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to the serenity of the place.So I was very pleased to see a pair of goldfinches this morning. I'm not a birdwatcher, but even I know the unmistakable red face, white sideburns and yellow wing flash of these pretty creatures. They were not in my 'wildlife haven

easily have been in part of the Weald. But the wildlife reflected its slightly more southerly location, the Departement Mayenne between Normandy and the Loire.There were plenty of painted lady and clouded yellow butterflies, the speckled woods were

in Britain. Although there are about 250 species of hoverfly in the UK, and roughly 100 of them are black and yellow wasp mimics, this one is immediately recognizable by its narrow parallel-sided body shape and the fact that some abdominal segments have two

.I had quite happily (and rather pompously I’m sorry to say) stated that these lovely insects were never a problem in the garden, because, although they are sap suckers, they prefer wild flowers to cultivated plants. Boy did I get that wrong. I was given

; some perhaps a bit younger. The front gardens are small and variously walled or fenced. The very ordinary garden wall in question can only be 30 or 40 years old. Unlike the 100-and-something-year-old houses, it is not built of London yellow bricks

to chalk up 15 of my 124 target actions. These are mostly by the simple expedient of not cutting the grass, not winter deadheading, clearing out the pond when I repaired it and by having more than my fair share of thickets.The thickets are obviously paying

amongst the bramble bushes, and the occasional clouded yellow belts up the path at top bluster speed.The air is thick with dumbledors buzzing lazily over the flowers; these shiny bluish, greenish or sometimes even pinkish Geotrupes are shinier than

it has run a bit wild and it's a dumping ground for flower pots, buckets, pieces of wood that I once thought could be potentially useful for some reason, mildly interesting boulders found on family walks and all not very well hidden by a brightly coloured

and more sky than I can take in even with both eyes. There is just too much wildlife to look at in detail, so here is a mélange from the first week of our stay.Saturday 7th August 2010 Everything is much greener than England so they've obviously had more