Monday 30 June 2014

Red Squirrel.

Another lovely day in the Loire.  Joe and I set off on a cycle ride this morning, not quite knowing where we were going to end up.  We actually ended up at Chalonnes sur Loire.  The round trip was about 20km along the banks of the river.



We rode past a house that on the river trip we were told about when the river was in full flood an elderly couple had the move their 2 cows into their house and in the end the cows had to be airlifted out of the house along with the elderly couple.



Whilst cycling along we were lucky enough to see a red squirrel this was only the 2nd time I've ever seen one, the last time I saw one was on the Isle of Wight when I was a youngster.  Sadly it scurried up a nearby tree before I could take a picture.  It the first time that Joe had ever seen one.  Red squirrels are almost extinct in England because of the introduction of the grey squirrel a few centuries ago.   We also saw lucky enough to see some brown birds of prey in the fields, sadly we're not sure the name of the birds we saw.  There were wonderfully bright butterflies in the hedgerows during our trip. 



Pictures of Chalonnes sur Loire I took along the ride.







Cows we passed on the return trip.

Lesley x x 

2 comments:

jimlynn said...

Nothing more fun than a great bicycle ride! More great photos too.
Lynn

Jackie said...

More beautiful photographs Lesley, I particularly love the one with the church steeple reflected in the calm water :o)
Jackie xx