I met M. Martin our local builder at the déchetterie. He was dumping some rubble from one of his jobs and although happy with the weather so it seemed, it allowed him to get on with his buiilding and renovation work, he was sympathetic to the farmers; they needed rain badly. He waved a piece of broken timber in the direction of the blackening clouds.' Eh oui, ça tourne et ça tourne mais ça tombe pas!' It did rain later on in the morning however but only a few centimetres worth; hardly enough to warrant a celebration.
Later I drove down to the river intending to fish for barbel at La Touche but when I got there the river was so low that it wasn't worth the effort of unpacking the gear from the van. The water was gin clear and the bottom was clearly visible, the current reduced to a trickle. Obviously, the local farmers, desperate for water for their maize and sunflowers, had been pumping water out of the river somewhere along its length. It's a real problem and will be resolved only when we get some really heavy rainfall over an extended period, probably though not until the autumn.
I was lucky enough however to see a kingfisher profiting from the low, clear water. These jewel-like birds little birds are always a joy to see and I am often lucky enough to see one or two when I am fishing. If I remain perfectly still, they sometimes perch near me, perhaps drawn to the many small shoal fish my bait attracts. On my way home I saw a beautiful Little Owl on a telegraph pole. There was also a pair of hoopoes on the bushes near the reservoir at the bottom of our lane. I have seen more hoopoes this year than in any other and this all over the south west and down into Spain. Obviously, the past few breeding seasons have been very successful for this species.
So no fishing but three brilliant birds to compensate for the disappointment.
No fishing? :-( An owl? :-) Nice photo of a vineyard. CMFoodAnd CMTravelAnd
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