Our encounters
In the garden and along the paths, we enjoy noticing the animals around us. Here are a few encounters and small wonders collected over time.
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Returning from tropical Africa in spring, the black kite spends the warmer months in Ardèche before heading back to its African wintering grounds. We filmed this one during a kayak outing, just before it touched the water and took flight again with its catch.
Learn more →A goat and its bell, encountered among the rocks.
These curly-haired Mangalitza pigs, nicknamed woolly pigs, were photographed at the Ferme de Pomeyrol in Planzolles.
Ferme de Pomeyrol website →On a mountain walk with a goat farmer, we accompanied a whole herd, the dogs… and this llama, who joined the outing too!
On a tree trunk, a cicada unfolds its wings beside its old casing.
Our garden is a real aviary! These new visitors have only just arrived, but we also have doves, magpies, greenfinches, tits and woodpeckers. Swifts sometimes come to drink from the swimming pool, and there are many more… On summer mornings, from 6 a.m., the variety of birdsong makes it feel like an African jungle!
A snail slowly explores the garden stones.
This yellow spider appears to be a European garden spider (Araneus diadematus), also called a cross spider after the pale markings on its abdomen. Identification is tentative from the photograph.
Learn more →We often encounter these goats in the Ardèche gorges before Vallon-Pont-d’Arc. Usually accompanied by herds of goats, they enjoy settling down peacefully… right in the middle of the road!
A free-roaming goat encountered among the rocks and woodland of the Ardèche gorges.
On the road through the Ardèche gorges, goats make themselves comfortable and sometimes settle right in the middle of the road!
In the Ardèche gorges, goats roam freely over the rocks beside the road.
Sheep sometimes take a little trip beyond their pasture. One morning, we found a whole flock outside our entrance. What a surprise!
The wolf spider, which we call the “Ardèche tarantula”, does not spin a web to catch prey: she hunts by sight, including at night. She poses no particular danger to people. One morning, I found her with a whole cargo of babies on her back. I carried her outside in a box, together with all her little passengers!
Learn more →A praying mantis poses on the garden stones with her front legs folded.
The slow worm is a harmless legless lizard. A gardener’s ally, it feeds on slugs among other small creatures. A discreet neighbour to protect and leave in peace.
Learn more →Sheltered beneath a flowerpot, a lizard watches the garden.
