Planting Garlic and Onions

Simon planting onion sets.

Last Saturday afternoon we planted about 70 cloves of garlic and the same of onion sets, which we hope to harvest in July next year. We are not quite sure what we are going to do with all that garlic, but the onions should be easy to use up if we can store them somewhere dry.

Onion sets in their trench ready to be covered.

The garlic is a purple French variety called Germidour, apparently a mild flavoured soft-necked reliable performer. The onions are Stuttgarter Riesen, a round onion of the Mulhouse type (according to the label), and promises to produce sweet yellow onions that will keep moderately well. Stuttgarter Riesen is usually planted as sets ie baby onions, as they do not come true from seed. We've saved some onions to plant in March, in case a spring planting suits them better.

Garlic cloves ready to be covered with soil.

Susan
When I phoned my father last night, he was just on his way out to collect my mother from the hospital. She is coming home, just a week after her operation.
Simon

Saffron Flowers at Last!

A week ago I went down to the potager to dig fartichokes, pull carrots, beetroot and leeks and pick a bunch of parsley. On arrival I discovered that some of the saffron was at last flowering after all.

An unfurling saffron flower in our potager.

I carefully picked all the flowers into a little paper cup that I happened to have in the car and took them home to dismember and dry the precious saffron strands.

Saffron strands laid out to dry on kitchen paper.

I think the recent rain we've had has triggered the flowering. The saffron got a little wet from the rain, so won't be top quality, but even the tiny quantity I got from half a dozen flowers will be enough to flavour a paella or a saffron cake, and I was surprised to find that I got a whiff of the iodine-like scent as I put the plate of stigmas up on the mantelpiece to dry.

Susan

Huilerie Lépine

Since1810 the Lépine family have made walnut oil at Availles-en-Châtellerault, perpetuating an ancient tradition and a unique taste. Yesterday was open day at the huilerie, so even though it was raining slightly (and Simon still has the world's runniest nose) we went on a small excursion.

The nuts are shelled, then ground under an enormous millstone to obtain a thick paste. This paste goes into a pot where it is cooked just enough to go brown – a delicate stage because the art of obtaining a tasty oil depends on the cooking. The resulting gunge is then tipped into the hydraulic press, and out runs a wonderful golden coloured liquid.

The nut cracking and shelling machines.

The kernels being ground

The nuts are cooked in what looks like laundry coppers,
then taken to the press

The oil press. You can just about see the
oil running into the silver pot

What is left - the compact nut fibre after being pressed.

Two kilograms of shelled nuts give on average a litre of oil. The oil is very aromatic and with its sweet, pleasant taste can be used with all kinds of salads, asparagus or artichokes in vinaigrette. It goes equally well with mogettes (the local, Poitevin, name for dried white beans).

Susan

Glimpses 11

The back entrance to the château de la Boussée.The front entrance looks like this.

Susan

Garden Works II

We have been working on the back garden for a week now, and things are progressing amazingly.

We arrived back from the Armistice 1918 ceremony to find Alex well advanced with laying the footings for the retaining wall. After lunch, he and I started work on where exactly the gate posts had to be in order for the gate to close properly. This took longer than you might think, but we did take as much time as was necessary to be totally confident (and then we checked, rechecked, and rechecked again).

Footings for the retaining wall, with the drainpipes
and drainage pipes (almost) in place

We also decided how to hang the gates, as well. The original fitting were for hammering in to stonework, and were no good for concrete posts. Instead, we will be manufacturing the fittings ourselves and bolting them to the posts using expansive bolts. I made this decision on Thursday (all on my own, I might add) whilst standing in Bricomarché fuming that no-one makes the right fittings for anything I want to do. Hopefully our custom made parts will be an elegant and effective solution.

Yesterday morning Alex arrived with Derek, who was going to be building the retaining wall. The longer wall was quite an involved job, as it is quite a sharp curve - not easy when building with blocks 500mm (18 inches) long.

The straight wall is in, and Derek is getting
to grips with laying the curved wall.

By the end of yesterday both retaining walls were in, and Susan had started work levelling the ground behind them. Our plan is for the garden to be level with the floor of the garage to it's full extent, with a little raised patio in the small alcove at the back. We wont be able to totally backfill behind the walls for a couple of days, nor will be able to hang the gates, but we are now at the stage where we can see what it is meant to be.

