drhook
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drhook.bsky.social
drhook
@drhook.bsky.social
2K followers 1.6K following 400 posts
Lives in SW France by a river. Drives a wheelbarrow and a spade - likes nature and photography (macro and landscapes in particular). Part-time wordsmith and art-lover. Finds houses for people who live faraway and dream of living in France.
Oi/you
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drhook.bsky.social
A GOLDEN DAWN
Autumn weather and changing temperatures lead to some amazing sunrises on the river Charente at this time of year.

My apologies for my absence on here, life has led me elsewhere for a while. All is good, though 😁. More details in ALT text.
#Charentemaritime #sunrise #charente #france
A golden sunrise on the river Charente, in SW France, blossoms behind trees along the bank. The river swirls and coils in the cold dawn air, while the warmer water offers mist to the emerging day. Cows can be seen behind the trees, getting to their knees and flexing their legs for a day of pasture. It'll be hot later....High above a pattern of contrails indicates where passengers on planes are enjoying breakfast at 36,000 feet, oblivious from their vantage point to the glory unfolding below. Lots of orange, yellow, pinks and fading blue colours in this one. Photo taken at Port D'Envaux, close to Saintes.
October 19, 2025 at 8:40 AM
drhook.bsky.social
CHASING THE SUN
The road runs straight as a ruler for nearly six kilometers across the Marais de Brouage between St Jean d'Angle and Saint-Just-Luzac. This snapshot through the windscreen is one of my favourite views. Beware of coypu - this introduced resident runs very slowly across the road!
A photograph of a sunset at the end of a very long stretch of road that runs through the Marais de Brouage, a part-tidal marsh that lies between St Jean d'Angle and Saint-Just-Luzac in the Charente Maritime. Poplars lean to windward along the southern side of the road, a testament to the breeze that sweeps in unceasingly from the sea, several kilometers to the north-east. The marsh has been worked since pre-historic times for salt, and then later for aquaculture and agriculture. Romans, Moors, English corsairs and Germans have all ruled here, and the egret, frog, stork and grass snake have looked on with disdain throughout every occupation. It's a long road, and when the traffic is absent, coypu scurry across it and the call of lapwings can be heard faintly in the distance. Halfway across there is a memorial to Resistance fighters, killed in a firefight as they raced to secure supplies dropped by the RAF many years ago. Doubtless under the mud across the marsh lie other stories, where swords and shields lie dormant since they were first laid to rest. There are the bones of boats here too, ribs and keels half exposed on the biggest of tides, decaying relics anxious to tell their story too before time returns it all to some other state which will never talk again.
March 16, 2025 at 2:42 PM
drhook.bsky.social
GREAT WHITE
Not many brassicae in our garden for this white to feed on, so a quick rest on some verbena obviously fitted the moment more. Just another couple of months and we should be seeing them again...
#charentemaritime #butterfly #nature #garden #macrophotography #largewhite #insects
A close up of a large white butterfly feeding on purple verbena. The background is out of focus, emphasising the single insect on its plant.
March 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
drhook.bsky.social
A FEUDAL AFFAIR
Behind this wall on the right is the church of Saint-Saturnin de Séchaud; on its right is its presbytery. All three buildings date from the 12th century. The church's doors are often open; it's a wonderful calm space to stop and visit.
#charentemaritime #saintsaturnin #churches
A black and white photograph of a 12th century church and its presbytery, situated behind a long stone wall, probably dating from the same era. This enclave is in the countryside east of Saintes, the ancient provincial capital of the Charente Maritime. It is winter, and the buildings are behind the bare branches of some trees, revealed in their silhouette by the season's changing hours. The doors of this church are often open, and it is a magical space to visit and spend time in reflection.
March 12, 2025 at 10:22 AM
drhook.bsky.social
WINTER GLORY
This is the river Charente at Port d'Envaux in all its spindly finery, a time when boats hang low and trees wait for the warmth of spring.

#rivercharente #charentemaritime #rivers #boats #blackandwhitephotography #photography #noiretblanc #portdenvaux
A vertical portrait of the river Charente in winter, with a diagonal reflection of trees and boats to the left, and a bare landscape to the right.
March 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
drhook.bsky.social
SPRING BLOOM
Our magnolia is in flower - for a change. The past few years it has succumbed to frost at inopportune times.

Sorry for the break in photos - been having issues with gear.
#charentemaritime #flowers #magnolia #trees #nature #gardens #blossom #bloom #photography #fotografia
A magnolia bloom bathes in the last sunshine of the day. This beautiful pink and white variety has a very short shelf life, but looks fabulous in the starkness of our garden when it manages to escape the frost.
