A Hellmouth in the Brenne

 Musician angels.

The church in Paulnay, to our east in Indre, houses a number of wall paintings. They were created during the 14th and 15th centuries. To the left of the entry there is a depiction of the Last Judgement. The black flames seem to spurt forth from the earth, and the Devil pushes the Damned into the fire. On the nave is a depiction of the monthly activities undertaken by people. Between the apse and the nave you can see two musician angels. The one on the left holds a rebec (a bowed stringed instrument), the one on the right a cornemuse (bagpipes). In the apse is Christ, done with intense colours and surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists. 

 

 Interior.

Up until May this year the paintings were badly degraded due to the humidity, and conservation action was urgently required. Luckily the Foundation du Patrimoine had stepped in and a fundraising campaign meant that work to fix the drainage and conserve the paintings commenced in May 2022.

 

 Front facade.

The church in Paulnay has been a listed Historic Monument since 1910. It was erected in the first half of the 12th century in the Poitevin Romanesque style. Its ornately carved facade and painted interior make it a particularly noteworthy church in Indre and it generates a bit of historic interest and tourist visits. Archaeological digs have also revealed its pre-medieval history, with the foundations of a 2nd century Gallo-Roman temple and Merovingian burials found. The two sarcophagi on the forecourt bear witness to the archaeology.

 

 Western door.

The small simple church has a nave but no aisles or side chapels. The earliest wall paintings are traces on the nave ceiling vault which date from the very end of the 12th century.

 

I think these carved birds around the door represent doves.

Most notable on the exterior are the carvings of mermaids and birds. The mermaids in particular are unusual motifs in Berry. Mermaids have quite a complicated symbolism and can be associated with birds; the soul separate from the body; funerary rites; virginity; demonic temptresses able to turn men away from God with their promise of love; the sins of cupidity, arrogance and luxury; and/or the perversion and destruction of men through desire. Put simply, they represent the dangers of going to sea at the time.

 

 Carved eagles on a capital on the front facade.

Paulnay is one of the communes in the Brenne Regional Natural Park. Indre is the modern 'county' (Fr. département) name for the old province of Berry. There is a well regarded workers restaurant where you can get a cheap simple lunch directly across the road from the church.

A demon pushes sinners into the flaming mouth of a monster known as the Hellmouth, symbolising the entrance to Hell.

 

Last Judgement scene. How many demons can you see? There are at least four plus the Hellmouth and the Devil himself looming large. I assume on the opposite wall there would have been a scene of the righteous ascending to Heaven, but it has been lost to the damp.

Mermaid.

Winged monsters with male human heads, eagle's claws, and coiled slug like bodies.

Carved head of a man with a forked beard, poking his tongue out.

Frites de carpe

Homemade frites de carpe, a delicious local treat.

Carp is a despised eating fish in the anglophone world. Unless they come from an Eastern European background, most Australians would not consider eating carp, for example. But here in central France we are neighbours with the important wetland known as the Brenne, where fish farming, especially carp, is traditional and is a significant contributor to the local economy. The favourite way locally to eat carp is either mashed into a paste called rillettes and spread on bread, or cut into strips (goujonnettes), battered and deep fried, and called frites de carpe.

A live carp in the water.

Ingredients
200 g goujonnettes (strips) of carp
100 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
150 ml cold water
1 litre canola oil

Method

1. Put the flour, baking powder, salt and cold water in a jug and blend with an immersion blender.
2. Cover the batter and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Heat the oil in a large deep pot to 160 - 190 °C.
4. At the last minute, just before the oil reaches temperature, tip the carp into the batter and mix so all the carp is coated.
5. Gently deposit the strips of battered carp one by one into the oil. Take care because the oil will foam and is super hot.
6. Cook the carp for several minutes, until golden brown, stirring once or twice to make sure cooking is even.
7. Take the battered fish out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
8. Serves 2, with chips and mayonnaise. 

 

Goujonnettes of carp.

The carp goujonnettes came from Fish Brenne and is priced at €17/kilo.

The secret to crispy batter is to keep the batter refrigerated until the last minute.

Managing the Traditional Fishponds of Central Lowland France

Every November some of the local fish ponds (étangs) are emptied. This is done on a rotational basis, so that individual ponds are emptied on a cycle that may be as short as two years, but could be as long as seven. Members of the public are invited to attend, and the resulting catch can be purchased in bulk very cheaply.

The process will begin with a controlled and progressive lowering of the water level over the period of a week or two. On the final day they will round up the fish and finishing the drainage of the lake. It's an excuse for a fête, and a most interesting day out. 

Water rushing out into the Echandon River from the étang at le Louroux through the sluice system (with flow directed by the clever and judicious use of haybales).

