Chilly in La Macherie but the sun makes an entrance!

Another sub zero day here in La Macherie (-10 this morning!) but we have to go out because the sun is shining, my pipes are still frozen solid so no chance of a hot shower and of course Balloo is raring to go .... he's enjoying all the snow, running just as fast and I'm convinced he's skidding around on purpose!

The river Gartemps is completely frozen over in parts and even here where it flows really quickly its beginning to go at the edges as you can see.

Balloo still thinks he can go in for a splash around though .... no chance matey, look as longingly as you like but you're staying just where you are!

Its lovely to see the sun out, making the fresh, crisp snow positively glisten and I just love the crunchy feeling under-foot as I walk and that hint of warmth on my face. Could have done with sunglasses this morning it was that bright!

I disturbed a Common Snipe (right)  and a Woodcock (left)during my trek out, both long billed birds (the latter is often shot at) that really struggle to penetrate the ground and therefore feed in cold snaps. Snipes are usually to be found probing around on the edges of ponds whilst Woodcock favour the forest floor but in weather like this they can often be seen in unusual places such as roadsides or even gardens as they search for soft ground to probe.

On the way back up the hill to La Macherie I was trying (unsuccessfully) to photograph a couple of Wrens when I noticed this Blackbird sunning itself on one of the few bits of earth not covered in snow ..... he wasn't giving up that spot for anybody, never flinched a feather as I walked right up to him. Ok, probably one of the commonest birds in France, especially at this time of the year but even the most ubiquitous of birds can look good in the right light!

Later on in the day I managed to capture a few decent photographs of Long Tailed Tits as I walked along a hedgerow just outside the village, again a common enough bird but in the right light ....

In actual fact I spent nearly 20 minutes and took maybe 30 pics trying to get some good shots and by the end of it my fingers were so numb with cold I had to give up but these 3 shots came out pretty nicely. The big problem was that although they were quite close they were flitting about like mad in a very twiggy tree which meant that many of the shots were obscured .... ah but it's all in the challenge and worth nearly getting frostbite!

Well I've just succeeded in raising the temperature in my kitchen to 10 degrees C with the aid of both paraffin and electric heaters so time to leave my cosy lounge and cook some food!

I leave you with another nice sunset, yesterday it was Askam Bryan, Yorkshire ... today is an equally chilly La Macherie sundown .....

Boared no, Wild .... I was livid!!!

A few days a ago I was visiting a big local forest, not expecting anything big at this strangely quite time for bird and animal life in rural France, just out with my camera, the dog Balloo and my trusty legs. Like many of the vast woodland areas at this time of the year it's pretty hit and miss as to what you see. Why, I'm not so sure, maybe it's simply because this country is so large that everything is more widely distributed than it is say in the UK. Its still mild too so none of the mass influxes of birds from further north one might experience in other years.

Anyway, I digress! There I was, tramping along the edge of the forest with Balloo skipping along merrily ahead, nothing much doing - a few finches, tits and woodpeckers here and there and some impressive numbers of lapwings overhead, otherwise fairly quiet. All of a sudden Balloo starts going mental, frantically running back and forth along a high perimeter fence, sniffing the air and making funny squeaking noises ... something is making him very excited! And then I spot movement on the ground in the trees about 30 meters away .... Wild Boar, not one, not even two but about a dozen of them! Animal Magic!

They were running away of course but here's the thing - maybe it was Balloo, maybe it was because they had a few young in the groupor maybe they just wanted to make a point, but 3 or 4 of the bigger ones (and they were BIG!) turned around and started snorting at us and doing a few mini charges! Glad of the perimeter fence I whipped camera out, used the fence to steady the lense, zoomed in ... 2 wild boars head on filling the frame, great composition with the trees, focus ..... press the shutter and ........ MEMORY CARD FULL blinking at me in red!!!

Now let this be as big a lesson to any budding wildlife photographer as it was to me that morning - I'm not sure if I'll ever get a better chance to photograph these beasts, let alone 2 that were wanting to charge at me! Yes of course I hastily deleted images but what with Balloo going crazy and me fiddling about they took off. Hey look it was a awesome experience but I found it very difficult to come to terms with not getting the shot, still do!

I cant find any photos on the net that come close to the shots I had primed but these come close and this is what I wsas a memory card away from shooting!

In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarznegger - I'll be back!

Balloo - a short movie featuring mainly sticks and water!

Here he is again, by popular request, the canine star of the year, and this time he gets a short movie casting opportunity, its the one and only BALLOO!!!

Before you play this folks I have to say that this is not the short movie I had expected ...not withstanding that I am a very amateur film maker, I've had serious issues with windows movie maker and when I played it back it paused in the middle (missing one of the best bits .... aaargh!) but just fast fwd ok!

Ah Balloo!

He's been mentioned in dispatches several times and there's been canine rumblings of discontent in the barn about the lack of doggie posts on the blog . . . .so here is my faithfull companion hound Ballo in his very own photoshoot!

He's a 2 yr old mixed breed pointer / lab, a type fairy common in gthis part of France and was rescued from a shambolic drunk farmer and restored to health by my sister and her partner.



He loves to be outdoors, will run all day and has recently developed a passion for fetching sticks from the river. He really is a fine looking hound and as you can see from the following he prefers the action sets to portrait poses! Enjoy ghe pics.