZAC biscuits are so named because of their association with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) from the First World War. They must contain rolled oats, sugar, butter and Golden Syrup. Usually they have dessicated coconut too. It is widely believed that Australian wives, mothers and women's groups sent the biscuits to troops fighting abroad in Europe and the Middle East because they were robust and didn't spoil on the long sea voyage to deliver them.

ANZAC is a protected term and manufacturers wishing to produce and sell these biscuits must apply to the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs. Commercially produced biscuits must adhere to the official recipe too (the only exceptions are substitutions to cater for dietary restrictions). Manufacturers must use the term 'biscuit' and not 'cookies'.

Versions of the ANZAC biscuit no doubt existed long before the First World War, but the first recipes using that name started appearing during the War, and in the decade immediately following. The first published recipes for a biscuit that is identical to the ANZAC biscuit we know and love today appeared in the 1920s.

Today they are a popular fundraiser for the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) and collectors buy them for the limited edition decorative tins they are packaged in. 

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup dessicated coconut
125g butter
1 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line oven trays with baking paper or a silicone sheet.
2. Combine flour, sugar, rolled oats and coconut.
3. Melt butter and golden syrup.
4. Add bicarb to boiling water and mix into butter mixture.
5. Stir into the dry ingredients.
6. Form the dough into large marble sized balls and drop onto trays, allowing generous room for spreading.
7. Bake for 10 minutes until light golden brown.
8. Cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 25 biscuits. 

And in case you didn't know, today is ANZAC Day in Australia, a public holiday when Australian veterans are commemorated. Much like France on Armistice Day (11 November) there will be ceremonies at war memorials in towns big and small all over the country.

I baked ANZAC biscuits a couple of months ago for our Ukrainian Christmas event. I was pleased to see that they all went and people were keen to try them. No one had heard of them and I was intrigued that several people referred to them as 'macarons'.

Normal Service is Resumed

We did our first day of work with Claudette on Sunday. It was cold but clear, and Claudette responded beautifully, even if she never really warmed up. Here are some pics.

Tours at 08:30

Parked at Azay le Rideau

Wisteria

The gardens at Villandry

Merrill and Verena with Claudette at the end of the day

Heritage Paint Job

On the old N10 highway south of Ste Maure de Touraine was a service station and restaurant that holds a special place in the hearts of many locals, and a lot of people who travelled to the beaches and islands on the Atlantic coast in the 1970s.

Of late it has looked very sad - the restaurant is now a private club and looks tatty from the outside, and the petrol station has looked derelict, even though it is a regular meeting place for car events. We went to a coffee morning there in 2021, the first car event after lockdown.

On Saturday we drove past and noticed that work on improving the view had commenced. On Sunday the painting was complete, but more has yet to be done. Nevertheless, it's a great improvement and will gladden the hearts of many.

Bravo to the organisation Nostal'10

The Barbegal Mills

The Barbegal aqueduct and mills are situated in Fontvieille, Bouches-du-Rhône, near Arles. Often hailed as "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world," it has 16 overshot water wheels, where the outflow of one wheel propells the successive wheel, making it the largest ancient mill complex on record.

The mills are at a junction of two aqueducts that were integral to Arles' water supply. The aqueducts merge just north of the mill complex, and were regulated by a sluice controlling the water's flow to the mills.

The aqueducts where they cross the D82.

You can see the modern road.

We were there on a stinking hot day at the end of June last year. We parked in the official car park by the aqueducts that fed the mills, and followed them up quite a steep hill. That in itself was quite a build up, and leads to a channel cut through the top of the hill.

Walking uphill alongside the aqueducts

The channel cut through the hilltop

The mills are arranged in two parallel sets of eight, progressing down the hillside, each with its own waterwheel. You can see remnants of masonry either side of the water channels and massive foundations of the individual mills. It operated from the start of the 2nd century to the close of the 3rd century, and could grind an estimated at 4.5 tons of flour per day.

Looking downhill at the ruins of the mills

Although all is now in ruins it's quite easy to see how it worked, and artists impressions of how the mill looked at it peak abound.

I'm not sure I'd travel all the way to Arles to see it, but it's not that far from the Pont du Gard.

Traffic Calming in Etableau

Etableau is a hamlet with a very large ruined chateau, close to le Grand Pressigny. The road from Preuilly to le Grand Pressigny passing through Etableau is narrow, lined with houses on both sides, and always has cars parked on one side.

Not long after we moved to France a 30km/h speed limit was introduced where the road passes the houses, and a year or two later an electronic speed sign was erected. It can feel a bit sketchy driving through the hamlet because people still drive too fast for the view they have of the road ahead.

