Life on the wild side

 One of the joys of living in la France profonde is the profusion of animal and bird-life. Not just our own troupeau, of course, though the sight of a dozen assorted cats jostling for the food bowls is impressive enough! I was thinking of the wild animals and birds we regularly see on our journeys and dog-walks.
  Firstly the birds. We see far more here than we did in the UK, even though my work as an insurance claims handler entailed driving extensively in Devon and Cornwall. They seem larger than the UK birds too. On our weekly trips to Church and choir practice we always see several large buzzards flap heavily across the road from their perches in the trees. Usually we see a couple of kestrels and often a hen-harrier, the male of which bears an uncanny resemblance to a seagull, with its white body and black wing-tips, though it is a hawk, sure enough. We also see the occasional sparrowhawk and probably other hawks we are not sure of identifying. Magpies, of course, and crows and rooks are common but what particularly struck us here is the number of jays. Always a favourite of mine with its exotic pink body, white rump and blue wing-feathers, it was a real red-letter day when we spotted one on our trips to Cornwall. If I spotted four or five in seven years, there were certainly no more, Yet here we have seen as many as five in a day and no Sunday goes by without seeing at least two. There is a field by the roadside where we regularly see a grey heron, odd to see it away from water. They seem to hunt mice and frogs here. Hoopoes are not uncommon in the summer, and We once saw a pair of Golden Orioles.
   Driving along recently, we saw a buzzard take off from the road and fly along in front of the car. It was labouring to gain height and seemed to be carrying something. Eventually it dropped its burden and flapped above us. Its prey fell in the ditch and as we passed we saw it was a weasel, seemingly unharmed from its brief air-lift. Or it may have been a stoat. Do you know how to tell the difference? In fact, a weasel is weasely recognised, while a stoat is stoatally different! We once saw a buzzard carrying a large writhing snake.
  Turning to animal life, we often see deer in groups of as many as five, in spite of the attentions of the local hunts. The occasional fox is seen and last Friday, returning home late from a function, we were delighted to spot a badger beside the road only just outside the village of Couture d`Argenson, the first one we have seen here. Frogs and toads are common of course later in the year, though I did move one out of the road two nights ago while walking the dogs before bed.
   I`m sure I have forgotten to mention others (mice spring to mind less pleasantly) to say nothing of the insect population but I must close now and get another coffee. Still, you can see that our country life is infinitely enlivened by seeing the wild life which shares our environment.

   Bye for now!