Tails From Provence

In the first six months of our stay here, I hadn’t actually seen an awful lot of wildlife.

There was the wolf pawprint in the snow (but no actual wolf, phew)…

…a dead deer at the side of the road (I know who to call next time THAT happens), a brief glimpse of a sanglier in the woods when Doug the Dog was chasing it and, months later, a glimpse of a shadow, rustling branches in the scrub as it rushed away – a deer? another sanglier?

There have been many large birds of prey soaring overhead.  I am entirely useless at identifying large raptors, probably because there’s not much call for that skill in Ireland.  Garden birds, yes.  Water birds, I’m not bad.  Large raptors, nope.  Although, recently, we learned how to positively identify Jean le Blanc, the short-toed snake eagle (I much prefer the name Jean le Blanc).  It’s mostly white underneath – hence the name, I suppose.

It helps when you manage to photograph the giant birds of prey but not always :

I think this is a (common) buzzard but I’m not sure – if anyone out there can enlighten me, please do!

Since May, we’ve seen a few squished hedgehogs and badgers on the road.  Not terribly nice to see, poor little things!   Then when Ash and the YD were settling into the garden shed (their summer residence) they heard a snuffling, rustling noise one evening and were delighted to see a little hedgehog come toddling around the corner.  There are two in our garden, apparently, one of which is missing an eye!

We’ve been seeing more and more foxes running across the road at nighttime over the course of the summer, too.  They seem to be more grey than the foxes we see at home – I’m not sure if I’m imagining that or not… maybe it’s just the local ones.

A couple of weeks ago, we were driving home from the Gorge du Verdon late in the evening and Ash suddenly yelled “Wild Boar!”  We stopped and looked – there were about ten sangliers in a field beside the road.

The LSH whipped out his camera and took these photos.  Sorry they’re a bit blurred, but it was practically dark – it’s a miracle they came out at all!

The family group

This guy was fearless

He came right up beside the jeep and stared at us

Then it all became too much for him and he walked away in a dignified manner

before breaking into a run!

Last Monday evening, I was riding out with Freya, a visiting Australian musician.  The LSH was with us, but he took a shortcut through some trees while we rode across a field to enter the woods.  Next thing there was an almighty crashing through the trees into which the LSH had disappeared, which frightened the pants off poor Aero.  He stopped dead, neck up like a giraffe’s, ears sharply pricked, eyes out on stalks, snorting like a dragon.

WTF was the LSH doing?  Was he smashing his way through the trees, dragging Cookie in his wake?  Or had she escaped and was he trying to catch her?  Was he deliberately trying to spook the horses as a joke?

It wasn’t the LSH, or even Cookie!  Just as I shouted out “What are you doing?” a beautiful chestnut-coloured doe came bounding out of the trees and landed on the lane in front of us, less than ten metres away.  She was so close that I could see the panic in her eyes as she spotted the horses and quickly changed direction, bouncing down the lane in front of us for a stride or two before diving into the undergrowth on the other side.

WOW!  Freya and I were absolutely thrilled!  That’s the closest either of us had ever been to a wild deer.

There was no chance of a photo, though, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I’m happy that I can no longer say I haven’t seen much wildlife.  I hope I’ll see even more as the months go by!