Sunday 8th May (What a Lark)


Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window into a bright blue Meditteranean sky. Not a cloud could be seen and the warm air wafted through the mosquito mesh.

Today Mr. Kite had a plan to watch Larks and Wheatears through his super telescope. So Mr. Kite and His Lady had breakfast. Just after le petit dejeuner rumour had it that there was a festival of bulls in the town. So Mr. Kite and His Lady strolled into town for the festivities.

Now Mr. Kite is not patriotic or a celebrator of events; he only celebrates every day for what it brings. Today in France was 8th Mai; a day to celebrate the end of the war and the liberation of France. So firstly Mr. Kite and His Lady watched a few French war veterans parade to the memorial followed by a detachment of the U.S. Eigth Army with trucks and a few armoured cars.

The parade of bulls was to be later so Mr. Kite decided that he and His Lady would book a ticket for a fifty minute tour of The Camargue on the Petit Train to observe the flora and fauna of the area in style. So at eleven o'clock le petit train left le Gare. Now Mr. Kite thought he would point out the species of birds to His Lady; not that she needs telling. So it was Swallow, House Martin, Starling, Pied Wagtail and House Sparrow. As expected the petit tourist train stopped by five feeding Flamingo's. Now this was a very impressive sight; Mr. Kite and His Lady watched these magnificent birds using their beaks to filter the residue on the lagoon floor.

Soon the tourist train moved off to some inland water where The Tourists stopped to feed Mallards, Coots and Moorhens. Lots of photographs were taken of the birds and nearby a white Camargue horse was paraded for a photoshot. Now Mr. Kite does not have a camera so he watched a tortoise swimming in water and frogs leaping into streams. Mr. Kite and His Lady enjoyed their fourteen euros train journey and felt like real tourists.

Mr. Kite and His Lady alighted from the train and sat on a bench in the warm sunshine and waited for the bulls to run down the road. Now Mr. Kite had high expectations of this event. With bulls running around the place Mr. Kite had removed any red garments and sat on a bench near some metal railings so that he could escape if the black bulls ran amok.

With Mr. Kite and His Lady prepared for the charge of the bulls a number of riders came down the street on horseback with black bulls  securely in the middle. Without too much fuss the bulls were in the arena and the gates closed. Mr. Kite thought that this was disappointing.

On the way back to The Joint Mr. Kite and His Lady disturbed a Grey Heron who took to the air and then promptly dropped down on a Grass Snake. Now Mr. Kite and His Lady often watch Grey Herons and this was pretty good. With the reptile safely in the beak of the bird the heron flew away.

Mr. Kite then spotted a Tawny Lark on some rocks. With the day made Mr. Kite and His Lady returned to The Joint for a tipple of Kronenbourg 1664. Cheers from The Camargue.