The countryside bursting into life. Daffodils flowering in the orchard. The grass verges along the lane covered in wild violets, gentians and buttercups. Spring may not be here but it's on the way.
Sophie is loving lockdown. Her flock on call all day, every day. Long morning walks with Angus, afternoon walks and trips to the Click and Collect with 'The Font' . Quite the social calendar for the family diva.
Down by the river the warm weather is releasing scents long hidden in the ground.
The house by the pond has been through a number of owners. When we first arrived the house was owned by a Parisian couple. Long term readers may remember that one week the husband claimed he was at a business conference in Lyon. The wife followed him and discovered he wasn't in Lyon but at the village house with a 'lady friend' . A moment of high drama followed. The mans car headlights were smashed and all his clothes thrown out of an upstairs window. The gendarmes were called when the spurned wife got hold a power hedge trimmer. Since then the house has been sold and the gardens have developed a less Parisian , more 'rustic' air.
The German billionaires have now bought it. 'Rustic' is not a style they adhere to. The shrubs that lined the village pond and have provided shelter and safety for the moor hens have been cut right back to the ground . This morning there's no sign of the shrubs, the moor hens or the moor hens nests. Angus feels sorry for these feathered villagers. They've been a small, but consequential, part of this blog. Billionaires 1 : Moor Hens ( and nature ) : 0
The picture at the top is amazing :
9 comments:
I'm very sorry to hear about the pond and the moorhens. Let's hope it is allowed to regenerate in a way that can provide at least some wildlife shelter.
How sad that the German billionaire has decimated the area and habitat around the village pond. Will anyone complain I wonder? The old Mayor might have had a few words to say! We hope that the foliage is allowed to grow back so that the moorhens will return.
The article about the dog was interesting. We had a rescue dog, Duke, who was very similar to Jack, in that he was totally unpredictable - we never knew how he would react to people we met outdoors, or in our home, though generally he was better in the house - maybe he felt safe. Things became so bad that we actually discussed euthanasia with our vet, who wouldn't put down healthy animal. Yet with me, he was the sweetest dog imaginable and showed me a great deal of affection and absolutely no aggression, though he snapped at my husband on occasions and frequently growled at him, with raised hackles. At the time we had three dogs - 2 Labs and he was a spaniel mix, so maybe he felt threatened by them, they being much larger. He would certainly have a go at the other male, but left the female well alone - she was undisputed boss of the pack!
Lovely to see signs of spring, but that is just HORRIBLE news about the Billionaire wrecking the moorhens' home. And why another property anyway? Is he planning to buy up the whole village?
Angus, that is shocking. Can you build a pond? Or get the new Mayor to build a wildlife pond fir the village?
What a shame. Some people have no thought for protecting the local wildlife. Shame on them.
Hari Om
...so this is not the village pond but the billionaire's pond to do with as he likes??? Heartbreaking news.
I got to the para with the envelope of treats, so am off to finish that article; I had a friend with a dog like Jack. Kramer was responsble for the scar on my lip... I often wondered silently how Emm could continue to keep him. YAM xx
What constitutes a "clean" and "healthy" environment is changing. I've read recently about "bad" and "lazy" farmers that don't till and otherwise treat their land to weedless purity--or is it sterility? Vs. those who let things be a little more wild. The German billionaire seems more attuned to airbrushed perfection than to a vibrant ecosystem. It was a view far more commonly held just a few years ago.
The New Yorker story was very upsetting. I am afraid of dogs. I cross the street to avoid them. The owners yell "he just wants to play" or "you'll be OK if you don't act afraid" when their unleashed dog comes running at me. I should be able to walk down the street without being bitten, jumped on, licked, sniffed or growled at, and it isn't my obligation to play or not act afraid. I'm horrified that the author took a biting dog on the subway and on a train. Two women in France have been killed recently by their own dogs.
What a complex story - the damage to that poor dog had been so severe. Other that German twit! That photo is wonderful. Vaccine rollout is just beginning over here - and only to Border staff and then to their immediate family. But there's no rush - other than needing to use a movement tracer app our lives are pretty much unaffected. Unless we want to travel overseas... and we'd have to be crazy to do that!
Sad to hear about the pond. Poor Jack. My PON was reactive around strangers, but so sweet at home. There wasn't anything wrong we had done. She was highly sensitive and anxious around strangers. That was her personality, along with being aloof and preferring her humans over dogs. Walking on a leash, or being around strangers who would gesture while talking loudly made her react and lounge at them. No one hurt her at home, but that's how she was. Being a sheepdog, she nipped as opposed to bitting. It hurt but there was no damage. We didn't have many of these episodes, because knowing her we kept her away from strangers. Perhaps socialization would help but there weren't enough strangers and dogs in our neighborhood in all four seasons to have lasting effects. Sometimes, just one or two people would cross our path over a 40 minut walk. At home she was so sweet, even with little kids who aren't always gentle no matter what we teach them and how attentive we are. She got used to our extended family members visiting. My PON loved her human sister. It was the best time of her life, having a two legged sister to play with, and give her food. We could avoid bad situations outside the home so we did. If we couldn't that would be a different story.
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