My Summer Holiday this year was spent in the lush Dordogne, also known as the Perigord, stretch across the north-eastern corner of inland Aquitaine where the Dordogne, Isle and Lot rivers snake their way to the Atlantic.
World famous for its wines, the Dordogne is France's most beautiful region, a magical area of Chateauxs, Forests and Gardens, unspoilt countryside, rivers and caves .
The Dordogne is also home to bustling markets, colourful festivals and sumptuous cuisine and summer sunshine.
I managed to convince friends we travelled with to take the Moth trap on condition it would not eat into our days with hours of unloading the trap followed by the usual countless photographs.
PREHISTORIC PAINTED CAVE
One of the many Dordogne highlights was a visit to the La Grotte de Villars a cave with amazing formations of stalactites on the ceiling and the vertically growing stalagmites on the floor in caves and galleries.
When a stalactite joins up with a stalagmite growing below it, a column is born.
So the story goes one cold, winter evening at the end of the year 1953, a team of pothollers from the Périgueux Spelunking club were wandering around the Cluzeau coppice. By some large rocks they discovered a foxes earth, an opening blocked by stones and therefore impenetrable. There was a slight mist emerging from the meatus, there was no doubt about it: behind it was an underground passage… breathing. The narrow entrance was quickly cleared to reveal a dark passage which plunged down into the unknown: Villars cave had been discoverd.
After they had cleared their passage way, the discoverers: Marie Claude FERRES - Yann JEZEQUEL – Robert de FACCIO – Bernard PIERRET and Pierre VIDAL made their very emotional journey into a magical garden of fantastic surroundings.
After many expeditions, the spelunkers had explored an entanglement of galleries and chambers spreading over more than 13 kilometres and on several levels.
Five years later, in December 1958, yet another discovery was to make Villars become a sanctuary: while exploring the cave, Pierre Vidal, a member of the Périgueux Spelunking club, spotted a number of prehistoric paintings hidden under the calcite: Villars was a painted cave.
Abbot BREUIL evaluated the paintings and in 1959 VILLARS cave was opened to the public.
One of the highlights of the tour through the cave were prehistoric cave paitingsThere are about 18 500 years, the Cro-Magnon frequent the valley of the massive and Trincou Cluzeau. They are hunter-gatherers.
These prehistoric people developed a complex cultural universe expressed through artistic expression.
Specialists in prehistoric art now know the techniques used by our ancestors to make their masterpieces. Magdalenian artists used the walls of the flattest and driest to execute their paintings sometimes takes the shape of the rock to give relief to their representations.
OTHER PICTURES FROM THE BREAK
Local Market
Phalangium Opilio Spider
Chilling by the Pool
Bug Hunting
Torsac
Velorail
Brocante
Sunflowers
Roman Tower Perigueux
Bergerac
Perigueux
Perigueux
Perigueux
My son Canoeing along local river
Health & Saftey not a strong point with the French Chainsaw Gang !
Bergerac
River
Not the Red Squirrel I had hoped for !
Bergerac Boat Trip
Grab Spider
Canoeing with my daughter
COMMON TOAD
SOME OF THE MOTHS THAT WERE TRAPPED
In between the days visiting local attractions I set the Moth trap and was pleasantly surprised with the results except for the first evening when I had caught around 12 Hornets and was not really sure what to do !
Here are some of the Moths caught
OAK EGGAR MOTH
JERSEY TIGER MOTH
ROSY FOOTMAN MOTH
HOOKTIP MOTH
BUFF TIP MOTHS
SCARCE SILVER LINES MOTH
OAK EGGAR MOTH
MAPLE PROMINENT MOTH
CHINESE CHARACTOR MOTH
BLACK V MOTH
GARDEN TIGER MOTH
SHINING MARBLED MOTH
BLACK ARCHES MOTH
LUNAR THORN MOTH