The emptying of the étang is necessary to manage and harvest the fish, but also allows work to be done to improve the quality of the water and to preserve and augment biodiversity. A traditional fish netting is organised to capture the pike (brochets), zander (sandres), perch (perches), carp (carpes), tench (tanches) and roach (gardons) living in the lake. It's very important for ongoing water quality that the base of the lake is aerated periodically, so the sediment is exposed from time to time in a managed way. The Etang in the photos, at Le Louroux, is drained every year or two, and about 10 tonne of fish recovered each time.

The fishermen use dragnets (sennes) of different gauges to catch different types or sizes of fish. Big carp and pike come out first, then the more fragile zanders. The remaining little ones are chased around inside the main net with hand nets. They are taken over to sorting tables, weighed and delivered to the sales tent or put into tanks ready to restock other nearby étangs. Small roach and some big carp and pike are put aside to restock the étang which has just been emptied.

Netting the last of the fish.

The étang at Le Louroux is the biggest fish pond in Indre-et-Loire and one of 10 'Espaces naturels sensible' (Sensitive Natural Spaces) owned and administered by the département since 1990. Its flora and fauna is exceptionally rich, with 200 species of birds recorded and it is a favoured site for passage migrants. The money raised by the sale of fish from here goes towards the management and development of the site.

The sludgy lake bottom.

The nature reserve covers 110 ha, of which 60 ha is the fish pond itself. Historically, the étang was part of the fortified priory at Le Louroux. As an ensemble, the village, dyke, mill, lake and priory present a rather fairytale aspect today, but the étang is the result of some hard working Benedictine monks (or more probably, their lay brothers...). The River Echandon was dammed, and the pond profile dug by the 11th century Benedictines. They would have managed the étang they created in an almost identical way to the way it is still managed today. In medieval times people here would have got about a third of their dietary protein from freshwater fish.

The real experts in étang management are the professional pisciculteurs from the Brenne, a wetland area a few kilometres to our east. When the big étangs of the south Touraine like le Louroux need intervention it is these Berrichon fish farmers who advise and supervise. Traditionally, the étangs of the Brenne are in series, with one emptying into another, from top to bottom.

Further reading: My habitat page on étangs on Loire Valley Nature https://loirenature.blogspot.com/2013/03/small-man-made-lakes-etangs.html.

Eurasian Cranes in the Brenne

The other day we had to go up to Blois and as we drove through the fields around Azay le Ferron we noticed a flock of about 80 Eurasian Cranes (Fr. Grues cendrées) feeding. These will be overwintering or even resident birds, but they were in their full breeding plumage and looking splendid even in the low light of a dismal winter day.

 

Unfortunately I only had my phone with me, so this is the best photo I managed.

Several thousand cranes overwinter in the Brenne and they are one of the most spectacular species you can observe in the winter. If you come across these unmistakable birds, be as discrete as possible so as not to disturb them. They spook very easily.

They are one of the biggest birds in Europe, standing over a metre tall, with wingspans of over two metres. They weigh about 5 kilos.

Every morning they head out to feed in the fields, often favouring fields that have had a crop of maize. At dusk they will return to their 'dormitory' at the Etang de la mer rouge, in the heart of the Brenne. They are spectacular in flight, forming great V shapes in the sky, and trumpeting to each other as they fly.

France, Queen of the Roundabouts

One of the things some visitors to France comment on is just how many trafffic roundabouts there are in France. And they are not wrong. The statistics bear this out and show that France is a world leader in roundabouts. 

 This roundabout, in the industrial boondocks of Amboise, has an abandoned helipad in the centre.

According to the painstakingly calculated figures on the blog 'Beyond the Maps', the most roundabouts per population are to be found in mainly western France (Vendée, Loire-Atlantique, Landes, Mayenne) plus Pyrénées-Orientales in the south. The fewest roundabouts per population are around Paris and in the north east. We in Indre et Loire appear to sit in the middle. 

 A plane on a stick. To be precise, a Dassault Mirage IIIB two seater training jet previously of the French Air Force, now a roundabout decoration in Saint-Amand-Montrond

In terms of actual numbers of roundabouts there is a roughly east-west divide in the country, with the west being generally much more heavily endowed with roundabouts than the east. Toulouse takes the prize as the municipality with the most roundabouts (499 at last count). Virtually everywhere roundabout numbers are going up.

 

 A roundabout in the middle of le Blanc, a town about half an hour to the south of us.

 

France is the European record holder for roundabout density, easily outstripping neighbouring countries. The most famous roundabout in the country is of course the horror known as the Etoile, a six lane roundabout in central Paris, surrounding the Arc de Triomphe.

 

Arc de Triomphe and the Etoile.

This post is dedicated to entomologist Simon Leather, who loved aphids and France, but sadly died while being treated for colon cancer a few years ago. His blog is called 'Don't Forget the Roundabouts'.

