Natural Born Killers

What's the deadliest carnivore you can think of? I bet dragonflies aren't anywhere near the top of your list. But maybe you should think again.

Lions' successful kill rate is less than a quarter of the number of hunts undertaken, sharks just over half. Dragonflies, on the other hand, could be the most effective hunters of all, according to some new research, catching 95% of their targeted prey.

Researchers say they are apparently insatiable too. When kept in captivity they will eat absolutely every fly offered to them. One researcher gave up trying to find out what their limit was, after offering 30 flies one after another to an individual dragonfly, who gobbled up all the unfortunate flies with alacrity.

A female Blue Emperor Anax imperator eats a Flesh Fly it has captured in a wheat field.

Dragonflies brains are different to other insects, allowing them to focus on a single victim in flight, no matter what else is milling around. The brain and the wings are also linked in a way that allows minute and virtually instantaneous adjustments to the flight trajectory. They constantly manoeuvre themselves into a position so that the prey is steady in the same place in their visual field all the time.The prey is oblivious to the dragonfly's attack, as it swoops in from behind and below, scooping up the victim in a basket formed by their bristly legs.

Dragonflies fly differently to other insects too. They can hover, fly backwards, upside down, with one wing missing, pivot and manipulate each wing separately, all at a speed of 50 kilometres an hour.

A female Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa rests on vegetation near a ditch.

They are incredibly visual creatures, with a 360º field of view. Many of the big dragonflies will blatantly come up to anyone moving into their territory to check them out. They'll fly past a couple of times, then ignore you. What you probably don't realise is that they can see you whether you are in front of them or behind them.

They are effectively deaf though, so you can make as much noise as you like while dragonfly watching.

 An Orange-spotted Emerald Oxygastra curtisii, resting, but giving you an idea of how they approach prey.

The new research about their ability for selective attention was done in Australia by Steven Wiederman and David O'Carroll. They reported their findings in Current Biology. It seems the US military is taking an interest, as dragonflies share characteristics with drones.

Thanks to regular reader Sheila from Texas for alerting me to this new research.

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Rasta Donkeys: Until we moved to France I had no idea there were different breeds of donkey -- much less huge ones that appear to have been bred by the Rastafarian movement if their dreadlocks are anything to go by. These are known as baudet de Poitou and there are lots of them on Ile de Ré, the much loved descendents of pack animals.

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Orchard News: Now something has eaten my nascent aubergine! But the peppers are fighting back and have already produced new flower buds. The few crimson clover seeds that have germinated are starting to flower. I sowed crimson clover to provide ground cover and green manure, but I assume the ants find the seeds very tasty.

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Claudette News: Yesterday we took Claudette on an outing. Not really a proper outing, as we drove her over to Michel the panelbeaters, in convoy with Jean-Louis and Suzanne in their Traction, which was rear-ended recently and also needed Michel's services. Michel and his wife Annick live near Cheverny, so it was a nice, long drive. Michel uncovered some inappropriate fibreglass repair to the base of the doors, which would have been cosmetic at the time it was done, but is actually making the rust problem worse. He is going to repair the front passenger door and the sill that side, plus a couple of other holes. He is also going to repair the door hinges and rehang the doors. After the brakes, which Jean-Louis has fixed, along with many lesser problems, the precarious nature of the back doors was something I particularly wanted sorted. 

After the business was completed we moved on to lunch, all heading off to the Hotel de la Gare in Montrichard, where a jolly good time was had by all. They have a great buffet, generous simple traditional mains and an impressive cheese trolley. We take clients there frequently. Jean-Louis was delighted to find they stocked his favourite wine. Once lunch was done Michel and Annick went to visit her mother at Saint-Aignan and we headed for Chateauroux, where Jean-Louis and Suzanne live -- via several impromptu stops.

The first petite pause was to Joël Delaunay, a winemaker in Pouillé (the source of Jean-Louis' favourite tipple). The winery is certified as agriculture raisonnée ('intelligent/integrated agriculture' ie not organic, but pesticides are not applied prophylactically or as a matter of course, but only when 'reasonable', and crops are monitored carefully.) All the while as we travelled Jean-Louis pointed out houses that had Tractions in their garage. We couldn't necessarily see them, but he knew all the Traction owners in the area. 

