L'Autre Euro

These two macropods hanging out on the cliffs of Kings Canyon are Euro Macropus robustus erubescens, a common and widespread subspecies of Common Wallaroo. The name Euro comes from an Adnyamathanha (Australian aboriginal tribal language from South Australia) word yuru. 'Wallaroo' is a word combining 'kangaroo' and 'wallaby', as wallaroos are halfway between the two in size.

Tackling the Escarpment

After a day spent walking at the lower level of Kings Canyon, we tackled the escarpment. This is my family heading up to the top.

A Dog's Life

 This beagle was photographed in Chédigny. He is obviously deeply disappointed not to have been taken on whatever errand his owners were on.
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Fungi Foray: The Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine has organised a fungi outing to the Forest of Loches for Sunday 12 October. Meet at the roundabout by the Pyramide des Chartreux (on the road to Montrésor at the junction of the D760 and the D9) at 2.30 pm. The fungi gathered will be displayed and identified in the carpark after the outing.

Making a Lawn

How many people does it take to make a lawn?

This class of high school students got to spend a day in the sun last week at the Logis Royal in Loches, preparing the soil and sowing a new lawn for the terrace overlooking the river.

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A Happy Winemaker

This is a picture of a happy winemaker*, from last week. He's dressed in waterproofs and busy hosing out his pneumatic press. All the chenin blanc from his flint soil has been picked and the yield of juice is high and good quality. Most of his neighbours are saying their yields are low. The juice will be fermented in stainless steel vats to make the base wine for vintage sparkling Vouvray.

 New oak barrels waiting for the juice that will make a distinctive dry wine with a nose like a sweet wine.

Diatomaceous earth being used in the filtering process. Unusually, Chateau Gaudrelle filters the juice prior to fermenting. The juice is allowed to sit for 24 hours to allow large particulates to drop to the bottom. Then to make sure fine particles of skin, seeds, stems and leaves that might lead to bad tastes in the wine are removed, the juice is forced through a pad and plate filter until it runs clear.

 Eole the Belgian Shepherd helps himself to the grape juice that drips from the filter pads.

*It's Alexandre Monmousseau from Chateau Gaudrelle.

Claudette Maquette

Simon has been having fun playing around in Photoshop. This is a real photo of Claudette parked on the side of the road with the Auberge and Chateau of Montpoupon in the background. He's manipulated the image using a style known as maquetting so that the scene looks like it is made of models.

Early Autumnal Villages

 Above is Chédigny, below Montrésor, still looking good in the early October sun. Both of these villages are picturesque enough to want to visit at any time of the year.

Wilderness Walking

Walking in this sort of wilderness area is always a privelege and a pleasure.
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Quiz Results: The answer to Tuesday's quiz is Domaine de Candé. No one got close.

Red Canyon Walls

The walls of Kings Canyon in the Northern Territory are weather worn and dramatic.

Sheep Farming in France

Sheep farms in France are often small, with no more than 200 animals in a flock, but flocks of twice that size are more common on lowland farms, and flocks of 1000 are not unknown. Mostly the farmer is working on his/her own. There are around 5 million head of breeding ewes in France, of which a quarter are dairy ewes. French people consume an average of 3.4 kg of lamb meat per year and the most popular cut is the leg (Fr. gigot).

A small flock in the Vienne, a major sheep producing area where farms remain largely traditional.

The sheep usually spend the spring, summer and autumn on pasture. They may or may not be shedded in the winter and fed a supplement (usually for a couple of months while lambing or in the final weeks of fattening prior to market). Dairy herds are more likely to be kept mainly indoors. The stocking rate is generally lower than one beast per hectare because the farms expect to be self-sufficient in grass and fodder.

The sheep are usually crossbreeds using various combinations of Berrichon de Cher, Ile de France, Vendéen, Texel, Charollais, Suffolk and Chamois for meat, whereas pure bred Lacaune are the most popular for milk. Wool is not a significant market. The main lambing season is February to April (winter lambing) but about half of producers aim to have about a quarter of their ewes lamb in the autumn (September to January) and it is now common to aim for lambs throughout the year (known as aseasonal lambing). The autumn lambs can be sold in the first half of the year, when prices are higher (eg at Easter time). Lambs are sold once they reach 30 - 40 kg, from 2-3 months old and no older than 10 months.

