Gites South Brittany

May was a complete washout – the weather was diabolical and I have been stuck at home bored stiff due to my injury. The highlight of my days has been the visit to the physio!!?? My rehabilitation is painfully (in both senses of the word) slow – I am beginning to spend an hour here and there without my sling and can now lift my arm slightly higher, but I am very limited as to what I can do for myself.

However, the sun came out briefly this morning and I managed to sit outside for a while and watch the Kestrels feeding their newly-hatched chicks through my telescope. We are incredibly lucky to have such a wealth of wildlife on our doorstep – there is always something to watch. If you enjoy tuning into Springwatch at the moment (as I do), then imagine what it would be like to have access to such wonders daily on your own doorstep. Hares play in the field next to our garden, deer are regular visitors, red squirrels are easy to see in the nearby woods. Black Woodpeckers, Hoopoes, Cirl Buntings, Black Kites, Hen Harriers, Kingfishers ........ I could go on ........ are all easily seen either in our own garden or within walking distance. Swallowtail butterflies are regular visitors (in season) to the garden. I used to visit nature reserves every weekend when I lived in the UK – no need to now!

I often wonder why things are so different here from where we used to live in Portsmouth – it isn't so far a distance, but it is a different world. Is it down to climate? I don't think so. Is it down to the fact that I live out in the sticks? That certainly makes the birds more accessible, but then I used to spend all my free time out in the countryside looking for wildlife. Is it down to the fact that there is more countryside (a much bigger country with the same population)? That must have something to do with it. Is it down to different farming practices? I'm not qualified to know. Let's hope it continues! I know I used to see many more birds as a child – Tree sparrows, Bullfinches, Song Thrushes, Partridges etc – than I found as an adult living in the UK.

Today is La Fête des Mères (Mothers' Day). Cheryl works in a large hypermarket in Vannes. Every customer was given a rose yesterday. As Cheryl works on the Customer Reception Desk, she was able to bring home a few of the leftovers – 100 roses!!!! It gave me great pleasure to be able to do the rounds of our neighbours with armfuls of flowers and I still had 3 vases full myself!