Absolutely! Hate it… grrrr…
I an not sure what we have here but over the years, as warned by the neighbours, the rate of losing cats to farm machines and the odd rural ratrunner on their commute is quite high. There are also quite a few feral cats.
Anytime an unknown cat is seen late in the day looking like having been a victim it haa disappeared within hours especially if dark is soon to fall. I had been wondering is there a fox or wolf population also that’s grabbing them, but now you mention lynxes…I am wondering if we have any in 46 
Wonderful book 
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I now have a copy in a convertible form from a generous member and am looking forward, once I have worked out the way of doing it, to reading it. 
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Hi David,
I have a same dream of buying and fencing a large field for dogs to be able to run freely. I have an epileptic blind setter/spaniel cross, Tilly, who I would love to let off lead, but as with my 3 year old fox terrier/teckel cross, Gaïa, she can’t resist a scent and despite her age can run like a hare.
I have my other dog, Joey, a teckel/beagle cross, who has really good recall until he smells a wild boar or a deer or worse still a wild cat. Living where I do, that’s pretty much guaranteed wherever we walk, so a properly fenced piece of land would be heaven!!! I hope you get it and you can do what you want to.
It’s amazing how blind dogs, especially blind from birth as my now re-homed foster, Harper Grace is, can run so fast. She did bang into things but I always tried to warn her out in the countryside where she would react instantly to any sound from my throat and came straight back to me.
I did have a Setter, Tosca, who died at 16 last year who was almost deaf and, in later years, had diminishing eyesight. Her recall was excellent but sometimes when a hundred metres or more away from me I could see her stop and search her horizons for me. Only when I stood in one place and jumped up and down windmilling my arms did she suddenly spot me and come running back.
Our present foster, Jules, is a Dobermann/Beauceron X but with hunting genes not too far back in his past. He has followed ground scents for several kms through forests in the past and so cannot be free outside of the garden. I really hate not allowing him to run so 2 days ago I plucked up courage again (2 previous outings were successful but I lived in fear of him spotting a cat) to run him on a lead with me on the e-trike. Although he did spot a cat, the strong khaki army belt lead looped tight over my wrist, held him tight as I continued to pedal leaning hard left to counter his pull. On the way back he saw it again and squirmed out of his collar to chase it but, mercifully recalled to my side when it disappeared into a thicket. So I am counting that a success, albeit with a sore wrist, and plan similar outings every afternoon now.
But I really would like this extra land, it is so frustrating when people simply cannot make up their own minds and for the moment it is a case of just sitting and waiting. I live in fear that one day these parcelles will be cleared for building permission and then they will be lost for ever.
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True to my word we set off again yesterday afternoon but initially the result was less than satisfactory, to say the least.
As we turned left, against the camber, from the drive onto the lane, with him not pulling but at full stretch on the outside of our curve, I felt myself going over towards him. I put my foot to the floor but had to hop 3 times before I was forced over, together with the trike.
He waited patiently while I righted myself and the machine, reloaded some spilled re-cycling into the panier and, with as much dignity as I could, set off again. I was aware of bloodied and frayed skin on my right knee and elbow but as the blood wasn’t flowing, decided it could wait till we got back.
The rest of it was fine as we went up the steep incline fast enough for him to need to gallop (one of the advantages of this is that the speed prevents him from sniffing the ground and thus haring off route) and I was very careful as I slowed him on command and made the left hand U-turn at the top of the lane, but he is getting used to this wide curve and as long as I lean left to counter his weight (my failure to do this properly was the reason for our upset, not his fault) it is easily done.
Coming back down I am mindful of the proximity of the forest next to him and so allow the descent fast enough though to keep his attention, but I don’t want him to overdo it and fall, so with judicious use of both brakes, kept our speed down to 20 km/hr. I think that is ok for a fit 6 year old Beaucie/ Dobie bearing in mind that we once timed our Greyhound, Lira, at 80 over a measured 100 metres on the flat. 
I really would like to let him completely have his head though, but that will have to wait for one or both of our landowner neighbours to come to a decision.
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Thanks to a kind member I now have a copy of Wohlleben’s book on my Kindle Paperwhite. It was a bit complicated to download it but I finally made it.
I’ll be reading it when I’ve finished my current book. 
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Well thanks to Sue and Vero for pointing me in the right direction and my anonymous benefactor who made reading it on Kindle possible, I am one third the way through reading The Hidden Life of Trees now.
It is fascinating, I have really got wrapped in the subject and walk around looking at all the trees in the wood, and my own small patch, with a different point of view.
It has caused me to make plans for some trees in my wood which are in need of attention but also raised some puzzled thoughts. For instance, he mentions that any oak trees which spring small leafy shoots from low down on the trunk are obviously in distress and struggling to access sunlight on high, usually because of competing close beech trees. But I have some very large oaks in my wood doing just that but which have no competition at the crowns in space so large that the sunlight streams to the base as well. Perhaps that is the answer, they are getting it down below too.
No news on the purchase front, but Jules and I are finding many more routes accessible between the trees and I am thinking of cutting the paths he has found through some of the brambles high and wide enough for me to follow without getting scratched in the process. Wherever possible I let him have free rein, on the rein of course 
, to follow scents wherever he wants and it surprising how much different ground we can cover in less than half a hectare or so.
