The last serious journey we made towing Guillaume was returning from the New Forest in the middle of August. On that journey we managed a blissful 30 m.p.g. That was about the best we’ve ever done. Today, having crossed the…
Author: Franco
Black Beauties
My main quarry on this trip was a dragonfly I’ve been wanting to see all year; a Black Darter (Sympetrum danae). They aren’t scarce nor do they have a particularly restricted range, being pretty much all over the northern parts…
Posted in 2011 Summer Tagged with: dragonflies, England, nature, New Forest, plants, travel, wildlife
Odo-nutter Network
Now, look, I’m no great fan of management B.S. Darwin knows, I have to suffer enough of it in my time. One of the worst aspects was attending professional functions and being asked to “network” with others. That used to…
Posted in 2011 Summer Tagged with: damselflies, dragonflies, England, nature, New Forest, photography, travel, wildlife
Scary Spiders
Not that Franco and Francine are prone to getting stuck in ruts, but we’ve headed for the New Forest yet again. The scariest aspect of this trip is that Satan’s Little Disciples are on the loose from their sanity-preserving schools…
Posted in 2011 Summer Tagged with: dragonflies, England, nature, New Forest, photography, travel, wildlife
The Pinail Trail
Last year, whilst trawling a few fellow dragonfly enthusiasts’ websites, I discovered an interesting looking nature reserve in France called La Réserve Naturelle du Pinail or the Pinail Trail for Anglophones. Of the 90+ species of Odonata in France, this…
Beer o’Clock
The press is on strike. Now there’s a thing. We have been unable to buy our French newspaper, Aujourd’hui, with the weather maps for the coming four days. Quite why the press thinks that a strike would adversely affect many…
Space at a Premium
Last year farmer Luc’s lake was not looking healthy enough for his liking. Most of the fish in it had died and much of the lake’s surface was covered with weed. Mind you, it did support a large population of…
Posted in 2011 Spring Tagged with: damselflies, dragonflies, Fanjeaux, France, nature, photography, travel, wildlife
Lunch at Gruissan
Fanjeaux was suffering from the Pyrenean effect with overcast skies today whereas, 50mls/80kms away, the Mediterranean coast near Narbonne was expecting clear weather. A good time to go and finally investigate an area we’d been meaning to look at for…
Les Chateaux de Lastours
A spot of culture for today. North of Carcassonne and at the eastern end of les Montagnes Noires, is the reasonably precipitous valley of the river Orbiel. About half way up the valley is the village of Lastours boasting an…
Shrinking Violets
Yet another pair of Homo sapiens subspecies brittanicus arrived this afternoon but this pair was attempting to disguise itself as subspecies gallicus by travelling in a French registered car pulling a French registered trailer tent. It’ll soon be time for…
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