This led to our next stop, which to our surprise was the locked compound of the Gendarmerie in Ecueillé. It turns out that one of the Traction club members is a policeman, and it was his day off. All the gendarmes live in the compound, so we stopped off for a cool drink and a chat. His Traction was parked alongside the police vehicles, as was a Traction we know from several encounters in Preuilly. It has just been sold and I think he was looking after it temporarily.

All in all a very social and fun day.

Soapwort

Soapwort Saponaria officinalis (saponaire officinale in French) is a member of the carnation and campion family. It grows throughout Europe and Asia Minor, on damp uncultivated soils.
It's called soapwort because it contains saponins. If you soak the plant, especially the roots, in warm water you can produce a soapy lather, and this liquid soap was used for centuries in the processing of wool. The plant is sometimes called the fullers' herb, because they would use it to clean woollen cloth (fulling is a stage in woollen cloth manufacture). In some places the whole sheep was washed with soapwort prior to shearing. Even today it is sometimes used by textile conservators when cleaning tapestries. It would also have been used in the local lavoirs (public laundries) but there doesn't seem to be any real truth to the story that if you see soapwort growing it indicates there was once a laundry or a fulling mill or field close by. The plant is common and widespread, and whilst it would have been encouraged to grow near these facilities, it would also grow and spread in any damp undisturbed place. Until last year, before the farmer sprayed the hay meadow in front of our orchard with herbicides and ploughed the field up, there was a substantial patch on the ditch by our gate. Now, to photograph it for this blog post, I had to walk around the corner to the Moulin de Chanvre, where there is a lovely patch growing by the culvert.

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The Ports of Ile de Ré: The small island of Ré, just off the western coast of France near La Rochelle has several picturesque small harbours. This one is Saint-Martin-de-Ré, where we stayed recently, taken at dusk.

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In Our Kitchen Yesterday: 5kg of sweet red cherries stewed and frozen. I stoned half with the cherry stoning 'machine'. Now I have a couple of cherry seasons under my belt I have got to grips with the various idiosyncracies of this device, and have managed not to spray indelible cherry juice all over the kitchen. The other half I left with their stones in. Not only is this less work, but in theory the cherries should taste better by gaining that hint of almond flavoured cyanide from the stones. The ones with stones in are for pudding type desserts, the ones without stones for cake type recipes. Any excess juice I will jelly.

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Swimming: Has commenced in earnest. The weather is conducive, the water in the Preuilly pool is 28° and Laurent has returned in fine form. Antoinette, Pauline, Simon and I met up for a morning's swimming yesterday.

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Orchard News: Something has eaten all the flowers on the peppers and chillies!

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Farming News: Haymaking continues apace and the harvest has started. Headers are on the move and it's the barley first by the look of it.

Tourangeaux Bonnets

The local museum in Preuilly, housed in the Poterne below the chateau, has a fine collection of about 30 Tourangeaux bonnets. Intricately embroidered, with minutely goffered brims, they were worn by all adult working women from 1860 to just after the First World War.

A married woman's bonnet.

They developed after the Revolution, when the sumptuary laws which forbade the wearing of lace by anyone but the nobility were abolished. Coupled with that, Josephine Bonaparte developed a taste for French provincial lace and so popularised such laces at court.

A case full of Tourangeaux bonnets in the museum at Preuilly.

Little by little, each region of France developed recognisable styles of headress. The mechanisation of tulle manufacture and Valencay lace made them more affordable. The Touraine was a rich provence and the embroidered floral bonnets here were unlike anything elsewhere. For ordinary daywear women wore a round mousseline bonnet, barely decorated. But for going to the market or other little outings, women had a more elaborately embroidered bonnet with 14 motifs. When the outing was more formal or more festive, the bonnet worn could have 21 or 28 flower motifs. The number of flowers was always a multiple of 7, for the 7 graces of women in the catholic tradition (wisdom, intelligence, science, counsel, strength, piety and fear of God).

