Percheron Mum.

A Percheron mare at the farm next door had a lovely black foal with white breast.

Marianne on Top of a Volcano.

No photoshop, just an angle. It looks the Marianne in the market square in Vire, Calvados, sits right on top of a fountain (not quite volcano.)
Photo by ©A.Anichkin.

Gallery on Photo.net

I've recently joined Photo.net, a photography community site.

You are welcome to have a look at my gallery there (two photos only yet), comment and suggest further uploads from this blog.

The Gallery.

Louis XIV the Roman Emperor

The statue of the Sun King – Louis XIV presented as a Roman Emperor in Caen, the capital of Lower Normandy.

Chips on the pedestal are probably from the fighting in the second world war when the city was heavily bombed by the Allies.

Photo by ©Alexander Anichkin

A Sunny Day in Caen

The Abbaye aux hommes (Men's Abbey) shines in the glorious spring sun. The original squat Romanesque church on the right was built in the 11th Century. Gothic elements were added in the 12th Century. The flying buttresses can be seen supporting the narrow tall structures in the centre. The classicist building on the left is the Caen town hall (hôtel de ville).

During the Battle of Normandy in 1944 Caen citizens were hiding inside the church. A hospital was set up there and a large red cross painted in blood on the roof to show Allied aircraft that it was not to be bombed.

Photo ©A.Anichkin

Sunny Normandy: Playing on Water

Normandy enjoys a sunny warm Spring. Everybody heads for the nearest spot of water...

'...we went today, for the first time', writes Francesca Bostock who sent these pictures, 'and thought it rather tranquil. At least it would have been if it weren't for the hundreds of other people who obviously hoped for the same thing!'

Lake Dathée is the heart of the Bocage, near Vire and Sourdeval.


Photos by Francesca Bostock

Wind Turbines in South Manche

New giant wind turbines tower over the ridge between Le Fresne-Poret and Ger in the South Manche.

Photos: Alexander Anichkin

Normandy Harvest: amazing maize

Sent by Francesca Bostock, Manche

Harvest moon in Normandy

Harvest moon in Normandy.

Photo by Francesca Bostock.

It is 400 years since the little known English scientist and draftsman Thomas Harriot turned his telescope to the Moon and drew its first maps. Some experts say that it was him, not the Italian Galileo, who was the first to view the Moon through a telescope.
Read BBC story here.

Still windy on the beach...

A kite surfer enjoys the breeze, but others still have to keep warm jackets on.

Sent by Francesca Bostock,
La Manche

Norman Spring: Bluebells

Bluebells come out in Norman countryside.

Photo sent by Francesca Bostock,
South Manche

Save the birds

What to do if you find a sea bird on the beach exhausted after a Winter storm?
Try to recover the bird without panicking it, touching it as little as possible with your bare hands, and put it in a cardboard box with newspaper. This will help it to de-stress.
If you are in Calvados you should telephone M. Gérard Bertran at the Dame Blanche, a small country wildlife park at St Julien de Mailloc near Orbec in the pays d’Auge 02 31 63 91 70.
If you are in the Manche, Nicole Girard acts as coordinator. Her number in Cherbourg is 02 33 22 93 02.

Read more in the February issue of the Rendezvous magazine, on sale now.

Photo of a rescued gannet sent by Robin Rundle,
Groupe ornithologique normand
robinrundle@club-internet.fr

A sunny winter day in the Bocage

Beautiful winter in Norman Bocage.

Sent by Francesca Bostock
Sourdeval, Manche

Christmas decorations going up

Christmas trees and decorations are going up everywhere in Normandy.

Sent by Francesca Bostock,
Manche

Deep in December it's nice to remember

Lupins in the Spring

from Margaret West Sadler in La Bazoge,
Manche

Remembrance Day: 90 years since the end of World War I

A Red Poppy from a field near 'the Corridor of Death' where the Battle of Normandy ended in August 1944.


A Jewish grave in the American Military Cemetery near Omaha Beach.

At a German Military Cemetery near Lisieux.

Snow in Calvados

Last Thursday, 30 October, parts of Normandy were hit by an early snowstorm.

Sent by David Smith,
Calvados

White Heron hunting on the beach

A white heron hunting at low tide near Baye des Veys, Cotentin peninsula, Manche.

It's cider time!

Apple pressing is a family affair.

Sent by Francesca Bostock,
South Manche

Harvest Moon

Sent by Francesca Bostock