Noisy neighbours

We all have or have heard tales about life made unbearable by noisy neighbours - not just loud music, but machinery or even flocks of geese. A couple in the Perigord have a pond in their garden, which is not new having been shown on maps for at least 100 years, and like most ponds and small lakes it attracts frogs. And frogs are noisy. These frogs are so noisy that the couple's neighbours complained and asked a huissier to measure the noise levels. The readings measured 60 decibels, about the level of a washing machine. The court ordered the retired couple to fill in the pond.
After appealing the decision the magistrates in Bordeaux upheld the order and now the couple have a 3000 euro bill for costs awarded to the complainants. Several environmental and animal protection groups have promised support in the appeal to a higher court and the frogs' rights to be considered as they are a protected species.
When we lived at St Vincent, Varen, a neighbour had a small lake she made by damming a stream running between her garden and the field behind our house and the frogs' chorus was loud and constant - in the breeding season. Now we have nightingales singing all hours, farmers hay-making at midnight, donkeys braying - all sounds of life in the country. Here's to the frogs!

green frogs in a pond in our garden

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