Author: Franco

Orange Storms

Basically, this year the European weather system is screwed up. The normal weather patterns are a tad inverted. England, traditionally unsettled and changeable, has enjoyed what I believe is the warmest May on record. We certainly had three weeks of

Posted in 2018 France

Orchid Hunts

We have embarked upon a few orchid hunts following various publications and they have been, what shall I say … a little disappointing? The Indre departement seems to have an enviable reputation for orchids and Francine even has a book

Posted in 2018 France

Early Alarm

We are already on holiday but Francine had set this morning’s alarm for 05:45. To find out why, we must rewind 24 hours. Yesterday morning, Francine had awoken at about 06:00 to peer out of Guillaume’s window and find a

Posted in 2018 France

A Packed Day

France has not enjoyed a particularly settled May. The disturbed weather pattern had continued for our journey thus far. Having invested in an Aujour d’hui newspaper for the weather forecasts, we had been pleased to see that today held the

Posted in 2018 France

La Brenne Again

En Route to our favourite dairy sheep farm campsite at Fanjeaux, we planned to spend a few days in one of France’s wonderful wildlife habitats, La Brenne. We hitched up and hit the road soon after 09:00, deciding to follow

Posted in 2018 France

Guillaume Goes to France

Mercifully, hitching up Guillaume this morning went much more smoothly than had unhitching him yesterday afternoon. We were off and heading for the Newhaven ferry port by 06:30. It was a 30-mimute run and we arrived to join a few

Posted in 2018 France

Guillaume Goes to Brighton

After a three year absence, we are finally bound for France once again . We had planned to go in September 2017 but that didn’t work out.  Now we are finally using that ferry booking, rescheduled, of course. We are

Posted in 2018 France

Three New Species

For our April 2018 count, that is. On a pleasant Saturday with a little cloud cover that appeared to be clearing, we headed back to my favourite close spot for dragonflies, the Marjal de Pego-Oliva.Francine had seen a new spot

Posted in 2018-04 Spain

Trithemis kirbyi at Jalon

This is just a brief note to log the appearance of another species. We were bound for a long lunch with friends starting at 13:00, so there was little to be done beforehand. We did, however, pop down into Jalon

Posted in 2018-04 Spain

Surprise Serapia

Francine and I popped in to Calpe to see how the Las Salinas lagoon might be doing. There’s been quite a bit of development going on around it and the ground seems to be suffering, partly from being churned up

Posted in 2018-04 Spain