Yesterday I was driving to le Grand Pressigny and noticed that between Monday afternoon and Thursday morning temporary chicanes have been installed at each end of the hamlet. If these are successful in slowing traffic down no doubt they will be recreated in concrete.

Approaching from le Grand Pressigny 

Departing towards Preuilly-sur-Claise 

Lamb Curry and Weird Rice

That's not it's official title - officially it's gosht anna palak nu shaak. 

It's a recipe I found in The Guardian a couple of years ago but hadn't cooked before now. I followed the recipe faithfully except for a couple of things: I didn't add salt to the curry sauce, I used chard instead of baby spinach (didn't have any) and I used ordinary white rice, not basmati. The lamb was a couple of bags of trimmings that came with the side of lamb we buy every year, and is perfect for this sort of dish.

It's a super easy recipe, even if it reads a bit complicated. The level of spice was spot on, and the rice actually cooked fully and wasn't just hard pellets. I'm not usually a fan of any sort of rice cooked in a frying pan, but this was good.

It even looked ok on a plate - most unusual for me.

Rare Adders Tongue Fern in the Orchard

Adder's Tongue Fern Ophioglossum vulgatum (Fr. Langue de serpent). 

Five years ago I could hardly believe my eyes! A rare and protected fern suddenly appeared in the orchard. I had no idea where it had come from and I'd never seen it before anywhere, despite spending lots of time with botanists and seeing many rare and protected plants here. 

This year I'm thrilled to see that the Adder's Tongue is everywhere in the orchard, stretching in a broad band from north-east, where the original station is, to south-west, up under the sour cherries. I've never seen so many individual plants of it.

I'm told that it is a plant whose presence indicates well managed meadow and old meadow. It is widespread but scattered in lowland France, and not common. Here in Centre-Val de Loire it is rare and protected, considered threatened, but it is the sort of plant that is prone to being under-recorded because it is small, has a short season above ground, and not showy. In the Brenne the fern is recorded along roadsides and grasslands on poor soil, often in places that get both very wet and very dry in the course of the year. The species is a ZNIEFF determinant (meaning that its presence indicates a site of interest ecologically). It is at risk when land is drained, when grassland is modified ('improved' or urbanised) or is abandoned and mowing for hay ceases. The population is in strong regression because of all these things.

 

My serious botanist friends ask me every year if the Ophioglosse has reappeared. This year I sent them all an email to let them know.

Lichen Outing to the Chateau de Brou

Here are some photos from the Botamyco37 outing to the Chateau de Brou yesterday. We were focusing on lichen, but there were some interesting insects too. As ever, Marie-Claude did a great job of organising and providing expert field teaching.

Patrick, Marie-Christine and me in action. Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon.

Violet Oil Beetle Meloe violaceus (Fr. Meloe violet), mating. Male is below, female above. He is eating a buttercup stem, one of their favourite foods. These beetles are the object of some conservation concern as their numbers are declining.

 

Marie-Claude, left, introducing us to the startling white lichen called Sporodophoron cretaceum, almost entirely restricted to oak trunks, and identifiable because it reacts by turning yellow when potassium is applied.

Many lichenologists favourite little lichen, the uncommon Goldeneye Teloschistes chrysophthalmus (Fr. Œil d’or). It is always found on twigs, and likes being in the wind. It is very sensitive to pollution, so has been in decline in Europe for decades.

Trox sp, a hide beetle that I was lucky to see. They are uncommon, and live in birds nests, eating dessicated organic matter. I think it is quite rare to see one trundling about in the open, and I had to ask for help in identifying it (many thanks Philippe Zorgati).

 

Variospora aurantia a lichen of limestone, which we found on the stones of the chateau itself. It can be distinguished from its lookalike and very common cousin V. flavescens by looking at the lobes of the thallus (ie the wavy outer edge of the lichen). V. aurantia has flattened lobes, a bit like spatulas; V. flavescens has rounded lobes, a bit like fingers.

 

Black Shield lichen Tephromela atra var calcarea, something of an old friend for me, as I remember learning this one on a previous outing led by Marie-Claude. This variety is very common on limestone, but there is another variety that grows on flint, and another one that grows on tree bark.

 

A mating pair of the fever fly Dilophus antipedalis. These are in the family Bibionidae, and typically there is sexual dimorphism like this, with females being larger and having long heads with small eyes. Males have large eyes and are smaller. This pair were just a few millimetres long.

Me trying to photograph the flies. Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon.

 

We don't often have somewhere so grand for the outing leader to do their introduction. We are very grateful to the Chateau's owners for allowing us access.