Demonstrating the goffering technique. Valencay lace is wrapped over and under fine metal wires (known as 'straws' in French) to create tiny tubular pleats. Pots of starch, gum arabic and laundry blueing are on the right.

Often the centres of the flowers are done in jours d'Angles, a nearby drawnthread needlelace tradition, which is determinedly kept alive today by a few women in the town of Angles-sur-l'Anglin. The bonnets of unmarried women featured a large single flower, usually a rose, that covered most of the crown. Once they were married, they wore bonnets with a pair of roses on the crown, to symbolise the shared love of husband and wife. These central motifs are then surrounded by a garland of other flowers, which once you were married, came to represent your children.

Side view of a bonnet.

Not everyone made their own bonnets. If you were well off, you could purchase embroidered bonnets from any number of specialist workshops. Amazingly, the workshops rarely duplicated a bonnet. Needless to say, they got quite competitive - who would turn up at the fete in the most beautiful, best laundered and most exquisitely goffered bonnet? Apparently the miller's wives were the most noted for their abundantly and delicately embroidered bonnets.

In the days when women all had long hair, but washing it was rather a rigmarole, a lovely bonnet to keep your hair free of dust or to cover it up if it was getting a bit dank, was an entirely practical item of clothing.

If you want to see the bonnets, the museum is open Sunday - Friday afternoons during the summer school holidays.

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Saint-Martin-de-Ré: This is the answer to yesterday's quiz about where we went camping. This picture is taken from Google Earth, with the campground outlined in yellow. The entire town sits within one of the forts designed by Vauban for Louis XIV. Saint-Martin-de-Ré is on l'Ile de Ré, just off La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast of France, and a couple of hours to our west. It is the birthplace of Nicolas Baudin, explorer, naturalist and career naval officer, who was sent to map the coast of Australia and collect specimens of plants and animals on behalf of the French government just at the same time as Matthew Flinders was similarly engaged on a mission for the British.

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Orchard News: To my considerable surprise the last of our sweet cherries have survived our absence. I thought the bit of rain a few days ago would cause them to split, and the birds would eat them. But today I picked 7kg of fabulous cherries. A few had split, but the birds must be so over cherries that they seem to have left the tree entirely alone. The variety is Géant (Giant), a late cherry that benefits from being left on the tree, so I am very happy indeed. It seems a shame to cook them, as they are so good fresh. However, I don't think we can munch our way through 7kg in a couple of days. And besides, cherry sponge pudding in the winter is something to look forward to.

The strawberries have really slowed down, to just a couple of hundred grams every few of days. Some tomatoes are beginning to set and the peppers have buds. One of the aubergines has a flower, but the zucchini has been eaten by snails. The leeks are looking good, but there is no sign of the potatoes flowering. The celery doesn't appear to be doing anything.

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Heatwave: We are set for a canicule (heatwave) with temperatures yesterday going over 30° and predicted to stay high for the next few days.

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Global Weather News: For those of you who are interested in climate change, here is a link to an excellent programme by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which explains the mechanisms which give us our weather and how they are changing. The programme has received world wide attention and acclaim as an excellent layman's overview of the situation as we currently understand it.

The Best Mussels in the World

We bought a kilo of mussels from this boat in Eden Harbour, New South Wales, last December. They had just been harvested from the mussel beds across the other side of the bay -- you can see them from the harbour. The owner assured me that he had just come back from Europe where he had tried the mussels everywhere, and he had travelled all over the world. These were undoubtedly the best mussels I would find anywhere. They were certainly very large and they were very good. Unfortunately, I'd had a stupendous eggs benedict breakfast at the Waterfront Café in nearby Merimbula, and couldn't really do the mussels justice at lunch time. They cost $10 a kilo (the equivalent of €7.85 -- normally I pay €5 or €6 per kilo at the fishmongers in Preuilly market, for mussels half the size and rope grown at La Rochelle.)

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We're Back!: We got back yesterday afternoon from a mini camping break in our newly acquired tent. Two points will be awarded to anyone who can guess where we went. Here are some clues:

• we saw rasta donkeys in pyjamas (1 bonus point if you can tell me what they are usually called in French.)
• we camped within the walls of one of the finest historic defensive complexes in France (1 bonus point if you can tell me the name of the architect).
• we ate lots of oysters.
• we saw rare birds breeding on saltmarsh.
• there were more bicycles than cars and every second shop was a bike hire place.