The retaining wall finished, with the pipework in place.
Once the concrete is set, the pipes will be cut flush.

This works are temporary in order that we have a level, usable garden whilst stopping all our soil washing away and clogging up the town drains. Ultimately we hope to have the sort of garden boundary common to Preuilly: a rendered wall with fer forgé (wrought iron) railing on top as can be seen in the background of the second photo.

Simon

PS, My mother had her heart valve replacement operation at 9.30am Australian time on Remembrance Day. 24 hours later she was sitting up in bed eating breakfast. They have already got her walking again, and next week she may be sent home.

Cleaning and Protecting the Limestone Fireplace

After a few weeks of use we realised our lovely new off-white limestone fireplace was getting spots and stains - a combination of drips from cleaning the stove door glass and ground in dirt from oak logs and burnt cinders.

We began to wonder if the products we used on the tomettes were suitable for limestone. We read the labels carefully and decided that as Sarpasol is an acid, designed to remove the lime bloom from terracotta tiles, it was not appropriate; but there didn't seem to be any reason not to use the hydrofuge / oleofuge protection product. We couldn't find anyone who had used a similar product on a domestic interior, although there seems to be occasional use of water repellant compounds on the exterior of large limestone public buildings.

Sanding clean the limestone fireplace.

We asked Monsieur Douady what he thought. He said that if it was his, he would do nothing and let it develop patina, but he obviously knew what type of product we were talking about and agreed that there was no reason we should not use it on the fireplace.

So, one morning I went over any spots and marks on the smoothly cut stone with dry 150 grade wet'n'dry sandpaper, just as I had seen Monsieur Douady after the masons left size 12 bootprints on the hearth stones. The stone is so chalky a light sanding removes all surface spotting, although nothing will safely remove deeply impregnated stains and some marks become permanent because of being 'fired' by the heat of the stove.

Then I wiped off the dust with a slightly damp cloth and gave all the smooth surfaces a coat of Protecteur hydrofuge oléofuge made by Chimybat. Four hours later I gave the hearth a second coat, as it is at the most risk of staining. The product is very easy to apply with a paint brush, which washes out with water. It's invisible once dry and doesn't change the colour of the stone.

Susan

PS Rather annoyingly, the stove itself has developed a fault, with one section of its door seal coming adrift. Up until Wednesday evening we were utterly delighted with the stove, as it heats our sitting room and the old kitchen (which is currently our office), as well as our bedroom and the shower room upstairs. It takes logs of up to 15cm diameter and 50cm long, and would burn slowly right through the night. Now, with a piece of door seal missing, it burns faster. I guess we will have to take it back to Bricomarché, where we bought it, or get in touch with the manufacturer, Invicta, and get a new door. I certainly hope this will be covered by some sort of guarantee.

Armistice 1918

Yesterday was Armistice Day: 91 years from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which ended the First Wold War on 11 November 1918. In France the day is known as Armistice 1918, and is a public holiday.

This is the first time we have been in France on Armistice Day, and although we hadn't seen any notices about a ceremony, we assumed there must be one. We went to the Mairie at 10.30, and Susan's intuition paid off - the ceremony was just getting underway. We had just enough time to donate some coins to the Veterans Association - for which in return we received little sticky lapel badge - and the first drum-roll and fanfare of the day started. This was followed by the Marseillaise, and then all those in attendance marched behind the flags to the War Memorial.

Marching to the War Memorial: the flags followed by
Preuilly's Gendarmes, the Pompiers, and the Jeunes
Sapeurs Pompiers

At the War Memorial the ceremony would have been fairly familiar to anyone who had attended a similar service in any country - a speech about peace in Europe, the laying of wreaths and the lowering of flags. What we hadn't seen before was the lighting of candles and the placing of them on the memorial by the children of the town.

Lit candles on the War Memorial

From the War Memorial we all marched back through town to the cemetery. Preuilly-sur-Claise's cemetery doubles as a military cemetery. There, more candles were lit, but this time placed on the graves of the First World War dead.

After the cemetery, the procession went back to the Mairie. A final Marseillaise, and the invitation was issued to all citizens of Preuilly to join the Maire for an apéro. Susan and I missed the drinks, as we had Alex working on the garden.

Simon

Garden Works

Alex arrived yesterday morning to start building work in the garden. We are putting in retaining walls and drainage, gates and a fence. At the top of the garden (by what we assume were the long drops) we are having another terrace for refined outside dining.