Dark-edged Bee Fly Bombylius major (Fr. Grand Bombyle), female, which was lurking around a Common Furrow Bee Lasioglossum calceata colony, waiting its chance to lay eggs in the bees' nests.

Touraine Asparagus

Steamed green asparagus.

At the end of April and the beginning of May, asparagus is the flagship product on people's plates at home and in restaurants. This year, because of the weather, producers are expecting a bumper crop.

Locally produced white asparagus at the market.

The epitome of seasonal produce, asparagus features on the shelves between April and June. In Indre et Loire one finds Touraine asparagus, especially grown around Bourgueil and Richelieu. The label 'Coeur de Touraine' is the most prized, only held by 17 producers around Richelieu, who produce between 200 and 250 tonnes per annum, depending on the year, with 90% white asparagus and the rest green.

Locally produced green asparagus at the market.

Did you know that whether white, green or purple it is all the same plant? The colour depends on the method of cultivation. White asparagus grows underground, with out seeing the sun's rays. Purple asparagus is the same variety as the white, but the tip emerges from the soil to see the sun, which gives it the purple colour. Finally, the green grows entirely in the fresh air. 

White asparagus from Braslou, near Richelieu.

Personally I never buy asparagus from the supermarket, always from a local producer who I can trust to have cut the stems no more than 24 hours before bringing his asparagus to market. According to my asparagus producer of preference, asparagus in the supermarket has been cut about three weeks before it hits the shelves, due to how the supermarket supply chains work. This means it has lost moisture and its sugars have converted to starches, meaning it is a less tasty, tougher vegetable.

Monster Molluscs You Could See in the Touraine Loire Valley

The Touraine Loire Valley is home to some impressively large land snails and slugs.

This Yellow Cellar Slug Limacus flavus (Fr. Limace des caves) and its family live in our kitchen. They are nocturnal, so we rarely see them. For scale, the tiles are 20 cm².

I encounter Ash-black Slugs Limax cinereoniger (Fr. Grande limace) in the larger well established forests. They can be pale and stripey like this one...

 ...or they can be charcoal grey with a pale grey dorsal ridge.

Red Slugs Arion rufus (Fr. Grande loche) can be encountered anywhere -- in the forest, on waste ground, in gardens and often on roads, paths and tracks.

The famous edible Roman/Burgundian Snail Helix pomatia (Fr. Escargot de Bourgogne) occurs in isolated small populations on sites that don't get much human disturbance or are managed with a light touch. They like semi-natural parks or woodland edges. A significant number are white...

 

...but most are brown.

A Turkish Snail Helix lucorum (Fr. Escargot turc) with a friend's hand for scale. Under the hand is a Glow-worm Lampyria noctiluca (Fr. Lampyre) larva. They prey on snails by injecting them with toxin then waiting for them to die, so this snail may already be doomed.

Saving Swifts in the Touraine Loire Valley

In September last year the church of Saint Ours got struck by lightning and the east belltower was damaged. Since then it has been swathed in a maze of scaffolding and the town authorities, who own the building, are getting ready to repair it. The project will cost a quarter of a million euros, which is half the town's annual heritage buildings conservation budget.

Some years ago I had alerted the local swift conservation association SOS Martinets that there was a swift colony that nested in the roof and crevices in the walls of the church. So naturally they were very concerned when scaffolding went up, and arranged a meeting with the Technical Services Manager for the town. They invited me along and we presented the case for swift conservation.

Although he admitted he didn't know the difference between a swift and a swallow (fairly normal for the general public unfortunately) he was open to what we had to say. Fortunately the scaffolding isn't going to block the flight path or entry to any of the known nests. However, it was worth showing Frédéric Lardy well constructed nest boxes and alternatives for partially blocking niches to allow swift entry.

 

Frédéric Lardy, Technical Services Manager for the town Loches on the left, Carolyn and Tim Knowlman from SOS Martinet on the right.

We pointed out that if nest boxes go up they must be with the entry slot low down on the front, not at the top, as swifts have small weak legs and tend to plummet to the bottom of the nest box if forced to enter from the top. We also showed several methods of blocking up boulins (old wooden scaffolding holes) so that pigeons cannot use them as nest holes, but swifts can enter via a narrow slit and can nest in safety behind a piece of stone or slate. The result is aesthetically acceptable, in keeping with the building, and easy for the masons to install. We have had several sad instances where masons unknowingly have completely blocked and filled nest holes when buildings have been restored. Not only is this a disaster for breeding swifts, but they share the holes with lizards and insects, who are also put at risk when the holes are blocked.

