Lily of the Valley for 1 May

On 1 May in much of Europe it is traditional to give a sprig of Lily of the Valley Convallaria majalis (muguet in French) to friends and family for good luck throughout the year. How the plants in the forest survive the annual onslaught of widely advertised outings to pick the flowers in the wild I do not know. 

 

The bunch above is held by Nadine, who we encountered in the forest some days before, with her husband and grandson. They were spending quality family time picking wild Lily of the Valley. We greeted each other warmly and Nadine invited me to smell the flowers. They were divine!

Just then an oil beetle trundled across the path in front of us. I took the opportunity to talk about what amazing and weird (in a good way) creatures they are, for the benefit of the young boy. I was very pleased to observe that he didn't immediately attempt to stamp on it, but just watched it quietly. His grandparents made all the right 'how interesting!' noises. 

 

Male Violet Oil Beetle Meloe violaceus in the Forest of Preuilly late April. 

Not far from our little group was a young woman gathering ramsons (a type of wild garlic). She told me she planned to pickle the buds (so they are like capers) and make pesto from the leaves. We are very lucky to have good quality forest nearby for walking, foraging and socialising. The forest was a gift to the community from the previous private owner in the 20th century.

What to do About a Swarm of Honey Bees

The answer is short and simple: contact a beekeeper immediately and they will come and collect the swarm. A beekeeper in France is an apiculteur. You can find contact details for dozens in your area by doing a simple internet search. 

The sooner they are collected the better, for their own well-being, and for yours. If they are collected promptly it protects them from being caught out in bad weather (cold and/or wet), which is not uncommon in spring. It also gives them less time to become settled in an inappropriate new home, like your chimney or behind your shutters.

Swarming bees can sound and look alarming, but they are not really a threat to you. They are concentrating on protecting their queen, and finding a new home. Leave them alone and you will find that they will just peacefully attach themselves to a branch and hang there for some hours in a clump huddled around the queen to keep her warm. Scouts will come and go on their mission to find a new home and report back, but they can be safely ignored by you. Don't delay in calling a beekeeper to relocate the swarm though.

 

The second of two honey bee swarms I saw on 17 April this year. This one was on the Eperon Barré de Murat Nature Reserve where we walked that afternoon. The first was in our neighbour's garden, while we were having lunch in ours.

Honey bee colonies in the Touraine Loire Valley tend to be splitting up and on the move ie swarming from April to June. On Friday, coming back from the dentist, I drove into a swarm on the move between Ferrière Larçon and La Celle Guenand. A few unfortunately splatted on the windscreen. Somewhat disconcerting.

Smoky Polypore

Smoky Polypore Bjerkandera adusta (Fr. Polypore brûlé) is a grey-brown velvety bracket fungus with a white edge. The white underside has tiny pores, which become grey with age. 

 

Smoky Polypore brackets on a birch trunk that has snapped in the wind, in the Forest of Preuilly, February 2026.

It grows in crowded groups layered above and below one another, and overlapping, on stumps and trunks of dead or living trees, usually deciduous species, but sometimes conifers. 

 

Resupinate Smoky Polypore on a chestnut firewood log, February 2026.

It can be resupinate (with its back stuck to the wood like a scab and the fertile surface uppermost) or as brackets (with the fertile surface facing downwards and the mushrooms only attached by one edge). The resupinate versions can be more difficult to identify as there are a couple of other mushrooms that look similar. The brackets can be mistaken for the somewhat more abundant Turkey Tail Trametes versicolor.

Early Spring Forest Walk

On 9 March Simon, Dotty and I did a 2 kilometre circuit in the Forêt de Preuilly. The Wild Cherries Prunus avium (Fr. Merisier)  had just come into flower but I didn't get a decent photo. And the wild garlic, known as Ramsons in English, was covering a huge swath of understorey around the damp confluence of the Sauvaget and another small stream that both rise in the forest.

 

 Blackthorn Prunus spinosa (Fr. Prunellier) blossom.

There were lots of these White Asphodel Asphodelus albus (Fr. Asphodèle blanc) leaf rosettes which had simply punched their way through the dead leaves from autumn.

A White Asphodel just coming into flower.

Ramsons Allium ursinum (Fr. Ail des ours) as far as the eye can see. I foraged a dozen leaves to have with soft fresh local goats cheese.

Ramsons growing on the stump of a fallen tree.

Wood Anemones Anemonoides nemorosa (Fr. Anemone sylvie), a sign of a stable, biodiverse, long established woodland habitat.

Wood Anemone.

Spanish Slug Arion vulgaris (Fr. Loche méridionale), a species with an undeserved bad reputation, due to several misunderstandings of its behaviour and origins.

Walking Around Abilly

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.