But first a long and slow movie
showing our stuff being delivered.

We spent ages getting our levels right - the ground is deceptively uneven in places - i.e. where you don't expect it to be - yet surprisingly level in places where it looks sloping. Once this was done, we decided how high the footings for the retaining walls should be. We managed to drive in some pegs, even though the "soil" is equal parts cobbles, flint, and degraded limestone clay.

Alex then dug out the channels where the pipes will be that take the water from our downpipes. These will eventually emerge at the base of the retaining walls, hopefully directing rainwater away from the walls of the house. Getting the levels for these wasn't easy (for all the same reasons as getting the levels right for the wall footings was difficult).

Alex demonstrates Blokes Yoga, while
Simon ignores the invitation to join in

The trenches we had dug by bobcat on Saturday were ever so slightly in the wrong place; using them would have meant the gates wouldn't have shut overlapped by about 40cm - which would have been many things, peeving included. This meant I had to get into the trench with a mattock and finesse things (no photos taken, but even Susan will say it's true).

Once Alex had left, Susan and I went to Bricomarché in Yzeures and bought 25 metres of agricultural drain. This means that the new soil level shouldn't mean an increase of dampness in the walls - we will be laying the drain along the wall of the house, as well as along the foot of the retaining wall for the terrace.

Things are looking good - as long as we can get the gate posts in the right place and the gates hung properly I think the job will be a good 'un. That gets done tomorrow, but before that Susan and I are off to investigate what is happening in town for Remembrance Day (Armistice 1918, in French). Our banner today is in rememberance of the events of 1914 - 1918.

Simon

On a different note completely, my mother had her heart valve replacement operation today (Australian time). She will be off her feet for quite some time, so we had better make the blog posts interesting for a while!!

Tractors 2

Yesterday the materials arrived for amenaging our back garden; two bags of sand , one of gravel, some cement and concrete posts. Because everyone has seen sand and gravel before, some pictures of a tractor taken at the Art 'n Lard Festival last month in le Petit Pressigny.

This is one of those pieces of machinery which is so purposeful, so obviously built for a practical reason, that the aesthetics almost don't matter. Which is just as well...

Société Française de Vierzon was building machinery for about 100 years until the 1960s. Vierzon is quite local to us, so I am sort of surprised I haven't encountered these machines before.

I have never seen a tractor with instructions
written on it before. It's not a bad idea though.

Tomorrow we should have more to report on the work in our back garden. This morning I hope to be hiring and using a packer plate (whakerpacker in some territories) to compress the gravel for laying cobblestones on the front courtyard. That could be fun!

Simon

ps You may be one of those people who Google have included in their "This page has been intentionally left blank" experiment. If you find as frustratingly pointless and stupid as I do and are using Firefox, mail me and I will give instructions how to disable it. If you have no idea what I am talking about, lucky you.

Six Months in France

Today we have been living in France for half a year, and a pretty busy six months it has been too. For those of you who weren't paying attention at the time, I will re-cap:

May's big event was our move - the first half of the month was taken up with packing (which was hateful, as ever), cancelling things like the UK internet connection, having the phone disconnected and a million and one other little things. As is often the way with these things, the big things were easy by comparison. We left London on the 11th May and had an comparatively relaxing drive (except for an issue with the fanbelt on the car). We arrived in Preuilly on the 12th, exactly 182 days ago, and apart from my trip back to London to collect our plants (noble Simon...) and Susan's trip back for her conference we have settled in.

Calais at 5.00am, 12 May 2009

June's highlight was taking over care of the potager/verger, and getting to grips with a surplus of cherries. Our temporary kitchen arrangements worked surprisingly well, and we made 5 batches of cherry jam, froze some compote and stewed fruit. By the time next June arrives I may have forgotten the pressure we felt under to process all that fruit and be prepared to do it all again.

The undoubted highlight of July was the staircase: first of all laying tomettes for the bottom of the stairs to rest on, then the manufacture and installation of the stairs themselves. The stairs have made a huge difference to our lives: we have a house instead of a room to live in.

In August I revisited painting, starting with shutters and windows. I started painting the windows in August 2007(!) but didn't get around to doing the shutters to go with them. At the same time Susan painted the guest bedroom.

