Macroglossum stellatarum

Macroglossum stellatarum or to you and me The Humming Bird Hawk Moth. I photographed this one happily feeding on our lavender bushes at the front of the house. The lavender bushes were a mass of insect life this afternoon but this moth was a joy to watch and photograph as it hovered from flower to flower.

It is a species of Sphingidae. Its long proboscis and its hovering behaviour, accompanied by an audible humming noise, make it look remarkably like a hummingbird while feeding on flowers.

 

Adults are particularly fond of flowers with lots of nectar. They are reported to trap-line, i.e. return to the same flower beds at about the same time each day. I will see if that is true tomorrow.....

Wimbledon's Coeliac champion!

For the past two weeks Colin has occasionally taken a little time out to watch the tennis from Wimbledon. My interest grew when I learnt that, like me, Novak Djokovic, has Coeliac disease.

Coeliac disease is not, as some think, an allergy, or asimple food intolerance. In fact it's an autoimmune disease, where the body's immune system attacks its own tissues. In people with coeliac disease this immune reaction is triggered by gluten, a collective name for a type of protein found in the cereals wheat, rye and barley. A few people are also sensitive to oats.

There is no 'cure' but it is possible to avoid the symptoms of the disease by adhering strictly to a gluten free diet. Djokovic claims that changing to a gluten free diet has helped him with his game. He says the main change for him is his sharper focus and feeling much better physically.

Today this was proved beyond doubt when he triumphed over Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon Men's Singles Final.

This is a victory for Djokovic but let's hope that the focus which has been given to Coeliac by his success will encourage some of the 80-90% of undiagnosed sufferers to go to the doctors to be tested for coeliac disease!

Well done, Novak!

Old carvings

This morning on our way to the supermarket in Chatellerault we called to look at Tiss'affaires, a fabric/ sewing material shop. What we didn't realise that it was market day, parking was at a premium and all we had was a shop name and the street name.

We secured a parking place on a free car park at the bottom of Rue Saint-André and walked in the direction the sat nav indicated. However we could not see the street anywhere. Elizabeth asked a couple who were shopping in the market, but neither of them knew and suggested we ask a policeman!!! There were three standing talking so we asked them.

The youngest of the three crossed his arms across his chest pointing in both directions. The others appeared to point in opposite directions. When we said the shop name they sorted us out in a jiffy.. It turned out the shop was just around the corner... After satisfying Elizabeth's desire to see and feel lots and lots of  different fabric we proceeded back to the car.

The moral of this story is when in doubt, ask a policeman.......

On the way back we noticed a couple of old carved figures on the front of number 14, Rue saint-André

The head has clearly gone on the LH side one but is still visible on the RH side. They look like they have been a pair of Lions guarding the front entrance. The Rue saint-André is quite a narrow little street as this small photo from google earth shows.

Internet searches have revealed nothing about the property so it is like many other such carvings in France they remain just a mystery... Unless anyone knows otherwise..

We posted a blog back in March comparing a "hill" in our garden to Pendle, the hill overlooking Colin's home town of Clitheroe. We had high hopes back then of covering our mini Pendle with flowers but in the style of British Rail, we bought the wrong seeds....

Nothing daunted the seeds were planted and in due course we were disappointed... Until this week, when I noticed little spots of colour on the hill.
 

 

On closer inspection these were the flowers we had so eagerly anticipated. But unlike their counterparts on an area of better soil close to the house, these are flowers in miniature.

For comparison, here are some photos of their nurtured counterparts...

 

Despite the glaringly obvious advantages of the more colourful and showy blooms I can't help but admire the resilience of the hill flowers... They haven't had the nurturing of those closer to the house and soil conditions are unfavourable but still they appear and delight. That's got to be worth applauding!

Heres looking at you....

Caught this little beauty posing readily this morning.

I think it is a juvenile  female Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus) but am probably completely wrong.
It is clearly flightless....

But does make a good picture...

I tried in vain to ask it what is was trying to do on my teasel (Dipsacus Fullonem) but the reply sounded like a sewing machine... anyway it was certainly "Full on em"!!!

Sunflowers as far as the eye can see!

Our journey up to Chinon today was a picture awash with sunflowers as far as the eye could see..

 
The heat of the past few days has certainly not dimmed the vibrant colour of these flowers, so synonymous with the French countryside.

There were sunflowers in all stages of growth from the ones just coming into flower...

to the wide open faces of these gaudy beauties......

If ever you need a sight to lift the spirits, it's got to be a field full of sunflowers in glorious techni-colour!

Apricot Jam !!!!

For those of you who have been following our blog over the months you may remember the apricot 'tree' we rescued from Super U back in March?? (see Apricot Jam)..

To our amazement the 'twig' produced two perfect apricots and not only were they big enough to eat, they were absolutely delicious!

That said, the jam making will have to wait till next year, now!