This is the little beauty that first got me interested in birding many years ago. Still my #favourite (for today's theme from @alan678.bsky.social). A Lilac-breasted Roller perched on a South African branch. #photography #birds #birdoftheday

It’s #FireHydrantFriday again, and I’ve found something different as we continue our very own Tour de France. Urban hydrants are the same shape and size as their rural cousins but appear in very different contexts. #photography #Rouen

Day 3 on the road, but travelling more slowly than anticipated…. #photography #trafficjam #Normandy #sheep

I’m still on the road - this one with extra cobbles (around the corner from Rouen cathedral). #photography #France #night #street

I’m on the road this week - nice road, though. #photography #marquenterre #France

"I think we should go that way". "No, you're wrong. It's this way". "Nonsense, you fools, follow me, it's this way". A trio of confused red kites figure out their migration route....for Alan's #BirdoftheDay #bluesky theme. #photography #birds

It's #FireHydrantFriday! I missed it last week so here's a special blue one from rural France. Red hydrants are attached to the main water grid but blues serve reservoirs or rainwater tanks or the like. In this case, a village tank built in 1934. #photography

Where to start with those many, many birds that have black or white on them - today's theme for #birdoftheday. Here's a rarer example: the Arctic Tern, one of very few birds with a white handlebar moustache..... #photography #birds

Hello yellow - a Lesser Goldfinch in #cute mode for AlanH's #birdoftheday theme. #photography #birds @alan678.bsky.social

I have a feeling this may be one of my last damselfly shots of the year - they are vanishing fast as the temperatures drop in our mountain region. #photography #nature #leafyglade #france

Lots of trees about on BlueSky today. I like trees! #ThickTrunkTuesday #photography #emptychair #black&white

France goes mad for medieval parades. Knights in armour, costumed serfs and wenches, children in rags and all manner of sinister-looking vagabonds. Here's one of them from yesterday's festival in Cremieu - thank you, Monsieur Cedric! #photography #portrait

A visit to the Hérisson cascades - seven waterfalls along a two-mile path in the heart of the Jura mountains - yielded a nice surprise: the rushing waters are a favourite hang-out for Dippers. They lurk on rocks in mid-river, diving and swimming in search of tasty morsels. #photography #birds

Here's my contribution to Alan H's #birdoftheday theme today. There's clearly something wrong with my camera: I aimed at the bird and pressed the button, but all I got was a #birdbutt exiting right of frame. Do I get extra points for half a gull, @alan678.bsky.social? #photography #birds

Raindrops on roses..... #photography #bloomscrolling #flowers #garden

You don't often see the Black-crowned Night Heron out in the open in the middle of the day, so it was a bit of a surprise to find five of them lined up across a pond. At a distance it looks like one male, two females and a couple of juveniles. A family! #photography #birds

A White Stork enjoying the French sunshine this morning as it rests up for its winter migration to sub-Saharan Africa. #photography #birds

The most beautiful thing I saw in the marsh the other day wasn't a bird or an insect: it was the shell of a snail, lying in a shallow pond. A diamond in the rough. #photography #nature #geometry

My weekend wander along the Rhône river yielded several migrant species I hadn't seen before. Here's a Spotted Flycatcher, probably on its way to winter in Africa. #photography #birds

For the 7th and last (for now) of my #dailybarndoor series, here's a perfect example of the elegant appeal of ageing wood, rusting metal and fading paint. Those rounded top corners are the icing on the cake. This one belongs in a museum of accidental art... #photography #France

Beginning to see the autumn migrations along the Rhône river near us. Here's a Pied Flycatcher sitting up nicely in the marshes around Pougny. #photography #birds #France #Etournel

What would #summer be without glorious flashes of dragonfly colour darting across our streams and ponds? Here's a nicely sunlit Common Darter for today's #BlueSkyArtShow. #photography

Day 6/7 for my French #dailybarndoor series. Sometimes you find that traditional wooden doors have been replaced by tilting or sliding metal. Here's one from the village of Cerdon that must have been installed by a fan of Rothko... #photography #France