In September Célestine came into our lives. So far it has been great fun (if a little frustrating at times) getting to know her, but she is now settled in and doing fine.

Celestine at the Chateau in la Celle Guernand

In October our chimney was built (and just in time!) This means we now have lovely warmth in at least one room of the house, and can even invite people to take their coats off when they call in.

This month's tasks? Sorting out the back garden and the front courtyard.

Looking at all this I have given myself a bit of a shock - we appear to be doing a fair amount of style, what with the staircase, the fireplace and Célestine. Maybe Susan expected that, but style is something new (and slightly scary) to me. I hope it continues!

Simon

Playing in the Mud

On Thursday last week Alex came over to mark up the layout of our new back garden in preparation for starting work on our temporary garden fence, as well as putting in retaining walls, terracing the back garden of the house, and redirecting the water from the downpipes on the garage and the back of the barn.

Once he had left Susan and I jumped in the car and shot off to Brico-Depot in Dissay (who are open from 7.00am to 7.30pm) to buy the garden gates. Even at well gone 6.00pm the shop was really busy, something that surprised both of us - the French really are a nation of home re-builders and decorators! Having the gates to hand before we start work is important: it would really peeve us to put in the gateposts too close!!


When we woke yesterday morning it was raining quite heavily. As we had arranged for a Bobcat digger for the garden to be dug up and footings put in for the retaining walls the rain was not an ideal start. However, at about 9.00 Alex arrived, together with Hamilton Wall and his digger. The weather held quite well, although it was cold, and we were soon making a mess of the garden. First job was to move the concrete laundry tub which has sat next to the garage ever since we have owned the house. This would have been impossible without the digger, as it was half full of stagnant water. We eventually shunted it out of the way (more of less) by pushing it around with the digger.


Once that was done we decided on a level for the main part of the garden, and the soil was scraped accordingly. That part of the process led to much scratching of heads and sucking of teeth as we were doing it by eye - none of us has a laser lever. The trenches for the retaining wall footing were put in and shallow trenches made for the drains to run along.

Then we moved on to the front courtyard, where the area of mysteriously missing cobblestones by the front door was to be scraped out in preparation for a mortar bed to sit replacement cobbles on. We didn't think we were going to have cobbles in the new area, but under the crappy concrete we found a heap of cobbles which should give us just enough to do the job. We will hire a whacker to flatten down the bed for the cobbles, which will be a new experience for us - both the hiring and the using of it. On Monday the "doings" will arrive - a couple of metres of gravel, sand and cement.

Simon & Susan

Growing Truffles

Quite a few people around Preuilly have a little truffle oak plantation. They buy oak saplings which have been inoculated with the truffle spores and associated mychorrhizae, wait a few years, and then harvest the truffles for the next 30 years or so.

One such plantation we have visited has a mixture of evergreen non-native oaks and deciduous native oaks. The owner feels that mixing the trees up means you create a habitat mosaic which benefits both types of tree and their symbiotic relationship with both truffle and soil micro-organisms. He also has both species because the evergreen oaks need fewer years to start producing truffles than the native ones.

A young truffle oak plantation, somewhere near Preuilly...

His truffle hounds, a shaggy white Jack Russell called Pierre, and a wire-haired dachshund called Odile, are adorable.

Some of the trees have orange markers, and he explained that once a tree has produced a truffle, it gets an ID number and records are kept of how many truffles of what weight were produced in which year.

He only grows black truffles, Tuber melanosporum, which are harvested in the winter, and can be bought at fairs like the one at Marigny-Marmande. He says a few people in the area grow the white Italian or estivale (summertime) truffles - someone over near La Roche-Posay and a couple near Loches, but usually it's black truffles in the Touraine.

Susan

Mystery Mouflons

On one of our walks along the old tracks and routes around Preuilly we came across an enclosure containing a number of ovine beasts. Several of them are clearly goats, but one pair looked like mouflon sheep to me. We've no idea who owns them or why.

The mouflon pair.

Male mouflon doing his magnificent and moody look.

This sadly underfed looking goat who shares the enclosure
struggles to get a tiny morsel to stave off famine.

Susan

Tasty Toast

I don't like to boast, but our new fire makes the tastiest toast in the whole world. The coals from yesterday's fire toasting yesterday's bread for breakfast. Yum yum yum.

