
The view from my office window – an occasional series

Moving to France and adapting to life in Lyon


J’ai pris cette photo chez Euronews. Vous avez besoin de la regarder tres bien. Mais là en haut il y a une buse.


I saw the trees in Franklin Roosevelt being pruned this morning. They are being cut into a lovely box shape.

On my way home I saw the tree surgeons had made some real progress. They must have been working with a ruler.
I hope they are going to finish the job with the trees outside our flat.


As our time in Guadeloupe draws to a close it is worth reflecting on some highlights.

The cocktails, beer, rum and accra and langoustes and coco sorbet
An excellent way to celebrate our 25th and 26th wedding anniversaries. À la prochaine.

On a hot stroll along the beach at St Anne we were in need of cooling down. Then we saw la doyenne.




It worked a treat.
There is one food-stuff that is everywhere in Guadeloupe – the lobster crayfish.*



*Merci prof.
Guadeloupe? Basse Terre, Grande Terre?
The French West Indies, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, the Antilles, the Caribbean?? L’outremer?
It is all very confusing. At least one thing is clear. We are in France. Wait? What??




I spent a morning with the Caribbean’s leading birder – Anthony Levesque. He has seen more than 500 species and identified 50previously unseen in Guadeloupe.
So I couldn’t be in better hands. It meant an early start to beat the crowds at a couple of local beauty spots.
Anthony explained there is one bird endemic to Guadeloupe and only seen in Basse Terre and Grande Terre – the woodpecker. He said we had to see it.
As a patch birder par excellence he knew where to see them as he had seen them building their nest. And so…

After that we dashed around to see as many local birds as possible. We saw 29 in total. Anthony recognises the songs and knew where to look so we saw many amazing colourful birds including three types of humming bird.
The best for me was the chestnut-sided warbler – stunning.

But Anthony said the rarest bird we saw was the ringed kingfisher which flew high overhead. I also took some digiscoped pics with my iPhone. Here’s a selection.




It was an amazing morning – we also saw a Mangrove Cuckoo which was gorgeous. If you ever want to go birding in the Caribbean – Anthony is definitely your man. He also makes a mean coffee.