Spring....The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Spring has arrived
3/16/20263 min read
Spring this year has been marked by false promises, but at last temperatures are rising , and we see the sun more often than rain. The air is buzzing with the promise of new life. Along the banks of the River Lergue in town the trees are no longer bare, and are covered in a delicate green mantle. Countless varieties of wild flowers appear beneath our feet as we walk through the forest, whilst wild orchids , daffodils and delicate blue anemones are popping up all over our garden. As the mimosa fades, the forsythia takes its place with bursts of yellow. Is there anything not to like about spring?
For far too many weeks , we have gazed out onto dark sombre skies. Not any more! This evening the sky was clear, save for a few dark grey clouds scudding across the horizon from north to south. Slowly, the sky turned a delicate pink . Steadily, the colours deepened until the whole sky was ablaze. At long last our evening sunsets have returned. Each one will be unique.
But as we learned with the sad episode with our toads, Nature can be cruel. Not everything about spring is to be welcomed. For months now we have watched white gauzy nests being spun from the branches of our pine trees. Travel through the forest, and you will see them literally everywhere. Some tall trees bear thirty or forty of these nests at least, as you can see in these trees by the side of the road as we ascend to the plateau.
These nests are to be avoided at all costs , for they have been spun by the caterpillars of the pine processionary moth. These caterpillars bear bunches of hairs which contain a highly allergenic protein which can cause anaphylactic shock. All winter long the caterpillars have emerged from their nests at night to munch on the pine needles, but now is the time for them to descend, and bury themselves in the earth where they will pupate. When they eventually emerge as smalll grey brown pine processionary moths they will lay their eggs in a pine tree and almost immediately die. And so the cycle will continue.
We aren't sure why, but the caterpillars have appeared late this year . However they are here now. "Watch out for the processionaires, " Madame C. warns us as we pass her on our walk through the forest. " The caterpillars are around," shouts Madame G. as she rides past us on her beautiful pony. We wonder how Mme C.'s dog will fare if he puts his nose into a bunch of them , or indeed Mme G.'s pony, for we have known of severe reactions or even death amongst local animals. Nonetheless, these creatures are fascinating to watch as they emerge from their nests and process nose to tail along the forest tracks, then bunch up tightly together to bury their way underground. However, when we do spot them, we keep our distance. These are pictures which we took beside our pond this weekend.