Solognot sheep (a heritage breed) in the Brenne.

Since 2010 radio frequency identification tags (RFID) have been compulsory for sheep and goats in France. The idea is that it allows swift identification of disease sources in the case of an outbreak. The tags hold a minimum of information such as transport permits at all times, but can be used to monitor all sorts of husbandry related things such as feed management.

The tags are seen by some mountain farmers with very small herds as expensive and double handling (there is already a manual tag and record book system in place). About a quarter of farmers refuse to use RFID, and the requirement to do so is currently being challenged in the courts. There is considerable resentment that cattle and pigs do not have to be RFID tagged. Earlier this year sheep farmers 'invaded' the Louvre to protest about the changes to subsidies which they argue favour industrial style farming and penalise the small traditional farmer. Certain subsidies are dependent on the use of RFID tags, and my impression is that the current system of subsidies and tax does indeed favour the larger operators over the small. Industrialised production, where lambs are fattened indoors not on pasture, lambing occurs throughout the year and flocks are getting larger whilst the industry as a whole is shrinking seems to be the trend. Certainly the national flock has declined by half in the last decade, consumption of lamb is down by a third and the price to the consumer has doubled.

I've written before on the blog about French lamb meat -- here about affordable French lamb and a campaign to improve the market for Lacaune lambs (the breed whose milk is used in Rocquefort cheese); and here about lamb from traditional bocage pasture.

Comparison with Australia: there are 75 million head of sheep (45 million breeding ewes) in Australia, but the industry here has declined greatly from its peak in the 1950s. Once, Australia was said to 'ride on the sheep's back' economically, but now cattle, cereals (especially wheat), dairy, market gardening and orchards all outstrip sheep production.  Nevertheless, Australia still produces about a quarter of the world's raw wool and it is 3% of Australian exports, reknowned for its extremely high quality. Australians are amongst the biggest consumers of lamb in the world (spending AUD$2 billion a year on lamb and consuming 10 kg per head per year) and the country is the largest exporter of mutton and live sheep, and the second largest exporter of lamb. The sheep meat industry is worth about AUD$4 billion and a third of all farms are involved in sheep production. Sheep dairies are almost non-existant.

Sheep are mainly grazed on native grassland, often in the semi-arid areas of the country, where sheep farms are known as 'stations'. The principal wool breed is the merino, accounting for three-quarters of the national flock. When producing sheep for meat, merinos crossed with border leicester are favoured.

For an insight into the management of an Australian sheep farm, see the Murnong Farming website. The farm is run by my cousin. I've written about typical Australian sheep farming country on the blog before here.

The Nature of the Touraine Loire Valley in October

 Botany outings are replaced by forest fungi forays.

October gives us notoriously changeable weather, often wet and windy with lots of mist and dull overcast days. Sunrise is about 08.30 and sunset about 19.00. Temperatures and hours of sunlight will drop significantly -- no more maximum temperatures of 20° or above, and back down to about 150 hours of sunlight. Average minimum temperature does not drop as quickly as average maximum though, so minimums are around 10°.

Late flying butterfly species such as Clouded Yellow Colias croceus will make the most of any sunny days.

Out of Africa

4 points if you can tell me where this is.

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Fungi Foray: The Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine has organised a fungi outing to the Forest of Larçay for Saturday 4 October. Meet at the carpark by the entry to the forest at 2.30 pm. The fungi gathered will be displayed and identified in the carpark after the outing.

Once on the D943 (old N143), there is a roundabout signposted for 'forêt de Larçay' and 'Crématorium'. Take the Crématorium exit, then after 50 m the little road to the left marked 'forêt de Larçay'.

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Quiz Results: This life size and extremely realistic model of a zebra has recently been installed in a corner of the garden at the Domaine de Candé. It's visible from the path that goes along the front of the stables and is near the water tower. A point to Colin for realising it's probably cast from a mould. CHM's suggestion of Beauval (the zoo) was good, and what I would have guessed if I didn't know where it really was.

Waiting for Dinner

 The hounds at Cheverny sit patiently on the steps of their kennel, waiting to be released into the enclosure where their dinner is already laid out. Once the kennelman opens the gate this lot will be off like a shot, and the chicken carcasses and dry food consumed in about 10 seconds flat.

