One of my sisters, Nicola, who lives and works in Paris (nothing on Reading eh?) spent four days recently on the "Belle Ile en Mer" off the south coast of Brittany, with her boyfriend Drax and son (my nephew) Elliot.
They took some wonderful photos and sent them to me with a view to having a "guest post" on this blog.
Permission definitely granted!
Belle Ile en Mer can be seen in the map below.
It broke away from the mainland in about 6000BC and now lies just under 9 miles from the coast of Brittany. Its main population consists of ex-pat Canadian French.The island has an oceanic climate with less rain and milder winters than the mainland. Its average elevation is 40m asl and has a coastline that varies beautifully between placid, sandy coves and sharp, plunging cliffs.
As seems to be the case all over Brittany (so Nicola tells me), the seafood is superb, as are the crepes and cider.
First up, (and most interesting to me, anyway) is the HUGE Spider Crab that they saw at Donnant Beach - a gentle sandy cove on the west/south west of the island.
Spider Crabs are not rare, but its a real treat to see one! They spend the winters in deep water, up to 120m below the surface, eating starfish, carrion and small fish, and "invade" the shorelines in vast numbers in the summer, when the water temperatures increase. The breeding "mounds" of Spider Crabs, (when they all gather together for a wild orgy if you will) are spectacular. Sometimes these gatherings are 50,000 individuals strong, covering large areas of the shallow sea-bed.
The male crabs can be distinguished from the female crabs by their huge claws, ranging in size from between 1m and 5m across - these crabs are BIG! (It's probably for that reason, and that reason alone, that most Spider Crabs caught off the UK coast are exported for consumption to the continent - we British like our food to "look nice" if you know what I mean - and these crabs look like freaky aliens! That is changing though, our culture of television celebrity chefs are getting people in the UK to appreciate that Spider Crabs are as good as, if not better than Lobster). Very often these Crabs will hide beneath the groynes of a beach, well below the sand. This one obviously wanted a bit of a run across the beach!
I was lucky enough to see one of these Crabs at Woolacombe beach (north Devon) once, on one of my camping trips down there, but haven't seen one since.
Apparently little Elliot was fascinated by this Spider Crab, and what a marvellous photograph!
The two photos above are of Donnant Beach, where Nicola et.al. found the Spider Crab 'legging it' (quote) back to the water, hotly pursued by Elliot I presume, with his parents getting all wet, trying to take the pictures!
Lastly, a great picture of Common Mallow.
I don't know much about Mallow, only that rather like poppies, it often grows on recently disturbed ground.
What I do know though, is that its fruit are very much prized by Song Thrushes, and the flowers provide nectar for the quite picky Painted Lady Butterfly, and the less demanding Red-Tailed Bumblebee (see my MUCH earlier post on the RTBB).
So there you have it. A selection of the fantastic photos sent to me by Nicola et famille.
Thanks people!
Apparently Elliot and parents were using their ears as well as their eyes. Elliot heard a Cuckoo and let his parents know - (whilst everyone else was oblivious to it)! Good stuff from the little niblet!
I have been considering for a wee while now to start posting on things I hear, (as well as see).
Very often if you listen to/for things, you see more too! Makes sense eh? But for now we'll keep the blog "eye-based".
Anyway, thanks Nic, Damien and Elliot for this (first) Guest Entry on "Blue-Grey".
