SPRING TIME

How it has been in south-west France

This springtime this year in the Lot et Garonne has been one of the best we have ever known with a sequence of flowers in the countryside and gardens that has taken our breath away. Perhaps it is a plant reaction to the sequential heat-waves we had last year. Plants flower bountifully when stressed as a way of compounding chances of survival. Here are some examples of my garden over the weeks in May. My peony even sprouted a new colour flower like a cross pollination.

Garden 8th. May
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Garden Foxglove 8th. May
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Garden Camelia 30th. April
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Garden Peony with sudden dark flower 14th. May
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Garden Irises 8th. May
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Garden 8th. May
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Garden Irises 14th. May
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Garden 14th. May
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Garden 8th. May
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Garden 5th. May
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Garden 1st.. May
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Garden 24th. April
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Other images are those taken on walks with local walking groups, distances of 8 to 12 kilometers a time through wooded glades, beside burbling streams and rocky cliffs, undulating farmland and forest, beside vineyards. We see animals, landscape, flowers, historic buildings and at this time of year wild orchids.

Lac d'Escarou, Eymet, 2nd. June
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Lac d'Escarou, Eymet, 2nd. June
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Windmill in Dordogne, 19th. April
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Lac d'Escarou, Eymet, 2nd. June
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Orchids
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Orchids
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Nature walk with Botanist, Rives 20th. May.
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Little chateau near Villereal, June
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Friend's donkey in his garden 2nd. May
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18th April, landscape near Monsegur
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Orchid near Villereal, 29th. April
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21st April woods near Roque Saint Christophe, Dordogne.
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Granary en route from Marseillan to Villereal through the Causse, 19th. March
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One weekend we walked in a group with the association ‘Bien Vivre a Villeréal’ which arranges a walk with a professional for each season. So we had a botanist who identified and explained flowers, plants and trees to us and talked of medical uses, properties and characteristics. We covered only a few kilometres very close to home but with a depth of observation which we rarely have. Next time it will be comestible plants.

In Marseillan, spring is a time to see flamingos returning to the far reaches of the Etang. That too is very special even if not well captured on photo due to their shyness.