Today I lunched with Montagu 

part of the series:

Quel monde formidable or loosely translated ~

What a wonderful world!

It was one of those all too rare occasions this year, when we were able to lunch with the door open, as for lunching outside on the terrace; such an occurrence has been even rarer this year.  But, although the world’s weather is indeed part of the “wonderful” world, even though day after day of dreary wet weather stretches that point a little, and somewhat surprisingly the weather forms almost as much of the daily conversations in our part of France as it does in England, this blog post isn’t going to be a rant about the wonderfully awful spring we have had!!

No, but I would like to be able to do a little name dropping and say that lunch was with another nobleman of my acquaintance, a Lord Montagu, Harry to me but sir to the rest of you!  But sadly the Montagu in question despite having the most astonishingly regal air and being indeed a prince amongst others, no you don’t have to say “your Majesty,” is indeed no other that one of the most majestic fliers I have ever had the pleasure and privilege to watch, and all without the harsh drone of a propeller or ear-splitting whistle of a jet engine.  The Montagu in question is no other than a Montagu’s harrier, closely related to the hen harrier, but reputedly the “lightest and most elegant” of the harriers, “with the longest, most swept back wing tips: ideal for riding the warm breezes in Mediterranean summers.”  And, not getting back onto the weather although we reputedly have as many days sunshine each year as the Med they just haven’t arrived this year, they are “scarcer than hen harrier in most places except southern Europe, where they are characteristic of rolling steppes and cereal-growing areas.”

But in these here parts they seem to be relatively common, throughout the summer, and are truly a wonder to behold as they quarter the fields, particularly when recently cut, searching for prey.  Their flight is as I said before majestic; their wings flapping deeply, with wavering glides when their wings form a V shape, (or dihedral to give it its technical name!!)  and with the most astonishing and seemingly impossible twists, turns and dashes to take the small mammals and birds, on which they feed, totally by surprise.  The term poetry in motion must surely have been coined to describe these aerial acrobats, and it is usually the males that catch the eye, as they have much lighter plumage, a pale grey, appearing almost white at times, with distinctive black bands and indeed the first ones I saw, I thought at quick glance, were particularly agile seagulls, surprisingly uncommon around here despite our proximity to the sea.  Here the seagulls don’t seem to have become urban dwellers in the same way as they have in the UK.  The female Montagu harriers are darker, brown on top and a pale yellow-brown underside.  Generally, they can be confused with others, most noticeably the hen harrier or pallid harrier, but apart from subtleties in markings it’s the “elegance and elasticity” that does it for me, both in terms of identification and sheer delight!  And, what a delight to be able to sit in my kitchen having lunch and being entertained so elegantly!

Why Montagu?  Its common name commemorates the British naturalist George Montagu, but its Latin name, Circus pygargus, is certainly very apt as they are just like the most graceful of circus performers and some!!  And, in French; busard cendré, basically ash harrier, I suppose in reference to the male colouring, well they do say Monsieurs et Madames in France!!