Monsieur Lardy informed us that the municipal authorities are keen to add swift conservation to their list of responsibilities, and keen to let the public know they are doing so by putting something on the town website. Tim and Carolyn, my friends from SOS Martinets, are going to work on some text and provide photos. They also gave Monsieur Lardy some technical documents to help with ordering the construction and placement of a few temporary nestboxes on the scaffold. We don't expect the swifts to use the nests in this case but they serve to help raise awareness of their presence and importance.

 

Swifts flying around a nest site in Loches (photo from our archive).

The swifts are migratory and will arrive from Africa in May to breed in the Touraine Loire Valley, and they will leave again in August. They come back year after year to the same nest. There are several species, but in the Touraine we only get the so-called 'Common' Swift Apus apus (Fr. Martinet noir). Their population has plummeted in recent years by at least 50% but Switzerland, Italy and Spain have been doing great conservation work. I can tell you from personal experience that watching the swifts gregariously wheeling and making their distinctive screaming whistle aerial call whilst enjoying an aperitif on a summer evening in Florence or Granada will be one of the highlights of your visit to these cities. We hope Loches can be similar.

Further reading: SOS Martinets.

Fairy Longhorn Moths in the Touraine Loire Valley

If you see a tiny insect with unfeasibly long antennae in spring and summer it is likely to be a fairy longhorn moth. They may be tiny, but people notice them because they are so striking, and every year one or two people ask me what they are if we see them on a walk or an outing. It seems many people think they are flies as I have several times in the past been asked to identify 'these flies', even by experienced naturalists. The one in the photo is a female. The males have antennae that are half as long again.

Female Green Fairy Longhorn Moth Adela reaumurella (Fr. Adèle verdoyante).

They often congregate in large numbers, with males flying around trees in the sun, and sitting waving their antennae back and forth.

A Normandy Invasion Survivor

Several years ago we had the opportunity at Chateauroux to see and get on board the last French DC3 that is still airworthy. Like 70 others of its kind at the time in the mid-20th century, this plane crisscrossed the skies, wearing the livery of Air France.

 

The Douglas DC-3 (Dakota) that took part in the Normandy invasion, then saw service with Air France.

It was built in 1943 and participated in the Normandy Invasion of June 1944. Its job was to tow gliders and carry parachutists. Then in August 1944 it was down south, for the Allied landings in Provence. After the War and with Germany partitioned, it was one of the planes in the famous Berlin airlift (in French the name for this operation translates as the 'aerial bridge'.) Afterwards it carried celebrities and government officials, including President de Gaulle, and future President Mitterand, when he was a Minister of State.

 

  The plane has both a perspex dome (for celestial navigation using a sextant) and modern GPS based navigation.

Air France retired the plane in the 1970s and it became the Central African Republic President Bokassa's private plane, before being refitted as a cargo plane. Today it is a sort of flying historic monument, sponsored by Air France, making appearances at airshows around the country and legendary amongst aviation enthusiasts.

I've no doubt, as a Normandy Invasion survivor, this plane will be extra busy this year of the 80th anniversary of the famous Allied landings that signalled the beginning of the end of the Second World War in Europe. So if you are up in Normandy, do keep an eye out for it, and if you are as lucky as we were, you might even get the chance to hop onboard and get a feel for what it was like to fly.

 

Roscoff Onions

Finistere is in the north-west of France, part of Brittany, and around the small port of Roscoff in Finistere they grow onions. The 'oignon de Roscoff' (Roscoff onion) has the French/European geographical protection certificate AOC, meaning to be marketed as the famous Roscoff onion the onions must have been produced in a certain limited geographical area around Roscoff.

The story goes that a monk who had spent time in Portugal brought the distinctive sweet pink onions back with him in the 17th century. He taught the nuns at the Convent of Roscoff how to cultivate them.

Later Roscoff's proximity to the United Kingdom led to cargoes of onions being sent off in the summer with teams of men who would walk the length and breadth of the United Kingdom selling their onions door to door. They became iconic and a sort of stereotype of what a Frenchman looked like for many British. They were nicknamed 'Onion Johnnies', a somewhat patronising name that they themselves ultimately adopted and owned.

The Johnnies rode bicycles and carried the onions in strings around their necks. The name 'Onion Johnny' may be a bit patronising, but in fact the onions were much appreciated by the British housewives and cooks of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. And the French producers knew their product was superior to the onions the British could grow, and were proud of them.

At the peak of this trade, in the interwar period, there may have been as many as 2000 Onion Johnnies.

Roscoff onions are a medium sized onion, characterised by their copper pink skins.