Pouillé

It's quite amazing to a man who grew up in a city designed in 1913 (and whose oldest building dates to 1833) that I am now surrounded by hundreds of buildings built more than 500 years ago. This may also include part of our house.

Because there are so many old buildings we are constantly stopping to investigate and photograph places we catch glimpses of. But also because they are so common they may be relatively undervalued locally as historic structures, and information about them may not be easy to find.

Take, for instance, the farm of Pouillé, near Tournan Saint Pierre. I first saw last year it as I cycled past with TimB, who pointed it out. I was surprised, because I'm pretty certain I had been down that road before but never noticed it. A couple of weeks ago Susan and I drove past, and this time I remembered to stop and take photos.

This is all I have managed to find out. It's from the lieux dits de touraine blog, translated from french.

"The Grand-Pouillé private farm, a former noble residence dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, is built of Brenne sandstone (or grison). It has a massive circular tower housing a stone staircase. The entrance door features a pointed arch and jambs adorned with prismatic mouldings. Inside, in the corridor, we can see a fragment of the mantelpiece of a fireplace that has been cut through by a partition. A very splayed loophole illuminates a vast cellar. The lower part of the gate's pillars is decorated with lozenges. This place was a fief under the barony of Preuilly. Its earliest known owner was Jean de Chauvigny. He was succeeded by the d'Aloigny du Poitou family."

A Wedding in Vouvray

Our friend Laetitia got married on Saturday. She asked if she could be driven in Claudette from the wedding celebration venue Domaine de la Roderie to the annexe of the Town Hall in Vouvray where the official wedding was taking place. After that we all went back to la Roderie for drinks and another, private, exchange of vows and the speeches. Finally there would have been a meal, but we didn't stay for that. Driving a Traction Avant at night in the rain is not an enjoyable experience, so we left at dusk to get Claudette back into her garage before dark.

 

Tables set for the reception.

The first photo of the bride was taken by me, as by the time she emerged at la Roderie the photographer had left for the town hall,

Laetitia seated in Claudette.

Wedding guests clustering around the entrance to the Auchan supermarket carpark, opposite the annexe to the Vouvray town hall where the wedding would take place. It looked like we were waiting to start a manif (street demonstration).

Claudette arriving at Vouvray town hall annex, driven by Simon and carrying Laetitia, her mum and her best friend.

The newlyweds and their parents (and nephew). At the end of the official ceremony the mayor chipped them for having just moved from Vouvray to Montlouis, the rival wine town on the opposite bank of the Loire!

The Mums have a word.

We were served mulled cider and hot chocolate under an awning at la Roderie while we waited for the bride and groom to arrive after a photo session in Vouvray.

The second ceremony, in the barn at la Roderie. Guests were given fleece blankets.

One got a good view of the 17th century barn roof construction.

Domaine de la Roderie https://www.laroderie.com/

A Spot of Birdwatching in the Brenne

A couple of weeks ago Ingrid and I were early for a rendez-vous with a botanist in the Brenne so we opted for a spot of birdwatching from the Etang Purais hide [link]. It's the biggest hide in the LPO Chérine Reserve, but on a dull summer morning we had it all to ourselves.

The Etang Purais, near Lingé in the Brenne, Indre.

A pair of Mute Swans (Fr. les Cygnes tuberculés) take off.

A Mute Swan taking off.

Eurasian Coots (Fr. les Foulques macroules) obligingly perch on the artfully placed fallen tree that is right in front of the hide so that birdwatchers can get a good view of anything using it.

Mute Swan.

Red-crested Pochards (Fr. les Nettes rousses) in non-breeding plumage. In the past 50 years the Brenne has become a significant breeding location for this species of diving duck.

Mute Swan.

A Whiskered Tern (Fr. Guifette moustac) preens on a post. Etang Purais is one of their most important breeding sites in France, where they nest on the floating water lily leaves.

Info board in the carpark at the Etang Purais.

A flying flock of Ouessant sheep, an ancient breed from Brittany, being used for conservation grazing, a technique for maintaining the reserve.

Inside the hide. There are a number of nice paintings of different bird species on the walls.

Strawberry Clover

Valérie showed me a species of clover that was new to me the other day, in the field we crossed to get to the Etang Purais. It was Strawberry Clover Trifolium fragiferum (Fr. Trèfle à fraises). 

This little clover takes its name from its large pink fruits, which, with a little imagination, resemble strawberries. It's a creeping plant with a stem rooted at the nodes. Its stems and petioles are hairy. It can be found in lawns and along roadsides. Wet pasture such as where we found it in the Brenne is a typical habitat for the species.

It is uncommon enough to be a ZNIEFF determinant species (so it is a sign of good biodiversity on a site with scientific interest).