Walking Around Chaumussay in Early Spring

On Friday 20 February Simon and I did a 2 kilometre circuit at Chaumussay. We wanted to check on the river water level of the Claise and the colony of wild daffodils that grows by the voie verte (greenway). The temperature was 12°C, there was no wind to speak of, and it wasn't raining. Since France has been experiencing the longest period of continuous rain since records began (36 days and counting) having an afternoon when it wasn't raining was noteworthy. The walk took us about half an hour.

 

The Claise is high but not unusually so for this time of year. Some riverside gardens and fields are flooded, but there is no real threat to life or property.

Silky Wall Feather Moss Homalothecium sericeum (Fr. Homalothécie soyeuse) on a low garden wall.

Grey Cushioned Grimmia moss Grimmia pulvinata on a low garden wall.

Colony of Wild Daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus (Fr. Narcisse jaune).

Primrose Primula vulgaris (Fr. Primavère acaule).

Lesser Celandine Ficaria verna (Fr. Ficaire fausse-renoncule), one of the most important sources of pollen for early emerging bees.

Cherry-plum Prunus cerasifera (Fr. Prunellier de Myrobolan) blossom, with a male non-biting midge from the Chironomidae family of flies. The larvae of these midges are known as blood worms (Fr. vers de vase).

European Ash Fraxinus exelsior (Fr. Frêne élevé) flowers.

Crocuses in a public garden.

A Walk in the Forest

 On 14 January I went for a walk in the Forest of Preuilly with Ingrid and Huub. It was 3.5 km, 14°C and took an hour and a half. Huub was vastly amused to be accompanying two women who spent half their time with their arses in the air, photographing small fungi at ground level. Here is a small selection of what we saw. There were a lot of bracket fungi.

 

 A waymarker (Fr. borne) for the Chemin de Saint Martin (the Way of Saint Martin, an important pilgrim route).

Ochre Bracket Trametes ochracea (Fr. Tramète zoné) is not uncommon, but not abundant either. It is usually found on Aspen.

Sporodophoron cretaceum, a lichen that grows on the bark of mature oak trees.

Common Green Shield lichen Flavoparmelia caperata (Fr. Parmélie froncée) is widespread and abundant. The leaf like lobes don't adhere to the substrate they are growing on, and can be lifted up like flaps. The underside is black.

Cherry Gall (Fr. Galle-cerise) made by the wasp Cynips quercusfolii on the underside of an oak leaf.

Golden Ear fungus Naematelia aurantia (Fr. Trémelle orangée) is an irregular jelly like blob of yellow that parasitises Hairy Curtain Crust fungus.

Possibly Fence-rail Cladonia lichen Cladonia parasitica, which seems to be rather rare overall in Indre et  Loire and virtually impossible to tell from C. caespiticia without doing a chemical reaction test.

Luminescent Panellus Panellus stipticus (Fr. Panelle astringente), an abundant beige mushroom growing in layered groups on dead wood of deciduous trees.

Gilled Polypore Trametes betulina (Fr. Lenzite du bouleau) is a slightly downy dirty white bracket fungus. They can appear more coloured, but that is algae growing on the surface. They are mostly found on birch, oak, beech, alder and hazel.

Rusty Swan-neck moss Campylopus flexuosus (Fr. ) is an attractive moss that is relatively common all over France and observable all year round. Underneath the bright green cushion is usually rusty red, and the leaves have a very distinctive wide central vein.

Stinking Hellebore Helleborus foetidus (Fr. Pied-de-griffon), a toxic wild flower of oak woodland understorey. Touching it releases an unpleasant smell. The flowers produce a lot of nectar, no doubt very welcome for early emerging bumble bees, who love hellebores.

Bogues and Borscht

The Galoches walk on Friday 17 October was a 5 km circuit, first along the river, then up onto the heights above Yeures sur Creuse, followed by Ukrainian food as part of the schools' Semaine de Goût ('Taste Week').

 

 Svitlana, her mum and Patricia the school canteen cook prepared about a dozen Ukrainian dishes for people to try as part of the annual food studies school week. Borscht and varenyky mushroom dumplings are always popular.

A replica of the Lourdes grotto, behind the church in Yzeures.

A wildlife 'highway', leading down from the heights into the village.

A rustic shed.

A horse chestnut conker above and a sweet chestnut below. Can you tell the difference? (Look for the way a sweet chestnut tapers to a fibrous point opposite the base pad. This base pad is also smaller, as is the nut itself in sweet chestnuts.) Don't eat conkers as they will give you gastro-intestinal pain.

The River Creuse.

Walking along the river path.

Sweet chestnuts which have fallen on the walking path from an overhanging tree. The extremely spiny outer protective sheaths are called bogues in French.

Japanese anemones.