The rape season

By which I mean the crop that's grown for oil, of couse!

Last Sunday, Magdalena and I went for a drive and a walk along the border with France to photograph the fields of rape in all their yellow glory. It was a beautiful day and the sight of the lemon-coloured fields set against the background of the Jura mountains (Jura - Jurassic) reminded me of how lucky I am in terms of where I live (it's the first time I've lived within walking distance of another country).

After taking some pictures of the fields we went on to visit a woodland and wetland nature reserve in France just outside the spa town of Divonne. We couldn't have chosen a better time. The classic woodland flowers were in bloom - wild arum, garlic mustard and so on, as well as as some of the wetland ones, such as marsh marigold and lady's smock. We even saw cowslips.

The reserve also hosts a small group of Aurochs - Europe's original wild cow. Well, they're not real aurochs because those went extinct hundreds of years ago; no, they've been re-created by selective breeding and they look a bit like highland cows (which you also find in the Juras, by the way).

This region has so much to offer that it'll be a long time before I get tired of it, even though I do miss the sea.