La Brenne 2011
Having had such a great 5 days there in 2010, we set off again this June for La Confiance http://www.laconfiance.net/ Our first morning walk around the block gave fantastic views of stone curlew and montague's harriers, red-backed shrikes, melodious warbler and turtle dove. Another morning we set off in a different direction towards Le Grand Village and walked around the two lakes there, this gave us new species of birds including common redstart, savi's, cetti's and great reed warblers. Another morning found us with one of the other guests who had brought his moth trap and the magnificent array of moths that he had caught during the night, including two that we had seen at home...goat and white point. His comment about the sheer numbers of moths was that "he felt totally overwhelmed".
The flowers which had been so fantastic in 2010 were in short supply as France had been having a dry spring just as we had in UK but it was the butterflies we enjoyed this year having 45 species over the week. A short walk south of Martizay at Le Budiniere proved to be the best place all week for butterflies and it was a really lovely walk amongst meadows and mixed woodland. We found the large tortoiseshell, woodland brown and ilex hairstreak amongst the array of fritillaries and whites. A new fritillary for us was the marbled which was really common there.
We found Tony Williams at Parc du Nature http://www.parc-naturel-brenne.fr/ and once again got some useful information from him about the species in the area. We found a pond tortoise laying her eggs in the sandy hedge whilst on a walk from here, spotted flycatchers and golden oriole were also in the area and the dragonflies were everywhere. It was going to be a challenge to identify them but digital photography is really helpful.
Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our time at La Confiance, the hospitality there is fantastic and the food left us wishing we had taken clothes with expanding waistlines! It is a great place to stay with the whole area of La Brenne on your doorstep. It has its own varied wildlife in the garden to enjoy and walks from there give great views of some really rare species. Thanks to Sue and Chris once again for this opportunity to explore this amazing area of France.
La Brenne 2011
Having had such a great 5 days there in 2010, we set off again this June for La Confiance http://www.laconfiance.net/ Our first morning walk around the block gave fantastic views of stone curlew and montague's harriers, red-backed shrikes, melodious warbler and turtle dove. Another morning we set off in a different direction towards Le Grand Village and walked around the two lakes there, this gave us new species of birds including common redstart, savi's, cetti's and great reed warblers. Another morning found us with one of the other guests who had brought his moth trap and the magnificent array of moths that he had caught during the night, including two that we had seen at home...goat and white point. His comment about the sheer numbers of moths was that "he felt totally overwhelmed".
The flowers which had been so fantastic in 2010 were in short supply as France had been having a dry spring just as we had in UK but it was the butterflies we enjoyed this year having 45 species over the week. A short walk south of Martizay at Le Budiniere proved to be the best place all week for butterflies and it was a really lovely walk amongst meadows and mixed woodland. We found the large tortoiseshell, woodland brown and ilex hairstreak amongst the array of fritillaries and whites. A new fritillary for us was the marbled which was really common there.
We found Tony Williams at Parc du Nature http://www.parc-naturel-brenne.fr/ and once again got some useful information from him about the species in the area. We found a pond tortoise laying her eggs in the sandy hedge whilst on a walk from here, spotted flycatchers and golden oriole were also in the area and the dragonflies were everywhere. It was going to be a challenge to identify them but digital photography is really helpful.
Once again we thoroughly enjoyed our time at La Confiance, the hospitality there is fantastic and the food left us wishing we had taken clothes with expanding waistlines! It is a great place to stay with the whole area of La Brenne on your doorstep. It has its own varied wildlife in the garden to enjoy and walks from there give great views of some really rare species. Thanks to Sue and Chris once again for this opportunity to explore this amazing area of France.
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