Twin yellow-banded bug?

Over the past few days we have noticed several of these bright little creatures flying and landing around some spare Delilah flowers we planted at one end of the potager.

So far we have been unable to conclusively identify them.

The nearest we have is from our Collins Field Guide

Scolia flavifrons Fabr. male is shown on the second row down. It is near but not near enough!

Any help from our insect experts would be appreciated.

Fête de l'Étang, Guesnes

The Fête de l'Étang at Guesnes was held this weekend.

As it is one of our favourite walking spots, we thought we'd give it a try today, but as soon as we started around the stalls we realised this was a mistake. We staggered from one piece of shade to another in temperatures of 35°C+

Within minutes we'd decided we'd seen all we wanted to....

All the usual brocante stuff with a bit of heavy metal thrown in...

And all this set in the woods beside the lake...

We were about to leave when a troop of Majorettes began a performance and, as they were overcoming the heat to perform for everyone, we felt it only right to stay and watch.

The older girls went first

followed by the little tots who were great fun to watch..

This little girl gave it her all!

And finally the 'mature' group..

We hope to show more dancers next week. Why? click here!

At this point we crawled to the car, set the climate control and came home for an ice lolly and a glass of chilled water. Wonderful!!

Surprise Act...

Friends and family who are familiar with Braye might be a little surprised by the choice of entertainment for the forthcoming Fete du Bois du Temple. This annual event is held, as its name suggests in the Bois du Temple, a normally tranquil piece of woodland opposite the house...

For one day a year the wood comes alive when the brocante stalls are set out for the Fete..

Some years, including this year, a "Balade de Voitures Anciennes" is held..

The event is the highlight of the year for an otherwise sleepy village. All the more reason why the choice of entertainment may surprise. To see what it is click here

SURPRISED?! 

No doubt we will (or more correctly, Colin will) be taking plenty of photos next Sunday when the event is held. 

Pasta Redemption!

This afternoon saw us in Auchan spending a good few minutes pondering over the various brands of spaghetti and I have to admit this was not for our consumption. If it had been for us, we would probably have grabbed the first reasonably priced bag on the shelf.

However, this was a far more difficult decision because it was for the gourmet taste buds of three fussy eaters - our hens!

They love nothing better than a portion of cold spaghetti!

A few shots of their pasta eating antics....

Nothing left!!

Can you guess which one is the greediest?!!

A Scarce visitor to our garden!

We spotted this Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalinius) battling the gusty wind this afternoon.

It is only a scarce visitor to our garden as despite its name the butterfly is quite common.

This extract from Wikipedia gives more detail: (Full entry is here)

It is widespread throughout Europe with the exception of the northern parts. Its range extends northwards to Saxony and central Poland and eastwards across Asia Minor and Transcaucasia as far as the Arabian peninsula, India, and western China. A few specimens of the Scarce Swallowtail have been reported from central Sweden and the UK but they were probably only strays and not migrants. The scarcity of UK migrants is responsible for the English common name. In the Alps it can be found up to altitudes of 1600 m.

Collared Doves update.

We wrote about a pair of Collared Doves nesting in our Christmas tree in June (See Here).

After watching the parents sitting there day after day and changing over at regular intervals we thought it must be a failure. Looking at the nest from ground level we could see no evidence of there being any chicks but the adults kept coming back and forth.

However on the 14th July we had our first sighting of a well developed chick sitting in its nest.

Today it is moving around the Christmas Tree but as far as we know it has not yet attempted flight, despite desperate attempts by both parents to encourage it.

Here the parent is keeping guard in the adjacent willow and making a lot of Coo Coo noise but as yet the baby is staying put.

If it survives and it is a big IF*,  it will be interesting to see if it comes to the bird feeders in the winter.

* when I opened the bedroom shutters a few days ago, a very large Buzzard was sitting looking at me from the same willow (above photograph). It is only the second time we have seen a Buzzard in the garden!! As usual the camera was nowhere to be found!!!

Five go canoeing!

Yesterday, being Jane's birthday and a stinking hot day we decided to cool off with some watersport.

Down at Le Lac in Châtellerault single, double and triple canoes were available so we decided on adults in a double and 'children' in the triple...

Best to let the woman drive and paddle!

Absolutely loving it, Elizabeth decided to venture out alone!!!

After several trips around Le Lac we retired under the shade of a tree and had ice creams all round. It was a great afternoon, the canoe hire is free of charge and the ice creams are one euro each.

Le Lac amenities are open until the end of the school holidays and well worth a visit, just register your names as you enter the area and away you go...

The evening was completed with apero with our young neighbours.

Jane had a great birthday but sadly had to return to the UK this morning.