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LA CONFIANCE - Our Gardens at La Confiance are a delight for spotting various species of butterflies, the lavender in the early summer is full of various species. Further afield the Brenne is a magical place to visit. Below is a report written by Susie & Mike Stanley who stayed with us at La Confiance in June 2011 La Confiance, Champ D’ouef, La Brenne. (15-25 June 2011) After much online searching our nature trip to France for 2011 took us to the ’La Brenne’ area of France and a cottage owned by Sue and Chris Mooney in Champ D’oeuf near Martizay. Like David and Mary before us our main attraction was to be the butterflies but we too are also interested in all wildlife. (Perhaps) Sadly for us spring had already been one of the warmest and driest on record and this resulted in everything being about three weeks early and the weather being very variable (for variable read not much in the way of sunshine over the ten day period and a fair amount of rain). So orchids were a rarity and the Large Copper and Large Tortoiseshell were already over but when the sun came out we were not to be disappointed. Previous reports have focussed on the quality of the property and area, extolling their virtues so I have attempted to make this report more informative regarding what and where sightings were mmade but I cannot disregard how welcome Sue and Chris made us with meals, visits and company all adding much to this holiday. Despite the weather Susie and I saw and photographed about 40 species in the 10 days we were there and of particular note were the Woodland Brown, Large Chequered Skipper, Pearly Heath, Ilex Hairstreak and the Lesser Purple Emperor – a selection of pictures is attached. A Small-toed Eagle, Purple Heron, Western Whip Snake and a Muskrat-like rodent on several of the lakes were among the other wildlife that entertained us. Like those before us Tony Williams from the Maison de la Nature et de la Reserve was most helpful in identifying exact locations where a variety of species could be found and my site descriptions are based on the map of La Brenne supplied by Chris and Tony's information. So from this and using Champ D’ouef as starting point our favoured sites were: 1. Heading east through Mezieres-en-Brenne and Vendouevres on the D925 turn left onto the D11 for Meobeqc to the next crossroads D11/D21. This site and further east by about 200-300 metres to tracks on either side of the road. Here we saw : Southern White Admiral Black-veined White… Wood White Heath Fritillary Marbled Fritillary Dark Green Fritillary High Brown Fritillary Queen of Spain Fritillary Silver-washed Fritillary Large Chequered Skipper Pearly Heath Woodland Brown Ilex Hairstreak The south side is obviously a watering hole for deer and both Susie and I picked up several small tics which we spent that evening removing – so take care! 2. Heading south through Martizay and Lureuil on the D975 after the turn to La Bordiniere (the D60) there is a track on the left side. This opens into a large heath area containing: Adonis Blue Marbled Fritillary Queen of Spain Fritillary Weaver’s Fritillary Silver-washed Fritillary Map Great Banded Grayling Pearly Heath Ilex Hairstreak And further down this road after the junction with the D43 on the left-hand side there is a wide-open rough space where we saw: Baton Blue Short-tailed Blue Clouded Yellow And a Skipper which eluded the camera and could not be identified…..frustratingly Other sites were explored including Linge, north of Merigny and around Etang Vieux in the north but none of these could improve our butterfly sitings although the latter is a great walk where we saw the Purple Heron, a swimming Western Whip Snake and a Greater Butterfly Orchid. Mike and Susie Stanley | |