Susan

An Obliging Subject

These Small Copper butterflies / Lycaena phlaeas /Cuivré commun happily sit in the sun to have their photos taken. I have lots of nice photos of Small Coppers looking charming, pretty and in focus.

I have no photos of Violet Fritillaries / Clossiana dia / la Petite violette though. Similarly coloured in fauve avec les taches noires, they come flitting and flapping into the potager going 'nah nah nahnahnah...I know your camera is out of reach...you'll never catch me...' Every time!

Susan

The Woodman Cometh

Yesterday we had our second delivery of wood. Monsieur G. told us that he expected the first load (a half stère) to last 15 days, which it did. Yesterday's load was 2 stère - about 2 cubic metres - and instead of being delivered from the back of a car, was bought by tractor which only just made it up the driveway.

The wood was delievered in two loads, the first of which Susan and I managed to stack in the garage before the second arrived. Together they make quite an an impressive heap which should last us into the new year.

In the afternoon we took a drive into Descartes to collect Célestine's new number plates (plaque d'immatriculation). We had to have them custom made so we could have white numbers on a black background, instead of the standard black numbers on a white background with a lot of other information besides (see here). Modern plates would somehow have just looked wrong. Next step is to buy ourselves a vintage "F" plate - or at least a reproduction vintage one.

I also installed some shelves in an alcove in our salon which was previously a built in wardrobe. The new shelves are really solid, and capable of taking a great weight, which is just as well as I have put our stereo and the computer we use as a media centre in there.

You can tell it's winter - the work being done around the house is getting smaller and smaller. No major building projects get done in winter!

Simon

And There was one Green Walnut, Hanging on the Tree

Not really green by now, but there is just one recalcitrant walnut left on our walnut trees. Our 4 trees are young and between them they only produced a couple of dozen nuts this year. Unlike the big walnut tree that grows on the ditch by our orchard boundary, which produced good quantities.

Curiously, our walnuts may not be numerous, but they are enormous. The big tree's crop this year were all very small, and people all over France are reporting that the nuts are very small this year.

Newly harvested walnuts, below, showing the leathery outer casing with its fibrous lining. The casing splits and the nuts in their shells slip out easily to be stored for a month or so to dry out, then they can be processed or eaten as desired and will keep for at least twelve months (after that the oils go rancid, but no matter, because the new harvest will be in).

Our orchard neighbour has been out with her mother collecting the walnuts from the big mature trees on their land. She is disappointed with the quantity she will end up with, as she takes her nuts to the local huilerie to be pressed for oil.

You can see the size difference between our nuts on the left
and the more typical size for this year on the right.

She tells me it costs a couple of euros per litre to have them pressed, but unless you have a minimum of 40kg of nuts, you have to share a pressing with other small scale clients and the output is divided up proportionally. Apparently they will also make oil from your hazelnuts, and you can buy oil from them for a few euros a litre (less than half the price of buying it from the supermarket, where it is about €12 a litre).

Susan

Events in and around Preuilly for November 2009

Saturday 7 – Cinéma

Wednesday 11 –
Remembrance Day Ceremony.

A Panoramic view of Preuilly sur Claise.
29 October 2009

Friday 13 – Loto – Coopérative du collège Gaston Defferre.
Bingo.

Sunday 15 – Availles-en-Châtellerault - Huilerie Lépine - Journée Portes-ouvertes
Open day and farmers' market at the Lépine family oil pressing plant. You can also take delivery of your pre-ordered veal from a nearby producer.

Saturday 21 – Soirée Cabaret – Comité des Fêtes
Cabaret Evening.

Saturday 28 – Diner dansant – Sapeurs Pompiers
Firemen's Diner Dance.

Market days in Preuilly are Thursdays and Saturdays. The market is held in Place des Halles in the morning.

On Saturday nights there is a pizza van in Place des Halles.

Wildlife to watch out for: On sunny days European Wall Lizards / Podarcis muralis / Lézard des murailles will come out of their winter hidey holes and sunbath.

Glimpses 10

We have posted pictures of various windvanes before, but ths one in le Petit Pressigny had escaped our attention until recently.

Entertaining the Troops

While Kippa and Ben were here we took them to see La Gargantua, a prehistoric monument not very far from Preuilly.

A herd of dairy cows was occupying the field next to the car park, and Kippa entertained himself by showing them a dance routine. As you can see there was a range of reactions from the cows...

