Monday 22 April 2024
Heritage Paint Job
Saturday 20 April 2024
The Barbegal Mills
We were there on a stinking hot day at the end of June last year. We parked in the official car park by the aqueducts that fed the mills, and followed them up quite a steep hill. That in itself was quite a build up, and leads to a channel cut through the top of the hill.
The mills are arranged in two parallel sets of eight, progressing down the hillside, each with its own waterwheel. You can see remnants of masonry either side of the water channels and massive foundations of the individual mills. It operated from the start of the 2nd century to the close of the 3rd century, and could grind an estimated at 4.5 tons of flour per day.
Although all is now in ruins it's quite easy to see how it worked, and artists impressions of how the mill looked at it peak abound.
I'm not sure I'd travel all the way to Arles to see it, but it's not that far from the Pont du Gard.
Friday 19 April 2024
Traffic Calming in Etableau
Thursday 18 April 2024
Lamb Curry and Weird Rice
It's a super easy recipe, even if it reads a bit complicated. The level of spice was spot on, and the rice actually cooked fully and wasn't just hard pellets. I'm not usually a fan of any sort of rice cooked in a frying pan, but this was good.
Wednesday 17 April 2024
Rare Adders Tongue Fern in the Orchard
Adder's Tongue Fern Ophioglossum vulgatum (Fr. Langue de serpent).
Five years ago I could hardly believe my eyes! A rare and protected fern suddenly appeared in the orchard. I had no idea where it had come from and I'd never seen it before anywhere, despite spending lots of time with botanists and seeing many rare and protected plants here.
This year I'm thrilled to see that the Adder's Tongue is everywhere in the orchard, stretching in a broad band from north-east, where the original station is, to south-west, up under the sour cherries. I've never seen so many individual plants of it.
My serious botanist friends ask me every year if the Ophioglosse has reappeared. This year I sent them all an email to let them know.
Tuesday 16 April 2024
Lichen Outing to the Chateau de Brou
Here are some photos from the Botamyco37 outing to the Chateau de Brou yesterday. We were focusing on lichen, but there were some interesting insects too. As ever, Marie-Claude did a great job of organising and providing expert field teaching.
Patrick, Marie-Christine and me in action. Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon. |
Violet Oil Beetle Meloe violaceus (Fr. Meloe violet), mating. Male is below, female above. He is eating a buttercup stem, one of their favourite foods. These beetles are the object of some conservation concern as their numbers are declining.
Marie-Claude, left, introducing us to the startling white lichen called Sporodophoron cretaceum, almost entirely restricted to oak trunks, and identifiable because it reacts by turning yellow when potassium is applied.
Many lichenologists favourite little lichen, the uncommon Goldeneye Teloschistes chrysophthalmus (Fr. Œil d’or). It is always found on twigs, and likes being in the wind. It is very sensitive to pollution, so has been in decline in Europe for decades.
Trox sp, a hide beetle that I was lucky to see. They are uncommon, and live in birds nests, eating dessicated organic matter. I think it is quite rare to see one trundling about in the open, and I had to ask for help in identifying it (many thanks Philippe Zorgati).
Variospora aurantia a lichen of limestone, which we found on the stones of the chateau itself. It can be distinguished from its lookalike and very common cousin V. flavescens by looking at the lobes of the thallus (ie the wavy outer edge of the lichen). V. aurantia has flattened lobes, a bit like spatulas; V. flavescens has rounded lobes, a bit like fingers.
Black Shield lichen Tephromela atra var calcarea, something of an old friend for me, as I remember learning this one on a previous outing led by Marie-Claude. This variety is very common on limestone, but there is another variety that grows on flint, and another one that grows on tree bark.
A mating pair of the fever fly Dilophus antipedalis. These are in the family Bibionidae, and typically there is sexual dimorphism like this, with females being larger and having long heads with small eyes. Males have large eyes and are smaller. This pair were just a few millimetres long.
Me trying to photograph the flies. Photo courtesy of Louisette Chaslon. |
We don't often have somewhere so grand for the outing leader to do their introduction. We are very grateful to the Chateau's owners for allowing us access.
Dark-edged Bee Fly Bombylius major (Fr. Grand Bombyle), female, which was lurking around a Common Furrow Bee Lasioglossum calceata colony, waiting its chance to lay eggs in the bees' nests.