So I whipped out the video camera and managed to grab some photos and video of these cute little fellas.

We just hope that they stay well clear of our cats!

Last Thursday was the first day of our filming trip, to Port Du Bec near Noirmoutier. For this I had to get up at 6:30am for school, but normally I get up at 7:30am. I got to school at 7:15am to be on the bus at 7:30.

So we set off up to the north of the Vendée. The journey took 2h30, which was long, but when we got there it was worth it. After the introduction we were split into two groups: the Yellows and the Reds (I was yellow). There were two parts to the day, the first one in the morning and the second in the afternoon. In the morning the Yellows went to do an interview and the Reds took the sound and some photos of the countryside and then we swapped round. We each took it in turns to take the different roles: director, sound engineer, cameraman etc…

So we went to interview an ostreiculteur (someone who works with oysters). His name was Jean-Louis and he showed us where he works and what he does. Here’s a video of an ostreiculteur at work.

Then it was dinnertime, so we got our picnic and we ate in a big room near the port.

After, it was our time to take photos and the sound of the country side. We saw lots of wildlife, including some horses, sheep and birds. While we where doing this, the other group were interviewing Nicolas, who is aquaculteur (he works with all different types of fish – mussels, prawns etc…) then we met up to film the last scene.

Port du Bec (photo by David Howlett)

We left Port Du Bec at 4:45pm and got back to school at 6:55pm. We were very tired but had had a fantastic day. The next trip is on 24^th of March, with another on 14^th of April and I can’t wait!

We have only ever spotted him a couple of times, although we have heard him more often thanks to his “woop-woop-woop” call. When I first heard it I thought it was an alarm clock going off somewhere in the house! After hunting high and low, I discovered him sitting on next-door’s roof. Sadly, by the time I got the video ready, he had flown off

Well, this morning he returned and, thanks to our shiny new camcorder, I managed to capture him in close-up. I apologies now as this was first thing in the morning so the camera-work is a bit shaky, and everyone was eating breakfast with the TV on, so it’s a bit noisy. But I’m glad we managed to get some close-ups of this guy as he really is quite a special bird.

Your guesses in the comments would be great. Thanks!

This big fella was hiding behind the breeze-blocks piled up next to the garage. I’m reliably informed that he’s a toad, not a frog (thanks Susie for clearing that up )

After watching him amusing himself by poking his head into every crack in our wall, I rescued him and released him down by the lake.

Surprisingly, none of the ladies of the house chose to try their luck and kiss him, so I guess they may have missed their chance to find a prince charming…!

Anyone out there care to try to identify the various sounds (other than my feet crunching in the gravel obviously!), as I’m a total duffer when it comes to animals. Your David Attenborough-esque comments would be much appreciated!

We finally made it back to Foussais on Saturday night after 14 hours and 1100km travelling. We had had a strange week back in England – it was lovely to see our family and friends again, and especially for the kids, but it all seemed very strange. Like we now have 2 lives and they very rarely meet. Back in the UK we were part of a circle of friends families that all knew each other and now we have that life, but also another over here. We have some great fiends and a while different way of living, but it hasn’t replaced what we have in England, but the 2 lives co-exist. When we returned to Grimsby we just picked up where we left off 5 months ago and I’m sure we will again, although quite when that will be I don’t know.

The journey back home was pretty easy and uneventful. After driving up to England in 2 cars, it was nice to all be together for the return trip (having left the Picasso in the hands of my folks – it’s being picked up any day now) and it meant that we could share the driving. So I had the job of getting us from Grimsby to Dover, then from Dunkerque to Rouen and Lisa got us home from there. On the subject of Dunkerque I have to speak up in praise of Norfolk Line ferries. The return journey cost us just £38 which we were amazed by. The ferries are fairly modern and well stocked, although the port at Dunkerque felt a bit like we were going to be lifted onto a container ship rather than a car ferry – very out of the way in the middle of an industrial estate! The 2-hour journey was just long enough to have a meal and stretch those cramped legs before embarking on the 2nd leg of the journey. Altogether a grand experience.

Upon returning to our house we were excited to see how the builders had got on with finishing Rosie’s bedroom. What a great job they have done. We are all hugely impressed with the work. Having never really done any renovation before, it’s hard to believe that our cold, dusty loft, with holes in the floor and roof, has now been transformed into a large, cosy bedroom. It really is quite a stunning transformation and makes such a difference to the upstairs of the house. If anyone is in the area and looking for good builders, I would certainly recommend them. We will have lots more building work coming up – I need a study, the kids need a play room and Lisa wants her new kitchen! – and they will certainly be top of the list to do the work. The only downside was that they cleaned us out of tea, coffee and milk! On our departure I had said “Help yourself” and they did…emptying the box of milk from the fridge AND the 2 from the store. Not a huge problem – a quick trip to St Hilaire des Loges on Sunday morning did the trick – but would have been nice to have breakfast in the morning without having to go for a drive first. But hey, they were a great team and I can’t grumble.

Our other surprise was not quite so exciting – we had had visitors while we were away…Ants! The kitchen was awash with the little blighters. I set upon them with the kitchen spray to stem the tide and managed to clear most of them away, only to find them back again in the morning. All part of the fun of living in the countryside I guess… A kettle full of boiling water over their entry point on the outside wall seems to have slowed them down for now until I can get out to buy some proper stuff… Anyone got any tips for shifting Adam and his mates?

Of course, having been away for about 10 days, the grass, of which we have plenty, had grown rather substantially, so I tackled that little job next. The grass by the back-door was first – rather quickly done due to the multitude of buzzing insects round there. I fear we may be providing bed and board for the local populations of bees and wasps in our un-renovated rooms. That’ll be more fun to come. Although I did spot a rather interesting looking red beetle tightrope walking along the washing line, who didn’t buzz and stoood nice and still for a photo…

Anyway, the grass got half-way cut when suddenly with a loud TWANG the mower stopped. Somehow the drive belt had snapped!

So much for our nice short grass – I hadn’t even got round to the front yet, which was the bit that really needed doing. And of course, it being Sunday, there was nowhere open to get a new one, so the now-useless machine went away and we sat in the sun and drank wine and beer with Peter and Judith instead…a much better prospect. I do love Sundays over here…

First there was the owl who used to fly over the car as we drove Rosie in to College first thing in a morning. Sadly Mr Owl came a bit too close to the car one morning and nearly joined me in the front seat. Having clattered into the windscreen at great speed he promptly disappeared never to be seen again – very sad

Then there was the hare – I have never seen one before, but we had rabbits back in the UK and I imagined they were of a similar shape and size. Well, I was sooo wrong. One evening I was nipping out to the wood shed for some logs, when I spotted him. There he was behind the christmas tree in our garden (yes, we have a christmas tree, only because it’s too big for us to dig up right now!). I crept round the corner but he spotted me and – zoom – off he shot down the side of the house. He was HUGE! Our little bunny was nothing like that. The size of a small dog, he bounded off like greased lightening.
After grabbing an arm-full of logs i left the wood shed only to be charged almost to the ground by my mate Linford Christie the hare!
Anyway, we have since come up against mice, rats (1-0 to humans on that score), butterflies, bats, sheep, horses, pigeons (dead), frogs, bees, ants, dogs, cats (come back little grey cat, i want to adopt you!), centipedes, lizards and almost-transparent spiders with very long legs.
We’re not friends with all the animal kingdom, but at least we have met a lot more of it in the last few months and we are all the better for it.