March 11, 2025 at 7:43 AM
drhook.bsky.social
SPRING IN THE AIR
The first bees are out and about, typically when the sun appears. The first species we normally see is the Hairy-footed Flower bee, but the red mason be will not be far behind. We just need some blossom to see a few more!
#france #charentemaritime #redmasonbee #osmiacornutia
A red mason bee clings to a blossom at the start of spring
February 10, 2025 at 2:37 PM
drhook.bsky.social
WHAT THE CLUCK?
Our flock of Marans and bantams don't lay a lot in winter, but they still love to eat! It's fun to introduce different things for them, and breakfast is always a bun-fight...
A photograph taken at ground level showing some Marans chickens eating out of a long trough. Bright red crests, strong browns and a beautiful golden plumage make for some lovely colours.
January 31, 2025 at 12:08 PM
drhook.bsky.social
BRIDGE OVER SMOOTH WATERS
The moment of utter glass before the water goes over the sill of the weir, the calm before the storm. This is where fresh water of the Seudre meets the saltwater of the Atlantic. Not a good place for minnows!
#france #saujon #blackandwhite #river #water #reflections
A black and white photograph of the surface of a river, just before it goes over the sill of a weir. Taken from above, on the footbridge, the water reflects several different tones of light and shape
January 31, 2025 at 12:02 PM
drhook.bsky.social
BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON
Aware of some movement in the olive bush by the front door, I found this chap alone in the darkness, contemplating his failure to find a date for the night.
#france #charentemaritime #grasshopper #jerseygrasshopper #euchorthippuselegantulus #macrophotography
With a full moon in the background, a Jersey grasshopper takes rest for the night in an olive bush, hoping it will keep him safe till the morning.
January 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
drhook.bsky.social
HE'S BEHIND YOU!!
Someone with imagination livened up the rear door of their camper-van. Seen at Le Gua, Charente Maritime.
#charentemaritime #camping #campervan #legua #blackandwhite #photography #fotografia
A black and white image of the rear of a camper-van.
January 29, 2025 at 8:48 PM
drhook.bsky.social
FISH WITH PIANO
Fresh off the easel yesterday - my 22 year-old son's latest offering. Still trying to get him on Bsky. Sigh. There's a video here of its creation: www.instagram.com/p/DFXu_a0s5Pb/
A colourful acrylic painting of a pair of clown fish in an aquarium behind a piano. The artist is my 22 year-old son, Jack. He lives and paints with us at home, here in the Charente Maritime. The piano is typically in toned black and white, providing a stark contrast to the greens and blues above.
January 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
drhook.bsky.social
WHEN THE MARSH SINGS...
...the colours of the sunset chorus back. Our proximity to the Atlantic and its weather creates swathes of texture when the sun and sky co-operate. Faintly, I could hear a curlew calling...
#maraisdeseudre #charentemaritime #sunset #colours #photography #fotografia #marshes
A colourful sunset stretches across the canvas, where orange, pink, purple, violet and yellow bands reflect in the still waters of the Marais de Seudre, a marsh located inland from the Île d'Oleron, in the Charente Maritime. It is calm, with just the sound of a curlew to be heard.
January 27, 2025 at 12:32 AM
drhook.bsky.social
EN GUARDE!
A Western bee-fly (Bombylius canescens) sallys out for lunch, and with a swift move is zooming in for the kill on a lavender bloom. Like a fencer this insect switches from riposte to lunge as it dances amongst the garden.
#charentemaritime #beefly #blackandwhite #photography #macrophoto
a black and white image of a small insect, a bee-fly, flitting towards a lavender bloom, its proboscis extended. This is all against a white background, creating a start juxtaposition of imagined movement. GX8 + Panasonic 30mm
January 22, 2025 at 11:15 PM
drhook.bsky.social
THE COUNTRY CLUB
The court the Tennis Champ grew up on, where on a summer's day there was the buzz of crickets, and on a winter's day there was frost, and grass would crackle underfoot by the car. The great thing the wind doesn't affect her at all, now!
#charentemaritime #tennis #babolat #harvest
A symphony of colours in this image, which shows a young girl standing pensively on a tennis court in the country, while behind her a red combine harvester has been working right up to the wire fence. It is high summer, with a blue sky and a harvest in the picture, and the girl is dressed in a colourful skirt of flourescent green and pink, with a black top.
January 22, 2025 at 11:09 PM
drhook.bsky.social
FRESHLY PLOWED
The dawn after the plough, and a day nearer to spring. I missed the sunrise, stuck behind a tractor in a small lane - it only lasted for a few minutes, but the backend of it was pleasant enough. Saintes lies to the right of the image.
