Christmas Visitors
Christmas Eve at Domaine des Rochers
FLORA AND FAUNA AND THE FOREST WORLDBOATING
12/24/20243 min read
I am writing this on Christmas Eve. Christmas will be a quiet affair for us this year. Apart from sharing Christmas lunch with good friends , life will go on as normal at Domaine des Rochers. As usual at this time of year in this part of France, the weather is moderately cold and windy, but skies are blue. There will be no snow to add any Christmas magic. Perhaps that is why we were especially thrilled this morning , as we ate our breakfast beside the window, for at that very moment we spotted a very special visitor indeed. It was a shy young doe, who was grazing just below us, barely three metres from our table . We do occasionally spot deer , but usually an adult pair who have inadvertently jumped over the electric fence at the top of our property , which is placed there to deter sanglier. But once inside they are surrounded by taller, more conventional fencing, and they will often roam nervously about seeking to escape. Eventually, somehow they manage. Today's sighting was unusual in that the doe was alone. I felt thankful that there would be no hunters in the forest today . But I worry. Is his young doe alone because her parents have been shot? Our visitor was clearly nervous, and having grazed in front of us for a few minutes, it roamed to another part of the garden. How I would love to show you a photograph of this most perfect creature with her large brown eyes, smooth tan coat and little white rump. But alas, any movement on our part would have scared her off straight away. And so I hope my words of description will suffice. Please note the photograph above is a stock photo, but I swear our doe was every bit as beautiful.
We have been doubly privileged this week, for two days ago B. spotted another visitor. However we did not spot this in the flesh. We have left our boat at its mooring on the canal, where, apart from the resident colony of ducks, things are pretty deserted at this time of year, and there are few ,if any, passing boats. . For that reason B. has installed a tiny security camera which warns us of any disturbance. Also we can occasionally look in. Very recently, what should he spot but a kingfisher, and he called me to watch as this most beautiful of birds perched on our mooring rope, then flew off to catch something, and then returned. For a full five minutes we watched it. Kingfishers are not an uncommon sight on the Canal du Midi, where sometimes one may see a flash of electric blue as a bird skims the river. But this is certainly the first one that we have seen on our more brackish canal. Let's hope he returns. This photograph is a still image from our security camera.
A doe and a kingfisher are the finest of Christmas gifts for us. But such sightings are far less frequent nowadays. I am convinced that the number, and variety of birds and animals that we see around here has greatly diminished. Let us hope that as the New Year evolves, more and more people will become aware of this loss of wildlife, which must largely be the result of climate change. But political omens are not good. Even in the U.K. a number of peaceful climate activists will be spending Christmas in U.K. prisons this year, including a frail 77 year old woman. Are we taking their cause seriously enough ?
May I wish you all a more Peaceful and A Happy New Year.
