Too hot to chirp: French heatwave silences cicadas of Provence

A cicada rests on a pine tree during the heat of summer in Valbonne, in the south of France. Photograph: Sébastien Nogier/EPA

The noise of church bells, ducks, geese, cockerels and even frogs has been the source of many a complaint – and even legal action – from visitors and newly arrived city dwellers in the French countryside.

Few will forget Maurice the crowing cockerel, who landed his owner in court in a case that ruffled feathers across France and symbolised the town and country divide.