June in the Tarn
4 weeks of "wild life" in the hamlet.

Arriving at the house on May 30th, the weather was bright and rather fresh at about 12 ˚C. The area had not seen any significant rain for the last 2 months. The drought causing much drying out of the countryside so that an attractive local pond failed to entertain us with "croaks and rivets" as carrion crows congregated to pick off survivors.

Our 3 cats hated the car journey but were immediately intrigued by their surroundings (their second visit to France).

In no time they started bringing in large live crickets and chased them around the house often losing them after a while. They were joined by the odd lizard that managed to wriggle free from their clutches.

Redstarts followed the cats outside chiding them constantly as their young had flown the nest behind the half closed shutter of the empty house opposite, fortunately all the young became competent flyers without mishap and the parents kept attempting to build another nest on the rafters under the shelter over our terrace.

Nightingales were still singing during the day well into June but their song was becoming half-hearted as it got hotter during the month.

Our village colony of swallows appears to have fortunately increased and immature birds constantly appeared on overhead cables. They soon became expert flyers and during a long spell when every day was over 30 ˚C, they followed the adults with high speed manoeuvres to drink and cool off in the pool, even when we were swimming, much to our amusement and to the annoyance of the cats.

Golden orioles were missing from our garden but could be heard on occasions. They are seen (and probably nest) quite often earlier in the season. However, we were entertained by an extended visit by a pair of hoopoes busy exterminating our lawn ants. They were seen on several occasions flying around the hamlet afterwards.

Other regular garden birds including greater and lesser spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker and nuthatch, are always seen and heard. Tree creepers enjoy our acacia trees constantly.

Pigeonnier in its original state:
Ideal habitat for wildlife

Common buzzards are always close by and the occasional honey buzzard and red kite circle around. A hobby falcon was immediately mobbed and sent away by the adult swallows when it took an interest in the young birds. The hot weather continued until the end of the month with the odd thunderstorm (always at night). We reluctantly left after 4 weeks leaving the local cats and 3 village dogs relieved after being terrorised by the 3 foreign animals with large loud bells hanging off the collars round their necks. We experienced close-up encounters with a tawny - and a barn owl on quiet lanes but not so frequently as a few years ago, when little owls were also plentiful. When closing that last window shutter of our house, upstairs in the kitchen, I noticed a pipistrelle bat fall to the ground, followed by several others. Behind the shutter was a large colony of about 30 bats, so the shutter was left open to shelter them and I rescued 6 fallen bats and put them into a dry stone wall to await evening.

Southern France always has a surprise or two in store for us. John and Lina, August 2006