We had a great time although having a piece fall off the car on the motorway on the way home was not ideal. Fortunately Simon is the sort of bloke who has a toolbox full of random stuff, some of which might come in handy for any given emergency. Photos and blog posts to come.

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Quiz Results: chm is the winner with 3 points. He was the only one who correctly guessed the name of the place, and from there it was an easy step for him to get the architect. Second was Anton who got both bonus points, but did not guess the place. Third was Lady Justine, who I was very tempted to give an extra bonus point to as she was so close and had reasoned very well. She was the first to guess the donkeys.

Surprisingly, although several people guessed that the rasta donkeys were the breed called baudet de Poitou, and I have awarded them points, no one picked up on the 'in pyjamas' part. The phrase I was actually looking for is ânes en culottes, and you will find out why in a few days.

So, the answers to the questions are:

We went camping on Ile de Ré, inside the 17th century star fort created by Vauban around the town of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The donkeys are a tourist attraction in the town and known as 'donkeys in trousers'.

A Mongrel Landscape

An information board on the lookout at Twofold Bay, Eden, about alien invasive plants and their impact in Australia. Because it was spring when we visited last year, and the season had been good with plenty of rain, it was very obvious just how many invasive aliens there are in the landscape, since they were all merrily flowering away. Even though I already knew it is a problem, it was still shocking to see how ubiquitous and how dominant some of these invaders are. They were everywhere on roadsides and shorelines, and even in the National Parks.

Sorting Out the Skimmers

Come July those lovely dragonflies with the blue dusted abdomens are on the wing here. They are the Skimmers Orthetrum spp and we have four species recorded for départements 36, 37 and 86, plus two similar looking Chasers Libellula spp. Only the adult males have the pruinose dusting that makes them go blue. Females and tenerals (juveniles) are yellow with black scallops down each side (don't mistake them for Clubtails, which apparently often happens if you are a beginner).

Black-tailed Skimmer (mature male), photographed on the boat ramp in Preuilly.

Black-tailed Skimmer O. cancellatum: This is the skimmer you are most likely to see, between May and September, peaking in June and July. It has clear wing bases (distinguishing it from the Blue Chaser) and black pterostigmas (the coloured cell on the wing near the tips). The thorax does not have pale stripes and the appendages (tip of the abdomen) are black. My observation is that this species is most often seen close to larger watercourses like rivers and canals, usually sunning themselves on bare ground or zipping about defending their territory.

White-tailed Skimmer (mature male), photographed on one of my Boussay butterfly transects.
A mature female photographed near the Maison du Parc in the Brenne can be seen here.

White-tailed Skimmer O. albistylum: Always a less common species, but by no means rare, flying between May and September, peaking in July. They have clear wing bases and black pterostigmas like the Black-tailed, but can fairly easily be distinguished from that species by the pale stripe running down the middle of the thorax, from the back of the head and between the wings, and pale bands on the side of the thorax. The appendages at the tip of the abdomen are white. My observation is that they are most often found in rank grassland, often a long way from any watercourse or étang.

Keeled Skimmer (juvenile male) photographed in our potager.
His abdomen will develop the blue dusting within days.

Keeled Skimmer O. coerulescens: Smaller than the above two species (more the size of a Common Darter) and much more localised in distribution. They have long yellow pterostigmas and pale thorax stripes. When mature they have only the finest black lines and dots on the abdomen. Like the White-tailed, my observation is that this species is found in rank grassland away from water. They fly from June to September, peaking in July.

The fourth species it would be possible to see here is the Southern Skimmer O. brunneum, which looks like a large, late flying version of the Keeled. They are very localised and uncommon.

Broad-bodied Chaser (mature male) photographed at an étang in the Foret de Preuilly

Amongst all these slender 'blue arrows' you will also find the big bruiser Broad-bodied Chasers Libellula depressa, abundant and often dominating the étangs. They have much broader abdomens and black wing bases, so are not too difficult to distinguish from the Skimmers.

