Last night while sitting out in the neighbour’s garden having a drink around 9.30, we heard a crashing sound in the undergrowth. The sound of something big lumbering around a bit too close for comfort. We all four stood up to look and caught sight of an enormous wild boar hurtling away from us, luckily.
This got me thinking about the wildlife around here as, sitting outside in the near dark, we’d been hoping to see fireflies. It’s certainly the season for them, but they seem to be few and far between this year. Whether it’s just that they’re late as everything is, owing to a long and cold winter, or whether it’s something more serious than that remains to be seen, but there have certainly been fewer and fewer every year since we moved to the south. Five or six years ago the woods around us would have been sparkling every night. Now it’s only an occasional twinkle.
Five or six years ago I woke up in the middle of a June night to see the light above the bed flashing. I lay there trying to work out what could be going on but despite not smelling burning I was convinced it must be some kind of short circuit, causing the light to spark and soon burst into flames. So I woke JF to see what he thought, which wasn’t much, though he agreed it would be wise to remove the fuse from the main fuse board thus disabling the electric supply to the said light. He promptly fell back asleep and the flashing continued. So naturally I, being a bit of a night-time “thinker” (read “worrier”) let my imagination run wild and didn’t get much sleep. My logical brain said it must be safe as there was no juice in the light but at night my logical brain doesn’t often get much of a say. The next morning upon investigation, I’m sure you’ve guessed what we found – a firefly stuck in the light fitting!
So, back to now, we have a rogue wild boar on the rampage, something that normally only happens in autumn (read more about that here) and a distinct lack of fireflies. But one thing that is very normal for the time of year is the cacophony of frogs singing all around us every evening. Add to this the chirping crickets and the night-time is far from silent; in fact I’d love to know the decibel level of the bullfrogs that croak in the orchard next door as I reckon it’s almost at noise pollution level! But it’s one night-time sound I love and I’ll miss them when they’ve done their business and moved on.
Do you have any unusual wildlife in your area? I’d love to hear about it.
Further Reading
Wildlife at Lou Messugo, What a Bore!
Oh Dear, More Wildlife at Lou Messugo!
The Neighbourhood Party and the Wild Boar Stew
PIN for later
Lovely to revisit this post and thank you for adding it to the 100th #AnimalTales My next post for the linky is insect based and mentions glow worms!
They really are magical Lisa, once I’ve spotted one I can’t stop watching it till it’s gone out of view. I never get tired of them.
Fireflies are so prettty as the blink aroud the garden, it’s such a shame we’re getting less and less.
I always thought fireflies were the stuff of fairytales, how magical to get to see them for real! 🙂 Stella scares all the wildlife away from my garden so it’s just worms, pigeons and the occasional incredibly brave cat! #animaltales
I have never seen a firefly but we do have glow worms up here and always think, when I see them, that some child of mine has left an electrical gadget outside! Plenty of fornicating frogs in the right season too and the occasional salamander. Thanks for joining in with #AnimalTales again – it’s nice to be able to compare wildlife notes from north and south France.
Oh wow love the sound of all this wildlife in your midst! Brilliant! Thanks for linking up x
Hi Lorna, thanks for stopping by. Wild boars can be dangerous particularly if you get between a mum and her baby but in general they’re more afraid of us than we are of them. 🙂
I love sound memories! Do you not get crickets in your part of Canada?
Thanks for your lovely comment Delmy; I’m so happy I inspired you! 😀 As an update, last night just as I was falling asleep I heard loads of noise, of plastic rustling, in the garden. There was a wild boar playing/snuffling around in the trampoline cover which had been left on the ground!!
Phoebe, I love the sound of crickets! It brings back memories from when I was a kid going to the Black Sea every summer. I would hear them singing in the night 🙂
Gosh, I’d imagine wild boars could be dangerous enough. We had a calf escape this morning – such a job getting him back in!!
What a delightful story that brings to me, living in an urban area, the joys of country living 🙂 The thought of having a boar show up while I relax is an adventure in itself 🙂 I would love to join you and sit in the dark enjoying the sounds and lights of the season. You have inspired me to go find a place to go camping to join nature in its summer’s display. Thanks for sharing your experience with us Phoebe.
Merci pour votre gentil commentaire Delphine, ça me fait plaisir de savoir que j’ai des français(e)s parmi mes lecteurs/lectrices!
J’adore ce genre d’histoires et j’adore les lucioles mais c’est vrai qu’on n’en voit plus beaucoup. Si seulement les sangliers émettaient de la lumière car eux sont plus qu’invasifs!! Bravo encore pour le blog de Lou Messugo.
We get the odd fox and cats of course but never pheasants. They must all be eaten by the boars! I can hear a peacock somewhere nearby but I don’t reckon it’s wild! ha ha. 😉
Makes domestic cats, the occasional fox and pheasant seem very tame and boring!