Poplars and Their Parasites

Mistletoe Viscum album (Fr. Gui) on Poplar.

One day driving to the supermarket I noticed that there was a magnicent Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius (Fr. Amadouvier) growing on one of the poplar trees (Populus plantation hybrid) lining the road to the hamlet of Humeau. The next day I made sure our walk passed the spot so I could photograph it. And as a result I realised that the tree was being attacked by at least two species of fungi, and it, and a companion across the road were in fact dead. These poplars have numerous parasitic mistletoe balls attached to them as well as the fungi. On these two trees the mistletoe was clearly dead, making it evident that the trees themselves were dead and the supply of nutrients to the mistletoe had ceased. Other nearby poplars had green thriving balls of mistletoe.

 

Dead Mistletoe on dead Poplar.

It is unlikely that any of these fungi, or the mistletoe, killed these trees on their own, but they would have contributed to the death, and taken advantage of weakened trees that were suffering some other stress. My guess is the stress was weather related, particularly several long dry spells in the past few years. The fungi will now process the wood in the tree, decomposing the lignin and the cellulose and recycling it back into the soil. 

 

Unidentified fungus on dead Poplar.

Possibly old Tiger Sawgill Lentinus tigrinus on dead Poplar, and a medium sized beetle exit hole.

Hoof Fungus Fomes fomentarius on dead Poplar. This was the largest of several Hoof Fungi emerging from all around the trunk.

The underside of a Hoof Fungus on a dead but still erect Poplar trunk.

From There to Here - Preuilly

I was bouncing around the internet last weekend -as you do - and found this photo of Preuilly, taken in about 1912. I spent age looking in the wrong place for our house, but eventually found us.

What surprises me is that today the building is virtually unchanged to 1912. I assumed that the back of the house - now our kitchen and spare bedroom - was a post world war one build, executed when materials were almost impossible to get.

The photo was taken from somewhere near the cluster of evergreen trees on the horizon in this pic.

If you can't find our house, don't panic - it's here, circled in orange.

The Dogs of Loches

 

 Spot the dogs.

If you visit the Logis Royal, the royal hunting lodge and residence of mistresses and queens, on the Royal Citadel in Loches one of the first things you will see is a series of carved stone hounds sitting on the balustrade of the staircase up to the southern entrance. All the locals know and love them. 

But not everyone is aware that whilst the royal hunting lodge was built in the 15th century (in two phases), the dogs and their staircase were only added in the early 20th century, when the building ceased being the government offices, and opened to the public as a heritage tourist attraction. And what even more people fail to notice is that there are other dogs ornamenting the building, which, so far as I know, are original to the second building phase in the late 15th century.

 

15th century dormer windows.

This hunting lodge was a medieval Valois stronghold, refuge and sanctuary. The Valois royals were famously besotted with their dogs and the contemporary records make it clear that these animals were pets and companions, to be cossetted, fussed over, spoiled and loved.

 

Anne of Brittany, the Queen for whom the extension created in the second phase of the building was made, was accompanied everywhere by a pair of whippets. Louis XI had a great white lurcher (Fr. lévrier) that was with him until the very end. Someone buried a medium sized dog hard up against the chapel wall in the 15th century, and the position tells us that it must have been an animal that a high status person cared about a lot.

 

The dogs sit high and proud looking out over the valley towards the forest.

Whilst there were no breeds as such at this time, there was a hierachy of dog types. At the top were the 'running dogs', what we would call greyhounds, whippets, lurchers, wolf hounds and the like, used as both pets and hunting dogs. It is almost always this type of dog that gets mentioned as beloved in the contemporary literature. Then there were the 'hunting dogs', which were big hounds and mastiffs, used in packs to bring down large prey. There were 'guard dogs'  and 'shepherd dogs' which protected property and controlled livestock. And there were small dogs suitable for living indoors and spending much of their time in their owners arms. Portraits of the great and the good feature cute little dogs surprisingly often. There must also have been small hunting dogs like terriers for catching vermin.