Prepping the Museum

Our local museum is due to open to visitors on Saturday 6 July, when the school holidays start. It is staffed by volunteer teenagers and as a result is only open during the holidays. Prior to the new season some members of the Société Archaeologique de Preuilly gathered to refresh the paint work and 'spring' clean.

Dominique painting.

 John painting.

 John sweeping out the bread oven.

Jill and I cleaned the collection of prehistoric tools and their glass cabinets. As Jill said, it gives you a whole new perspective on these objects -- mainly what a pain they are to dust! Simon did a nice job of painting a door and a window. Naturally the morning's work ended with an apéro (a lovely buttery Chardonnay from Crissay-sur-Manse and St Michel galette biscuits) before we broke up for lunch. After a suitable interval we reconvened and worked till 6pm.

Many thanks to Bernard and Christine (as ever the lynch pins), Dominique and Sylvie (who admitted that history was Dominique's thing, but cleaned a cabinet of stone tools anyway), Dominique R, Jill and John (who are ever on hand to help with the museum), Mme Galland ('specialiste pour les petits objects') and Jean-Claude. Our thoughts are with Marc as he recovers from an illness, so couldn't be with us.

The museum is open 6 and 7 July, then from 13 July to 31 August every day except Saturday from 2.30 pm to 6 pm. Entry costs €2, but if you hold a Pass réseau de musées de Claise et Creuse you get in for €1.50 and receive a gift on your fourth visit to museums in the network. The museum, with its fine collection of lace and Touraine bonnets, as well as flint tools, a Roman coffin and 19th century tools from farming and trades, is located in the Poterne, just below the chateau.

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 Weather Update: After several days of warm properly summery weather we had a downpour Tuesday night -- not unexpected, and indeed, ideal in terms of not interfering very much with one's activities and welcome in the garden. Wednesday morning remained a bit drizzly, but that was OK as I was just out paying various bills. It stayed drizzly for the afternoon too, which was not so OK as I wanted to pick the last of our sweet cherries and some of our sour ones. Being unable to bring them in probably means we will have lost the sweet cherries. But it's back to full sun for the foreseeable now, according to the Météo, and the 4 sequentially ripening sour cherry trees will give me plenty to do over the next couple of weeks.

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In Our Kitchen Yesterday: A kilo of broad beans shelled, blanched and frozen. Sadly not our own home grown, as I never got any planted due to the persistent wet.

Pretty Pink Paeonies

This photo of our front courtyard dates from a fortnight ago but I just hadn't got round to posting it on the blog. The pretty pink flowered paeony was given to me by my sister years ago when we lived in London. This year the buds opened and the very next day there was a deluge, before I had a chance to photograph the flowers. Amazingly, they survived the rain unscathed, so I made sure to photograph them the day after that, during one of our few bright and sunny episodes. The flowers lasted a week, despite being rained on almost every day.

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How is he going to harvest that?

This farmer has seriously miscalculated the weather and soil conditions this year and ended up with a very strange mixed summer crop. He's had several goes at ploughing and planting this field in the spring, once with maize and once with sunflowers (the sunflowers are not volunteers from last year). Neither is looking spectacular. This photograph dates from a week ago.

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Chimney Swept: Pascal from Bertucelli's the plumbers came yesterday to sweep the chimney. He's a nice man. When I pay the bill I'll get a certificate, to prove to the house insurers that we have had it done. It's a requirement of the insurance.

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In Our Kitchen Yesterday: Grilled herby chicken and rhubarb crumble served with homemade strawberry icecream. I stripped 1.7 kg of top quality redcurrants from their stems and froze them. I had picked the redcurrants the day before at my friend Pauline's place. She's been banned from making redcurrant jelly, and has 20 redcurrant bushes loaded with big fat redcurrants, so if you fancy any and are prepared to pick them yourself, get in touch... She came out and helped me pick, but I imagine that was displacement activity to delay the whirlwind of housekeeping prior to some guests arriving.