For Day 5 out of 7 in this week's #dailybarndoor series here's a common variation on the classic French square model: a hinged top quarter for better ventilation of the damp hay inside. The green wheelbarrow was a helpful addition. From the village of Rupt. #photography #France

It's #FireHydrantFriday again! Here's one of the mothers of all American hydrants - a red white and blue installation on Hollywood's star-studded Walk of Fame. #photography

For today's #urbangaze theme, here are some shadow patterns from the streets of Lyon on a gloriously sunny day in France yesterday. #photography #black&white

France's ancient farming villages often show signs of decay and disuse. Today's #dailybarndoor comes from the village of Rupt, where a three-piece folding door no longer folds... #photography

I saw him before he saw me - a handsome grey heron conveniently framed by a gap in the bushes... #photography #birds

In the elite world of French barn doors, here's what we call a double whammy: a classic arch next to a beautifully marked human size door. From the village of Beffia, probably early 19th century. #photography #dailybarndoor #France

You have to love a sleepy Lovebird.... #photography #birds

My #dailybarndoor today comes from the village of Villette - a classic arch with extra points for the date: 1711. The central door enables the farmer to come and go without having to shift those massive surrounds. #photography #France

I think it's time for me to unleash my favourite French art form on an unsuspecting world. The barn doors of rural France offer visual poetry in wooden form. Rusting metal, peeling paint, faded beauty: they are the ultimate French collectible. #photography #dailybarndoor

I went out into the garden in my pyjamas this morning in search of interesting droplets after a night of rain. I found someone got there before me... #photography #MacroMonday #redbug #insect

An unfamiliar (to me) hawk was circling over our village when I went out yesterday. It was a bit high but I managed to snap an identifiable shot: a European sparrowhawk. #photography #birds

For the #shiny theme of today's #BlueSkyArtShow here's a backlit profile in evening sunlight,, #photography

I was baffled by the red dot on this tiny flutterfly - not a known feature of the species. It wasn't until I cropped in editing that I realised a squashed red berry had somehow stuck to the fly's torso. #photography #invertefest #macro

Splashdown! Or maybe it was a splashup, this Ferruginous Duck was having a wild old time on a hot afternoon... #photography #birds

For #FireHydrantFriday here's what may be France's loneliest hydrant. I feel there ought to be a dating app for rural hydrants lacking companionship. They should call it Tender. #photography

Here's a #BirdoftheDay with a difference for @alan678.bsky.social. One of France's biggest nature reserves has an avian medical centre attached. The day I visited it was caring for a baby pink flamingo. At a few days old it was already practicing standing #OnOneLeg. #photography #birds

Here's my #BirdoftheDay for @alan678.bsky.social 's excellent collection. Is there any bird with a #profile as noble as a Florida flamingo? #photography #birds

My #BirdoftheDay with a #BlueSky background is a passing Herring Gull keeping a beady eye on the camera. #photography #birds

Here's a Sooty Copper butterfly warming its wings in the morning sun after three days of rain. #photography #France

Oh no, thinks the black-headed gull. It looks like rain... #photography #birds

One more #skyline for the #BlueSkyArtShow - the incomparable minarets of Istanbul's Blue Mosque. #photography

Digging into my files for #FireHydrantFriday I found a fine specimen from, I think, South Carolina, doubling up as a resting post for a cheeky daughter.... #photography

For #PalacesandGardens, the stately English home of Audley End, one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. #photography #landscape

A stray pigeon wanders indoors at Lyon's Part-Dieu railway station. #photography #street #birds #blackandwhite #France

Always nice to find a reverse ladybug - red spots on black. #photography #pineladybird

The kestrels are out in force in the newly-mown fields around here. Doesn't make them any friendlier to passing photographers, alas. This one couldn't even muster a smile. #birds #photography #France

I found myself standing by a river in a bed of wild mint plants last night. And sure enough, it was crawling with Mint moths. Who could have guessed? #photography #butterflies #moths