Beware of Processional Caterpillars

Ever noticed that some pine trees have sacks made of what looks like spiderweb up high in the tree? These are the communal nests of the notorious Pine Processionary moth caterpillar. If you have pine trees on your land you would be wise to buy the trunk bands with a plastic bag full of soil attached that act as a trap for the caterpillars as they descend. Garden centres sell them.

The caterpillars are a danger to you, and more especially to your pets. The caterpillar hairs are urticating, which means that they cause an allergic reaction if they touch flesh. You will most likely just get itchy red spots on your arms, but your pet may ingest the hairs by sniffing the caterpillars or licking their own fur where the caterpillar hair may have settled. This can lead to tragic consequences.

The caterpillars live in the web nests from autumn to spring. Every evening unless very cold the caterpillars emerge in single file to feed on pine needles. They are a serious pest of pine forests. One day in spring they form a single file procession behind one of the female caterpillars. They descend from the tree and the female leads them to a patch of ground where they will bury themselves in the earth to pupate. Forestry managers have discovered that they can be tricked into thinking groves of deciduous trees planted amongst the conifers are open ground suitable for pupation. The trees come into leaf after the caterpillars pupate, leaving them in the shade and many of them die. The caterpillars have extremely irritating hairs which hang in the air and fall from the nests long after the caterpillars have vacated. Neither the nests nor the caterpillars should be handled, and pet owners need to be on their guard in case animals are exposed to irritant hairs. The rash generally lasts about 3 weeks and should be treated initially by taking a hot shower as soon as possible after exposure, and washing clothes exposed in hot water. Pets which are exposed should be seen by the vet as soon as possible, as in severe cases, exposure can lead to necrosis of the tongue, requiring amputation or even causing death. 

Scientific Name: Thaumetopoea pityocampa.

English Name: Pine Processionary Moth.

French Name: les Processionnaires du pin (='pine processionaries').

Lookalikes: Oak Processionary Moth T. processionea, however these are only associated with oak woods, not pine and the moths have discoloured hind wings. I've only ever seen these once in the area, in the Forest of la Guerche. Don't confuse with other very hairy caterpillars such as the Tiger and Eggar moths. If you see a hairy caterpillar all on its own, it is not a Processional, so don't squish it, even just in case.

Habitat: Pine trees and the ground nearby. All types of conifers with Black Austrian Pine being the preferred host. The caterpillars seem to choose open ground to bury themselves for pupation. Depending on the weather, the caterpillars could start appearing in long lines on the ground as early as February, but usually it is March or April here in the Touraine. 

 

Red spots caused by Pine Processional caterpillar hairs. In this case the person picked up a cat which had been outdoors and had the urticating hairs on its fur.

NOT a Pine Processionary caterpillar. This is a tiger moth caterpillar -- darker and all on its own.

NOT Pine Processionary caterpillars. These are Glanville Fritillary butterfly caterpillars - rare and precious. They are black with red heads, not ginger and grey, much smaller than processionary caterpillars, and their web nest is on the ground, usually over a plantain plant.

 

Hachis Parmentier

Just out of the oven, made in one of those big paté dishes that
the charcutiers give away once the contents have been sold.

Hachis parmentier is a French family favourite, the equivalent of the anglophone Shepherds Pie. The main differences are that there are often multiples of both the mashed potato and the meat layers. In my version I've made a savoury mince filled mashed potato sandwich, with top and bottom being thick layers of mash, with a thin layer of meat in between. And that's another difference with hachis parmentier - the proportion of meat to potato is often that the potato is far more substantial than the meat. My version uses 1.5 kg of potatoes and only 500 g of meat (with lots of diced and puréed vegetables added) and serves 6.

A healthy dollop of classic comfort food,
and more for the freezer.

Apparently hachis parmentier entered the French culinary lexicon in the 18th century, and is named in honour of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, who championed the use of potatoes as cheap, nutritious and filling back in the days when they were still considered unsafe for human consumption in France. Like Shepherds Pie, it is traditionally made from leftover meat (usually a beef stew in the case of parmentier). Any leftover vegetables and gravy are gladly added for colour and flavour. These days it's probably more often made from scratch with purchased raw minced meat. This is certainly what I did, using chair à farcir (pork mince, literally 'flesh for stuffing').