The gorges du Rébenty near Joucou is a wild section of river that loses altitude with remarkable rapidity through the limestone. The gorge is surrounded by forests and meadows. The forest edges are rich in butterfly and lady orchids; the meadows are littered with burnt-tip orchids amongst an array of calcareous grassland flowers. Overhead there are…
Tag: Silver-studded blue
Ashdown Forest in late June
First light exposes the tall pines on the ridge; dawn is warm with no mist in the valleys that run down off the high heathland plateau or dew drenching the purple moor grass, heather and bracken. Midsummer arrives to the sound of churring nightjars and fluting song thrushes. A cock pheasant is caught in the…