#charentemaritime #farming #sunrise #saintes
A winter landscape at dawn - a ploughed field in the foreground, and the lilac remnants of the sunrise glimmer under a belly of cloud. The piece of forest in between is tinged with the smoke of chimneys.
January 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
drhook.bsky.social
THE MIDNIGHT GOLDMINE
In late summer our banks of mirabilis carry a dark secret - that when night falls, their flowers open to reveal the pearls of gold that the giant Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli) seek for nourishment. By moonlight there's quite an ethereal flittering about the garden!
This macro image shows the inside of a luscious pink mirabilis flower, where the anthers atop each stamen are golden pearlescent orbs, the night-time target of several insects, most notably perhaps the Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli). Photograph taken in the Charente Maritime, southwest France. Panasonic GX8 + Olympus 60mm
January 21, 2025 at 12:59 PM
drhook.bsky.social
'TIS THE SEASON OF MIMOSA
Every corner of the landscape has dots of early yellow, where the mimosa is fully in bloom. Much loved by the French, it appears in bouquets and on kitchen tables wherever it is found, sometimes by the unlikeliest of providers!
#charentemaritime #mimosa #photograhy #bloom
January 20, 2025 at 11:48 PM
drhook.bsky.social
THE ALLEY OF TIRED FEET
At rush hour this alley echoes to the footsteps of people descending to homes below. Saintes is a small city of many lanes and ancient pavements, where history beckons at each corner.
#charentemaritime #saintes #street #photography #city
An alley in central Saintes lies in shade in the afternoon. The view through the buildings leads the eye across the valley that leads to the ancient Roman amphitheatre. It is a blue day, warm in the sun, and tired feet will descend this alley later as people go home.
January 20, 2025 at 11:41 PM
drhook.bsky.social
SIESTA
Town-town Saintes on a bright afternoon, with hidden dark corners where 50 year-old cables still sway overhead. Much of France's electrical supply still warms the feet of starlings in winter.
#charentemaritime #saintes #blackandwhite #photography #fotografia #street #reflections
January 20, 2025 at 11:35 PM
drhook.bsky.social
THE GHOST OF SUMMER PAST
This is not an insect, but the complete exo-skeleton of a shield bug, or a stink bug, as Americans call them. It's the only one I have ever found, despite many years of photographing live insects. The eyes!
#charentemaritime #shieldbug #insects #macro #bugs #macrophotograhy
This photo shows the complete exo-skeleton of a shield bug, or stink bug. It's the only one I have ever found, and that's despite photographing the live versions for many years. This exo-skeleton is pale golden in colour, with hard outer edges and papery thin skin. The eyes are still imprinted with original compound arrangement of the old live insect.
January 15, 2025 at 11:57 PM
drhook.bsky.social
LA SIESTE
In my neighbour's garden is a tower where a princess surely sleeps. In the trees above a pair of black woodpeckers nested all summer. A match made in heaven.
#frabce #charentemaritime #folly #sleepingprincess #fairytale
A small tower has been built in a garden in France. It is fit for a princess, surrounded by tall trees and bushes.
January 9, 2025 at 9:30 PM
drhook.bsky.social
YOUR CARRIAGE AWAITS
The Tennis Champ went off to a party in the autumn in a wonderful 76 year-old Citroen Avant. I could not resist a few photos....a very French flavoured image for me.
#citroenavant #blackandwhitephotography #portraits #party
A black and white photo of a girl in a summer dress looking out through the window of a very old car made by a famous French manufacturer - Citroen. She is bare shouldered and the image is the epitome of a summer afternoon.
January 9, 2025 at 9:13 PM
drhook.bsky.social
THE GREEN GYMNAST
A juvenile stick insect balances on a match on our garden table. At this size they are all but invisible on a plant, but this one dropped out of the lime-tree onto a dark pane of glass and stood out like a viridescent beacon.
#stickinsect #macro #garden #macrophotography #insects
A vivid green little stick insects balances on a match against a dark background
December 29, 2024 at 5:15 PM
drhook.bsky.social
SOLDIERS OF SPRING
The stamens of a cherry blossom reach out to the sun in our garden. Invisible increments of seasonal growth, each day they push harder towards their goal when the anthers produce pollen, without which there are no cherries. You need insects, too, of course 😁
#cherry #blossom
A photo of the inside of a cherry blossom, showing the thrusting stamens of the flower, each adorned with the orange heads of the anthers, the part of the flower that produces pollen. In season, it is the pollen brushing off the anthers onto crawling insects that creates pollinisation, when the insect then visits a female flower and deposits the pollen. The white anthers and the brightly coloured heads stand out against a dark green background.
December 29, 2024 at 4:58 PM