The scene looks out over the valley towards Charnizay, and this field is full of skylarks in the summer. It's a lovely place.

The senior bossyguts cow, hogging the molasses lick (below). I suspect the collar is to indicate that she has been confirmed as in calf. I expect the milk from these cows goes to the co-operative in nearby Verneuil, which is apparently one of the top three butter producers in France.


Susan

Autumn Wildlife

October has been a mixture of clear bright sunny days and misty moisty damp days. On the sunny days, all the late summer insects come out to soak up some rays and strut their stuff for the camera.

Small Copper butterfly
Lycaena phlaeas
Cuivré commun

Hottentot Beefly
Villa hottentotta
le Bombyle hottentot

Blue (or Southern) Hawker dragonfly (male)
Aeshna cyanea
L'Aeschne bleue

Susan

And now a message from our sponsor, Pissed off of Preuilly: I would like to announce that this is Day 7 with no voice. I haven't been able to speak above a whisper for a whole week! In French, I have l'extinction de voix. Will I recover in time to telephone the woodman and order more firewood before we run out? Can we pay the mason for the new chimney if I can't phone the currency exchange to arrange to buy euros with Australian dollars?

Driving to the Supermarket

Susan wrote yesterday about the marché in Preuilly sur Claise.

There are some items which you can't get in the market, and sometimes we get "pub" (advertising) through the letterbox and this often results in a drive to the supermarket, either in Yzeures sur Creuse or la Roche Posay. I am sure that everyone can relate to this.

I mean- we ALL have to drive to the supermarket. I would hate anyone to think we were showing off or anything!

Simon

ps Abbé Henri Proust has written here about Célestine's visit to Richelieu.

Le Marché - The Market

Preuilly has a market twice a week, on Thursday and Saturday mornings. They get underway from about 09.45 and finish by noon. Different stalls come on Thursdays to those who come on Saturdays.

The big Thursday fruit and veg stall

On Thursdays we get rabbit and chicken products; fish; goats' cheese, eggs and honey; fruit and vegetables; meat; plants; fruit from a local orchard and vegetables from the potager next to ours. In addition there is sometimes another fruit and veg stall, organic produce and the sewing machine and vaccuum cleaner van. On Saturdays we get a different fruit and veg stall and a different local market gardener (who is by far the most popular veg supplier); there is also dairy products; oysters; clothing and sometimes wine.

The excellent fish stall.

The market isn't just a place you go to stock up on fresh local food though. It's where you go to meet friends and network. I once went to the market and bought nothing, because I chatted and caught up with so many people I ran out of time.

My progress through the market went something like this: ran into Jill and John and caught up on their news [English spoken]; Bengt and Suzanne arrived to catch the bus to Tours, so we all chatted till the bus came and I said 'hi' to Felix who was also waiting for the bus [mostly English]; arranged with John and Alice to pick up a plant from their place over near Boussay [mixture of French and English in equal quantities]; Bernard de la Motte spotted me and we discussed how best to deal with Bâtiment de France - I had emailed him for advice and he had simply waited until he saw me at the market to respond [French]; had a conversation with Louisa about remote working and discussed how we might help a mutual friend about whom we are concerned [English - well, American in her case...]; spoke to our neighbour Guy L about the petition to save the post office [French]; bumped into another neighbour, Sylvie, at the baker's and we walked home together, with me practicing 'roue' and her practicing 'Farrow and Ball'*, in between hooting with laughter like schoolgirls and talking to Valéry, who was up on a scaffold repairing his roof [French].

Susan

*Farrow and Ball is a British paint company specialising in high quality paints which are particularly suitable for historic buildings. They have a distributer in La Roche-Posay, and Sylvie is in the process of decorating her house.

Attention ! Ephémères !

Watch out for mayflies ?!! In October ?!

I first noticed this temporary warning sign on the bridge at Bonneuil-Matours on 10 October. I assume it is warning of a mass emergence from the River Vienne below of some late summer emerging species of mayfly like the Burrowing Mayfly Ephoron virgo (known as manne ie manna by French fishermen), which can emerge in vast numbers for a few days from big slow rivers like this. The mayflies are strongly attracted to the lights on bridges and end up coating the road surface, making it slippery from the body fat they store to get them through their short adult lives.

Many species of mayfly are extremely sensitive to modern agricultural chemicals, so it can be a sign that the water quality here is very good and unpolluted.

Susan