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In the Field Yesterday: Male Ilex Hairstreak butterfly Satyrium ilicis nectaring on a Lizard Orchid Himantoglossum hircinum. Marbled Fritillary butterfly Brenthe daphnis nectaring on Wild Privet Ligustrum vulgare. Hummingbird Hawk Moth Macroglossum stellatarum nectaring on Fragrant Orchid Gymnadenia conopsea. Hummingbird Hawk Moths are one of the most important pollinators of Fragrant Orchids. The White-tailed Bumble Bee mimicking hoverfly Volucella bombylans var. plunata nectaring on Round-headed Rampion Phyteuma tenerum. Orange-spotted Emerald dragonfly Oxygastra curtisii resting on a grass stalk. All seen on limestone sites near Chaumussay.

Wildlife Watching in the Val de la Claise Tourangelle in July

The hot pink spires of June foxgloves are replaced by shocking pink Purple Loosestrife growing in the roadside ditches. Every now and then, there will be a stand of pearl pink soapwort, pastel cousin of the crimson Carthusian Pinks of May.

Check out umbellifers (wild carrot and the like) or scabious (below)  - they will often have beetles such as this longhorn Stictoleptura cordigera visiting them.

The average maximum temperature in July is 26°C. It is the sunniest month on average, with 240 hours of sunshine.

Don't be tempted to mow over any brown remains of orchid spikes in your lawn yet. The seeds take a surprisingly long time to properly mature and you need to leave them another month at least.

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Lights Out: Tonight will be the first night of a new requirement for French businesses to ensure that the lights in non-residential buildings are out by 1am, or no more than 1 hour after the last employee has left. Hooray! no more passing office blocks and schools all lit up, with all the computer monitors flickering blue light. Many local authorities, Preuilly included, have already decided to turn off street lighting in the early morning rather than run all night -- saving money and benefitting the environment.

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In Our Kitchen Yesterday: Cheesy Olive Damper -- Simon made Ken's Cheesy Quick Bread Loaf recipe and added sliced black olives.

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Preuilly Pool: Contrary to the impression given by the notice pinned to the town hall board and at the entrance to the camp ground in Preuilly, Preuilly swimming pool is not open every day except Thursdays during the month of July. As Antoinette, Simon and I discovered this morning when we turned up ready to swim, it will open from 6 July (until 1 September) on that basis. The notice telling you this is stuck to the reception desk glass, so you have to peer through the (glass) main front door to see it. Sheesh! and they wonder why no one uses the excellent sports facilities the town provides...

The Montevideo Maru Memorial

 While we were in Canberra in November-December last year we took the opportunity to visit the recently dedicated memorial to the Montevideo Maru disaster at the Australian War Memorial.

The Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society has worked tirelessly to reveal the truth of this World War II tragedy. Members of my family attended the dedication ceremony in July 2012 because my great-uncle Eric was one of those killed in the action.

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Commune de Preuilly News: According to the minutes of the most recent council meeting, the council is going to trial traffic lights on rue Chaumont-Patin in September. If they work as hoped they will then be installed permanently. It will mean that the streets coming off rue Chaumont-Patin will all become one way and parking will not be permitted in rue Chaumont-Patin.

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The Preuilly Triffid

Can you tell that this door is never used? This extremely robust Night-scented Tobacco Nicotiana sylvestris is a volunteer, having self-seeded from last year. It's growing through a plastic mesh doormat into a tiny crack in the pavement. The stems are a good 30 mm in diameter.

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Chaumussay Butterfly Survey 30 June: The butterfly situation is still dire. No Fritillaries (except Queen of Spain on the hot dry limestone), no skippers, no forest species. I think the hairstreaks have emerged, but they were staying at the tops of the Downy Oaks and not coming down to be identified. Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns and Adonis Blues the most abundant species, but still nothing to write home about. The only remarkable presence is continuing high numbers of Pearly Heaths. However, I did have the pleasure of being accompanied on the survey by blog reader Mary and her husband Bill, who are from Arizona, but house sitting in Ferrière-Larçon until the beginning of August. I was pleased to be able to show them some of the nice natural history sites in the area and Bill got some excellent photos.

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In the Kitchen Yesterday: Haemul Pajeon (Korean Seafood Pancake) - don't try and turn it, just put it under the grill.

