Booted eagle

Saw this splendid booted eagle dive and take a bird out of tree. Lucky to spot it eating its prey in another tree, given away by the feathers it was plucking blowing towrds me in the wind. It very quickly saw me and took flight with its prey in its talons.

Windy

The wall is almost finished which is fortunate as the wall inside which is providing the stones is nearly totally gone. Tremendous south winds today, hot, dry, laden with sand and at times very frightening. An enormous oak is down, crossing the chemin and entering our field. Another willow, also a good size crossing the chemin and entering another field crushing the fence. Lots of clearing up to do next week.

 

Pic de Cagire et Pique Poque

We had intended to climb Pic de Cagire and the neighbouring peaks from the Col de Menthe, but a notice on campdecamp.org suggested that because of nesting bearded vultures the route was off limits. We changed our plan to ascend Cagire from the north side - less interesting and with the same route route for ascent and descent. Alas the info appears to be out of date as there were no indications that any of the paths were closed.

It's a pleasant enough climb of about 1000m in beech, then pines, before breaking onto open hillside. Tremendously strong winds made for a tough time on col and the ridge between Cagire and Pique Poque. It's a celebrated viewpoint but the south winds were laden with saharan sand and everything was hazy. The strond wind made it difficult to linger and admire the view.

Cagire

Pique poque with its transmitter

We saw a solitary isard twice on the ascent, then again on the descent. This time I was quick enough with the camera.

It was a relief to get out of the wind and back down. A well earned beer in Aspet was reward for our toil.

 

More building works and RIP Clarence

More studio works today. Digging out muck, demolishing internal stone walls, moving rocks to make the retaining wall in readiness for the soil from the excavation beside the barn - there are a lot of rocks!

Level shave been taken across the tops of the beams and new rafters and a floor have been designed and costed. Having a platform to work from at first floor will greatly help all operations!

Having sold my shotgun, which I have used only once since moving to France, I ve purchased a new rifle (I ll probably sell my old one at the begining of the next hunting season). The Tikka is lighter, probably more accurate and weather resistant than my model seven. First some gunsmithing operations have been called for to make the rifle fit me better. So far I ve shortened the length of pull, altered the pitch of the stock, installed a new better recoil pad, adjusted the trigger and fitted the bases for ready for mounting the scope. A socket for a bipod is next.

Sadly, I found Clarence dead in the hay barn this afternoon. He's a wild cat that we've been looking after and feeding for about 4 years and have grown very fond of, even though he never let us touch him. He'd not been showing up to eat for the last couple of days, although we heard him meowing early in the morning. We have no idea how he died.