Much better than getting soaked to the knees in sopping wet grass in the field, and far more interesting too.
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I have that book on my Kindle and was about to read it again, as its been a long time since I first read it. Enjoy!
With no word from either landowner, the other day I nevertheless continued our walks in the furthest, but less brambled but therefore more arboreal, of the 2 plots I’m interested in and have cleared even more brambles to give us more variety to wander between the trees.
But returning into our garden I noticed some brambles had been cleared in the nearest one and later walked up the lane to look in at the entrance. There I found our friend and erstwhile neighbour, Cathie, about to do some tree pruning. I noticed that a considerable area of brambles had been cleared by her husband.
She declared that she had discussed with her 2 daughters about the possible sale and they were against it, so that is that. At least we know but I wonder if she would have told me if not for our chance meeting. Some people are strange. To keep us hanging on like this does not seem polite to me.
So I wait for the other plot, which is more attractive. But, as he his far more absent, Paris, and hasn’t even visited the commune in many years, I think I can treat it almost as my own, apart from fencing, and clear up to Cathie’s boundary. I am anxious to make sure she knows where it is in case she is tempted to ‘steal’ more trees as she did before when she sent in the fellers.
In the meantime I am intensifying my efforts to train this incalcitrant dog of mine to always return when off lead. 
It has been a long and frustrating battle, but I can do no more than keep trying. Then I wouldn’t need to buy and fence.
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5 months on from my last post and an email dropped in my box yesterday from a certain person in Paris.
Bonsoir
Mon fils avait prévu de passer à St Front pendant l été des problemes personnels ont modifié
ses plans.Quand i.lseront résolus je vous contacterai .
Cordialement
Which I take to mean that he may want to sell. I will reply today without mentioning a particular figure and see if I can find out what he is thinking.
I think the glaciers in Greenland are moving faster than this process. 
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Seems his son had planned to visit St Front during the summer, but was unable to do so due to personal problems.
"Once those are resolved, I will be in touch with you… " is how the father leaves things, without going into any detail…
I don’t think you can read much more into his email.
but, at least he’s broken the silence.
I think if there was chance they would be interested in selling they would have said so. Either by not replying at all, or just saying “sorry, no plans to sell”.
I can’t see the point of him writing to me after all this time if he didn’t have some idea in his mind to let the land go, but mention of his son strikes a chord that maybe, given the inheritance aspect of property in France, the decision may not rest with him alone. This was what happened with Cathie, my friend who owns the smaller plot next door, at first her only comment was ‘how much would you pay me?’ but then that she had consulted her daughters who were against the idea.
As ownership is not my prime object, only a place to roam with my dogs in security, I have raised the possibility that he might be willing to rent instead, with provision long term (or short) so that I could fence it with confidence for the future. It is of no interest to my wife, if she outlives me, or to my children, so to me this may be a more acceptable solution for all concerned.
Thus I have constructed a reply which raises the possibility of renting rather than buying (though I am open to either). I haven’t sent it yet but will hold it in abeyance for a day or so for any of you to comment, particularly @vero
Bonjour M. xxxxxxxx,
Je vous remercie pour votre courriel et apprecie le fait que vous pourriez etre d’accord de me vendre votre terrain a St. Front pour mes chiens de promener.
Par contre, si vous, or son fils, ne veut pas de la vendre, peut-etre un accord de la louer pendant le reste de ma vie (j’ai 78 ans) et me permettre du cloturer.
Donc j’attends d’entendre de vous encore en temps utile,
Amicalement, David xxxxxxx.
Promener mes chiens
En revanche si vous et votre fils ne souhaitez pas vendre le terrain, peut-être seriez-vous d’accord pour me le louer pour le restant de ma vie (j’ai actuellement 78 ans) et me permettriez-vous de le clôturer.
Fingers crossed!
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Merci bien Vero, superbe. 
It has been altered exactly as you suggest, and sent.
I wonder if it will be another 5 months before we get another reply. 
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Well not 5 months this time, the email arrived this morning. ‘We have decided not to sell and in discussion with the local Notaire, he has strongly advised against renting, a shame for the dogs. Desole.’
So that’s that, a shame indeed. I wonder what the Notaire had in mind, does he think I am going to live a long time? 
At least you have an answer so that you don’t have to worry about it anymore! They are funny about land here, I think there are some odd rules after a certain number of years. Yes it! shame for the dogs though!
Yes, sad for me but I suppose it is all to do with the strict inheritance laws in France. He felt obliged to consult his son who may possibly be thinking ahead to the day in the future when there may be some sort of planning permission on it. In much the same way as Cathie on the other plot at first said ‘how much will you pay me’ but then much later had asked her daughters who said no.
There is a smaller parcelle of forest at the back of mine but I did write to them years ago and never got a reply.
The dogs don’t mind much, they get to walk in it anyway, but it is me who is juggling 2 30 odd metre leads in and out of the trees until I can be 100% certain of Noubia’s recall. She is nearly there but has had one or two lapses, she always comes back but sometimes she is out of sight for a while and I worry that she might come across a lane when a car is coming.