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A la cuisine hier: Tomato soup, made by roasting tomatoes, peppers, onions and whole garlic bulbs then pureeing and adding stock. Best done in a food mill because otherwise you end up with chewy bits of tomato skin and seeds. A dash of this and that -- balsamic vinegar or hot sauce, for example, can be added.

Bush Fly Protection

This Canadian couple were taking no chances, at least on the top half, with the notorious bush flies, small black biting flies related to house flies that occur in their gazillions in the outback.

Rocks and Trees

Down in Kings Canyon in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The Cushy Life of the Stunt Hedgehog

The other day, whilst escorting clients through the kitchen garden at Chenonceau we came across a film crew, on their knees amongst the pumpkins.

An assortment of eggs, snails and slugs, as well as the appearance of two cat boxes, alerted me to the fact that they must be filming some creature. I was amused that the snails were not ordinary garden snails, but big Roman snails, the like of which you see gracing plates in restaurants. The slug (Fr. limaces) container was clever -- two plastic cups with a duct tape hinge.

A good sized hedgehog! The slug wrangler carefully placed several juicy specimens on the pumpkin stems and the saucer and the hedgehog was gently brushed free of bits of straw bedding by its handler before being placed down on the ground.

It ate two substantial slugs in the space of a few seconds! No wonder it looked big and healthy, if it got to eat like this all day! And a good demonstration of why hedgehogs are the gardener's friend.

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Loire Valley Nature: A new entry for House Centipede Scutigera coleoptrata has been added. They look scary with all those long legs and blindingly fast dashes up the wall but they are your friend in the house, eating cockroaches and silverfish.

A photo of a 'flying flock' of sheep grazing added to the entry on Calcareous Grassland (Fr. pelouse).

A photo of Short-spurred Fragrant Orchid Gymnadenia odoratissima has been added to the entry for that species.

A photo of signs on private property restricting hunting and forbidding the gathering of mushrooms has been added to the entry on Hunting.

A new entry has been added for Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria -- flowering now on calcareous grassland along with its much more common lookalike Field Scabious.

A new entry has been added for Small Spreadwing damselfly Lestes virens -- these tiny metallic emerald damselflies are autumn flyers.

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Au jardin hier: I've finished raking all the 'hay' into windrows. The next step is to roll the windrows up on themselves and shove the resulting bundles of 'hay' under the fruit trees.

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A la cuisine hier: 13 jars of apple jelly, so we are no longer a jam free zone.

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Jim's Fundraising for Cancer: Jim Budd has completed his ride from the source of the Loire to the sea. If you haven't yet donated to his chosen cancer charities, it's not too late to do so. He's raised €1015 and £1220 for two charities so far. The links and the story of his ride can be found on his blog here.

Autumn Cyclamen

As usual the Chateau Hotel Domaine de la Tortiniere has the most outstanding display of naturalised cyclamen in their park throughout the month of September. It truly is like a carpet under the trees and in the low light they simply glow.

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Eye News: Simon had his final check up with the ophthalmic surgeon in Poitiers yesterday. She is happy with the reattachment of the retina, but unfortunately there are several folds in it which are causing a certain amount of distortion in the vision in that eye. She says it happens sometimes and there is nothing to be done about it. The pressure in that eye continues to be a little high, so Simon has to go on using two lots of drops twice a day -- one an anti-inflammatory, the other the infamous Azarga, containing atropine to give you weird dreams if you are not careful and make everything taste metallic. Azarga is to reduce the pressure to stop damage to the optic nerve and prevent glaucoma developing. He is developing cataracts, as expected, and we must make an appointment with the ophthalmologist in the clinic at Chatellerault for 6 weeks time so he can check on progress. In the meantime, much to Simon's frustration, it is not worth getting new glasses, as the left eye will continue to change every day for several months yet. He copes fine for distance (and therefore driving), but using the computer, pouring a cup of tea or chopping up vegetables are all challenging to say the least.

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Loire Valley Nature: A new entry has been added for sand and gravel habitat.

Photos From the Front Line

At the end of August I had to go to Paris to meet some clients. They were staying at the Marriott on the Champs-Elysées, so I exited the métro at Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau by the Grand Palais and walked down to the hotel. I had time to check out a very moving exhibition of photos taken during the First World War that are on display along a section of the Champs.

