Run: 39 mins 48 secs. People: 6 Lycra-clad old men rocketed past me on their bicycles, nearly making me jump out of my skin. Dogs: 5, including an unfortunate three-legged mongrel wandering the street in Épenède. Butterflies: 12 – spotted a male small blue butterfly perched on a grass stem right by my car on the drive, a tiny but aggressively territorial species with smoky-blue wings, the first I have seen at Chez Nauche. This is my favourite time of year; the meadow is in full bloom, the hedge banks lush and bursting with life, without the tiredness that comes in the heat of summer. Several red-shanked carder bumblebee queens were foraging on white deadnettle on the ditch banks; also one shrill carder queen, emitting her distinctively piercing buzz. All, all is theft, all is unceasing and rigorous competition in nature; the desire to make off with the substance of others is the foremost – the most legitimate – passion nature has bred into us and, without doubt, the most agreeable one.
