Wind, rain, and flood.

The South West of France has seen all the above recently, with loss of life and much damage to property! Where we live we missed the worst of it, thank heaven. We did get some minor damage in the garden, but nothing compared to just a 100 miles south of us! On the plus side, it has brought huge amounts of welcome water to our rivers.
I know I have gone on a lot about rain recently but with the recent pollution, its helped flush the river through.
During the summer we often have long periods of drought, and if the river's are full at the start of the season, it takes some of the pressure off.

Throughout the summer season, farmers take water for crops such as corn. The have a system were the farmers pay very little for the water (in fact its almost free) and are even paid by the E.U. for watered crops. As you can imagine this system encourages farmers to water, even if the crops dont need it, I have even seen water being taken during a rain strorm?

Several of the smaller 1st catagorie rivers, run completely dry during the summer months, I see this as a crazy situation that must change. You can understand now why I go on about water so much now?

I took a picture of the trout cascade at Viville today. This a one of the little river's the trout run up to spawn. Many lay their eggs in the main river Touvre, but some run up this cascade when the water is high enough, like now! My friend the Heron has taken pictures of the trout "running" the cascade in years past. Its a revelation to see such wonderful fish, doing just what nature intended.