Aerating the Lawn - the Hoopoe way...

Our lawn isn't a "lawn" in the English sense. It is what is referred to in France as "pelouse", which is basically a collection of low growing (!) plants, mainly grasses, which, when mown, give the appearance of a rather rough lawn. It is susceptible to drying out in the summer, hence the lack of lush green colour, and there are often some bare patches.

Today it has rained, but yesterday the ground was too hard to get a spade into. Yet we had this visitor using its beak to aerate the lawn....

It was our old friend the Hoopoe!

It is a wonderful sight and this one was obviously quite happy to be close to the house as its crest was flat to its head. When excited in any way it raises the crest to look more threatening.

To read more about the hoopoe, please see here