Saturday 30 November 2013

France in October

A month in France, neatly slotted in between two meetings of the Merioneth Naturalists/Grwp Natur Meirionnydd!

Falcaria vulgaris
Photo: wikimedia commons
I didn't stop botanising, of course and it was good practice identifying unknown plants using Poland, The Atlas Flore d'Auvergne and Grey-Wilson/Blamey's Flora of Britain and Northern Europe.  I was without internet access for much of the time [now, thankfully, sorted] so I couldn't get to the links Martin Rand provided for other French floras.  But I did track down a Phyteuma sp, a Rampion, [not in flower] with the aid of the white hydathodes at the tooth ends.  There was a lot of Geranium columbinum, Long-stalked Geranium,  which I never find in Merioneth, and more than one species of Setaria and some old friends, Campanula rapunculoides and Dorycnium hirsutum, both still flowering. I had some fun with Apiaceae, mostly past flowering, although  Daucus carota was almost the most common weed along the field banks. I identified Falcaria vulgaris, Longleaf and Pepper Saxifrage, Silaum silaus, but there were several which defeated me.

Soup addicts in the charming village of Charroux
A highlight of our time there was the Fete de la Soupe in the heritage village of Charroux where up to 40 local residents and chefs made their speciality .  We each bought our bowl and spoon for €7 and then wandered round the various stalls sampling the offerings - and very tasty they were!


Try our soup - it's different





                                                                                                                                                                             



Le Buget at nightfall
We had some nice walks and good food, but a lot
of the time we were working on the house and garden - the latter still looking much like a building site.  but we can now walk dry shod from front and back doors.