Here is a selection of some I found particularly interesting or affecting:

The exhibition of 100 images stretches down the footpath.

 Anzacs on the eve of the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

 Verdun is the World War I campaign that resonates most strongly for French people.

 Service dogs were widely used for rescue and communications. For an account of the actions of one of the most famous messenger dogs and some other interesting pictures of World War I service dogs see here.

The Chasseurs Alpins are three elite battalions of French soldiers who specialise in mountain (and more recently, urban) terrains. They are identifiable by their big floppy beret.

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Fungi Foray: The Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine has organised a fungi outing to the Forest of Preuilly for Sunday 28 September. Meet at the carpark by the Etang de Ribaloche at 2.30 pm. The fungi gathered will be displayed and identified in the carpark after the outing.

From Preuilly take the D725 towards Azay le Ferron. After 5 km at the lieu-dit La Lieutenauderie go left on to the D63c towards Obterre. The étang is 2 km along this road.

From Ligueil or Loches, don't go into Preuilly, but take the D725 just before, towards Azay le Ferron, then follow the directions above.

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A la cuisine hier: Greekish Salad, with lettuce, red peppers, tomatoes, olives, feta marinated in thyme infused olive oil (one of Simon's current faves), gherkins and a dollop of mint yoghurt dressing.

Botany on the Loire Sands

On Saturday 13 September the Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine met at Berthenay, a village on the left bank of the Loire River, on that spit of land which divides the Cher and the Loire before they unite near Villandry and Cinq Mars la Pile. There are several large sand islands in the river at Berthenay, and our objective was to investigate the flora of the Loire sands. Getting there involved me wending my way for an hour and a half via wiggly rural roads from Preuilly sur Claise to Le Grand Pressigny, Descartes, on to La Celle Saint Avant and Sainte Maure de Touraine, hang a left at the big roundabout and through Noyant en Touraine, Saint Epain and Villaines les Rochers (I noticed there's a hemp crop on the outskirts of the basket weavers village) to Azay le Rideau, then it's Villandry, Savonnieres, cross the Cher and finally reach Berthenay.

Restaurant botanique in Berthanay.

Our meeting place was the church, which is right next door to a restaurant which bills itself as the Restaurant at the end of the World. It's run by a botanically inclined chef, who emerged from the restaurant and accompanied us on our outing.

Healthy Soapwort flower on the left, with normal pale stamens; infected by a fungus on the right, with dark stamens.

Even before we had left the restaurant garden Dominique was pointing out an interesting feature of the Soapwort Saponaria officinalis planted there. The stamens were infected with a fungus, turning the pollen dark and compromising its functioning. The infected plant doesn't die though, as it will spread by runners as well.

The banks of the Loire are an extraordinary mix of invasive aliens (Chinese Mugwort Artemisia verlotiarum; Thorn-apple Datura stromonium; Jimsonweed Bidens frondosa; Water Primrose Ludwigia spp; Chufa Sedge Cyperus esculentus) and rather rare and discreet plants, many of which are normally only found at the coast and reflect the Loire's connection to the Atlantic seabord (Red Bartsia Odontites vernus litoralis; Marsh Woundwort Stachys palustris; Strapwort Corrigiola litoralis; Sea Aster Aster tripolium).

White Mulberry Morus alba.

One of the introduced plants is a relict of the silk industry, introduced to the Loire in medieval times as the food plant for silkworms. White mulberry can be distinguished from its close cousin Black Mulberry M. nigra by its paler thinner leaves which have many different forms on the one tree. White Mulberry fruit is pale and not interesting to eat, but silkworms thrive on the leaves.

The leaf beetle Chrysolina menthastri.

I found this lovely leaf beetle on a well munched leaf of Marsh Woundwort. I assume it is C. menthastri as it looks right and is on the right sort of plant ie Laminaceae Mint family.

Female Long-winged Conehead Conocephalus discolor.

There were dozens of Long-winged Coneheads in the thick Paspalum sp grass (another introduced plant) growing in damper patches on the sands.

A view along the river sands.

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A la cuisine hier: Pasta sauce, slow cooked chopped tomatoes from the Aged Orchard Neighbour, and our own homegrown peppers, chilli, aubergine, onion and garlic. Mostly frozen, but some used on a pizza with homemade dough topped with chorizo, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.