Bar Beach Kiosk

 Hidden away on Bar Beach Road, by the entrance to the lake at Merimbula, many tourists never discover this gem of a place.

 The Silver Gulls Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae are not too pushy, but ever alert for scraps.

We were taken there by friends who live locally. I love the way the owners use Facebook to keep their customers informed.

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In our kitchen yesterday: I bottled up a batch of preserved orange peel, ready for use in sorbets, cakes and chocolates. 5 litres of chicken stock made, and a  litre and a half of vegetable stock. A kilo of peas shelled and blanched. Lunch was dolmades made from our own vine leaves and elderflower cordial made from flowers collected along the bief (millstream) in Le Petit Pressigny. Dessert in the evening was some of the 500 g of freshly picked strawberries and 2 kg of sweet red Géant cherries from our orchard with home made strawberry icecream. I also picked a kilo of redcurrants at Tim and Gaynor's (the cicada is still sitting in the redcurrant bush). The redcurrants have been stripped from their stalks and frozen.

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Shopping at the market yesterday: a petite boule loaf from the boulangerie (85 cents). A kilo of new ratte potatoes, 500 g peas, a bunch of carrots, 500 g broad beans, 2 leeks, a zucchini, 500 g apricots, 200 g button mushrooms, a bunch of celery, 5 vine tomatoes (total spend on 3 local market garden stalls about €20).

Hard Core

Stand up paddle surfers at Bar Beach, Merimbula, New South Wales. Our friends who live locally tell us it is supposed to be a great body core workout, and has become really popular recently.

Jam Making Commences

Actually it recommenced a week ago. The strawberries are giving generously, so I can happily put several kilos into jam. Amazingly, we've only just finished last year's frozen strawberries, almost all made into sorbet, and I'm stocking up again. Also good has been the rhubarb and strawberry crumble (many thanks to Gaynor for the supply of rhubarb, which sadly does not like my soil).

3kg of strawberries from 20 June. I calculate that's an average of about 3 ripe strawberries to pick per plant every couple of days.

 2 kilos of them macerated in the same quantity of sugar for a couple of days before boiling up for jam.

 With the help of some of my homemade apple pectin from the freezer I've got 6 large jars and 5 small of ruby coloured fruity jam, full of strawberry flavour.

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Cicada for Tim F.

 So far as I can work out this is a female Tibicina haematodes. They like vines and pines (and presumably red currants if no vines available...) As I left Tim B and Gaynor's garden a male started singing from one of their conifers. Almost everything written about them in the last decade or so and available on the net is by Jérôme Sueur from the Natural History Museum in Paris.

Fête de la Musique

 Throughout France the summer solstice is celebrated with music. Every year 21 June is la Fête de la Musique and every town stages a live free concert for the community. This year in Preuilly the weather was unreliable and the music was outdoors, so very few people turned up. It was sad for Les Débranchés ('The Unplugged / Disconnected'), the very good jazz / blues trio who performed.

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 Orchard News: Clafoutis production has begun, as of yesterday, with 500g of sour cherries going into 6 individual puddings. 1.5 kg sweet red cherries and 500 g sweet yellow cherries were turned into compote (stewed, in other words) last night. The birds got a lot of the yellow cherries, as I misjudged their ripening speed. The red cherries came from Tim and Gaynor's. 500 g strawberries made into icecream.

It must be summer now, as I saw a large cicada sitting on the red currant bushes at Tim and Gaynor's while I was over there yesterday picking cherries. In our orchard we have one more sweet cherry to pick, which I think will be ripe in a couple of days, and four sour cherries which are just starting to have some ripe fruit. The nectarines are coming along nicely and it looks like I should get a good crop of the small white ones from the old tree by the potager gate.

Overflow Carpark

A photo from Villandry, 18 June 2013.

Hard Knocks in Vouvray

At about 5.30 am last Monday morning there was an intense hail storm over Tours. We had a client to meet at 9am in central Tours on Tuesday morning and were amazed at how littered Boulevard Heurteloup was with leaves and twigs from the plane trees that line the street and shade the central parking. The street was literally carpeted, even after 24 hours.

