Yet another public holiday – this time for 14th July Bastille Day. Everyone has some sort of celebration for this and as it falls right in the middle of the tourist season there is usually no shortage of places to go.

When we first moved here we always went to Sarlat for this, along with hundreds of other tourists, thinking that this must be the best place to go. After 4 years of struggling to get a good vantage point ( impossible if you don’t go hours before it all kicks off) and eventually not even bothering to venture into the town itself but ending up perched on a hill to get a semi decent view, we’d had enough.

Terrasson Old Town

Last year in spite of protests from Emma & Alistair we decided to try Terrasson – much less busy and closer to home. We were delighted! Music, storytelling, a seat right by the river, gorgeous firework display, dancing & fairground afterwards….we vowed to tell our guests that this was the place to go!

We didn’t know then that the firework display had been sabotaged and that a good few of the fireworks hadn’t gone off – we didn’t notice.

Pont de Terrasson ,backdrop for the stunning display

This year it all went without a hitch. Again we got a ” front seat ” right opposite the bridge, our legs dangling over the Vézèze.  The fireworks were stunning, set between the backdrop of Terrasson’s Old Town and the river Vézère, all synchronized to music and as varied as the classical Strauss,Mozart & Dvorak , French singers Francis Cabrel, Jean-Jacques Goldman, and rock  from Dire Straits, ZZ Top & Cold Play! Making it all happen were 7 pyrotechnic experts, 2 sound engineers, a head steward and of course all the town’s emergency services. I still haven’t found out how much it cost to put on this spectacular show but it wouldn’t have come cheap – everything being equal it gave Edinburgh Castle a run for its money!!

Waiting for it all to happen

In between the music and fireworks the haunting and evocative voice of Daniel  L’Homond, Périgord’s famous narrator, told the story of the history of Terrasson in a mixture of French & Occitan. I’m sure that the non French speaking tourists wouldn’t have minded not understanding it – the atmosphere he created was wonderful in itself.

Now, trying to capture all of this with inadequate photographic equipment & a severe lack of expertise whilst trying not to miss the show itself is well nigh impossible – we haven’t even been able to give a vague idea of how wonderful it was, but for what it’s worth …..

3 firework waterfalls pouring on to the Vézère

Firework "ducks" floating on the river

We’ll all be going back next year, that’s for sure!

When we first moved to Les Crouquets I remember thinking that despite being in the middle of the countryside there was a distinct lack of birdsong. In fact it seemed eerily quiet.

I supposed that at some time they must have been there and they just needed a more inviting environment to attract them back. We put out lots of bird feeders and nesting boxes and just waited….

Nesting logs!

When part of our tilleul tree died we chopped it down and used the hollow trunks as nesting boxes. These are now hidden in the new growth and the tree is always filled with an abundance of little birds and lots of chirping. Molly often sits at the bottom eagerly anticipating her next meal but thankfully they are usually too quick for her!

Today the air is filled with all sorts of sounds from the tapping of the woodpeckers to the non stop chirping & warbling of sparrows, bluetits, goldfinches and even the soft cooing of a few turtle doves which visit from time to time.

This year we have found an abundance of nests in all sorts of places…

The stone walls of the farmhouse haven’t been grouted and the gaps provide the perfect nesting ground for the sparrows.

The gaps in the stone walls are a safe nesting place for the sparrows

This nest was spotted in the folds of a broken parasol which was stored behind the dog kennel

In the laundry…this double nest was built a few years ago when there was a gap in the old wooden doors for the birds to fly in & out. We have new doors now and the nest isn’t used anymore but they are such works of art I can’t bring myself to destroy it! I’m pleased they’ve moved on now as cleaning up after them was a never ending task!

In the gîtes… not long before the first guests arrived for Le Pecher last year we discovered this nest in the beams of the upstairs bedroom. Luckily they were big enough to flee the nest the day before the guests arrived! We’ve kept a close eye this year so no more nests there!

This year we have two nests in the games room which keep everyone entertained as the parents constantly fly in & out with beaks full of worms and all the little heads jump up & down noisily waiting for their meal!

Friends of ours discovered this 3 storey nest when they were building their house …the equivalent of a bird’s block of flats!

On a bigger scale we found these 25 guinea fowl eggs hidden in a nest under a bush in the hen pen. We had thought she had stopped laying as we always found the eggs in the hen house.

It’s always a pleasure to watch new life & witness how the wildlife instinctively know what to do. Equally it’s sad to see a life cut short as was the case with this young lesser spotted woodpecker which flew into my newly cleaned windows.

At least I think it’s a lesser spotted woodpecker – if anyone knows otherwise please do tell us in the comments below!