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 hotel – living the life of luxury for 12 days. It was like living in the TV series White Lotus.

• The weather – gorgeous every day.

• The sea – crystal clear with amazing views of shoals of blue and green fish – les bancs de poissons.

• Adding 34 birds to my life list – including a mangrove cuckoo – in the expert hands of the Caribbean’s top bird guide.

• Seeing the sights of Guadeloupe from the slavery museum to the rum museum to the markets and the national park and waterfall.

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.

After 14 months at Euronews I decided it was time to have a proper holiday.

Holiday entitlement works a year in advance in France so I don’t have any to take until 31 May. But as we couldn’t celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary last year because of this rule, we have taken some in advance and jetted off to Guadeloupe – in the French West Indies.

I’m aware this blog is about life in Lyon but Guadeloupe is strangely still France so I’ll publish some updates and if you don’t want to see them – come back on 24 April where normal service will be resumed.