The farmland around Tours has been badly affected, with vineyards in Vouvray particularly hard hit, as well as canola crops in the area destroyed and sunflower seedlings shredded. The egg sized hailstones fell for about 15 minutes and simply shredded the vegetation, punched through slate roofs and dented cars. The vineyard workers reported finding dead rabbits and birds amongst the vines too. For some dramatic pictures of the worst of it, see the local newspaper report.

Our winemaker friend Alexandre Monmousseau, who owns Chateau Gaudrelle in Rochecorbon, posted photos of the damage on his Facebook page and it was a sorry sight. We called in to see the team at Gaudrelle on Tuesday evening and Alexandre updated us about the situation.

Many of the 180 vineyards in the Vouvray appellation have been affected. A few have lost their entire crop before it had even got underway for this year. Some have probably lost about 75-80% of their crop. Most, like Chateau Gaudrelle, estimate they have lost 50-60% of this year's crop. Not many have been lucky enough to escape with under 30% losses. A few winemakers will lose their vineyards or certain parcels because the damage has been severe enough to kill the vines. The vines have many jagged wounds and the weather remains warm and wet -- a recipe for a mega-fungal outbreak if ever there was one.

Those who will be most affected are those who are only just starting out and those who are not insured against hail. Hail does not fit the government criteria for declaring a natural disaster, so even those who are insured will have to be assessed and compensation payments may take a long time to reach those who need them. If the event had been officially designated a natural disaster, the insurance companies must pay claims quickly and without haggling about details. However, some government assistance will be forthcoming and the appellation is being very pro-active in ensuring all its members feel supported.

This hailstorm comes in the wake of the reduced 2012 vintage. Due to poor weather all last year, most vineyards in Vouvray, and throughout the Touraine as a whole, only managed about 50% of their normal output. With two years in a row of reduced quantity, some wineries will struggle to meet their commitments to suppliers. In Chateau Gaudrelle's case, they have arranged to buy grapes from partner vineyards in Vernou-sur-Brenne (also part of the Vouvray appellation) who fortunately were not affected by the storm.

When we saw Alexandre he told us that it was very difficult initially to assess the extent of the damage. For a day or two, the vines remain green, but after some days more and more vines start going brown. His vine master Guillaume sprayed against fungal disease immediately after the storm, but it rained heavily again and his effort was wasted. On Tuesday evening he was out in the vineyard again, spraying fungicide. The site is steep and the ground slippery. Alexandre said that every time an emergency vehicle passed with its siren going, he hoped it was not for them. It is all to easy to tip a tractor over in such conditions, but Guillaume insisted the fungal treatment must be done immediately to prevent further threat to the vines.

We will continue to support the Vouvray vineyards, and Chateau Gaudrelle in particular, by visiting regularly with clients and spreading the word about their great value, high quality wines.

Photo credits: All photos on this post are courtesy of Alexandre Monmousseau and Chateau Gaudrelle. They were taken by Alexandre on the Chateau Gaudrelle estate on the day of the hail storm, 17 June 2013.

Chinon and Richelieu Storms: Chinon and Richelieu have also been hit by torrential rainfall, on Wednesday, with added golf ball sized hail. The vineyards here have mostly had a lucky escape, with much less damage overall. Most of the problems around Chinon and Richelieu have been from water causing erosion and subsidence or collapse and the event has been declared a natural disaster (so insurance claims will be fast-tracked). Our friends Colin and Elizabeth posted pictures of their garden and road at Braye-sous-Faye. On Saturday our friend Annie emailed me a picture of the new water feature in their courtyard at Champigny-sur-Veude (I must say it looked remarkably like the wall had collapsed, but Annie said she was rather enjoying having a stream running through the garden!) Check out Annie's new exhibition in Berlin, by the way.

Photo courtesy of Botanical Annie.

Still, it's nothing compared to the floods on the French-Spanish border and along the big central European rivers through the Czech Republic and Germany, or indeed the poor sods in northern India.

UPDATE: L'Eminence Rouge has also blogged about it and posted pictures of flooding in Richelieu. Many flooded cellars and gardens.