Fire Bugs

On sunny afternoons in winter they emerge from their hiding-places in the soil: the Fire Bugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus). They are real bugs, but don't have a bad smell. Those colourful insects  are easy to find because they live in groups.



Here a colony on the bark of a Lime tree. They are vegetarians with a preference for the seeds of Malvaceae, like Hollyhock and Mallows. The Lime also belongs to the Malvaceae.

Maritime Pine

In the Landes region they grow in millions, for industrial use, in monoculture. But in Dordogne they mostly grow together with other species. You'll find the Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster) with deciduous trees like chestnuts and oaks, wherever the soil is not too calcareous.



Its long slightly curved trunk mostly has no branches until the crown high up.

In young trees the bark is grey, but later on it is more colored, going from reddish to purplish blue, with deep crevices between the scales.
















Everything on this tree is big, not only the trunk. The needles are long, more than 10 cm, and the cones are at least as big as your hand. The scales are closed in wet weather, but when it is dry they open so the winged seeds can disperse.