French wildlife and beekeeping

The chasse à l’alouette is a traditional form of hunting in France, particularly associated with the Eurasian skylark ( Alauda arvensis ), known in French as the alouette des champs. There are two main methods. Hunting with firearms, including shooting skylarks during the autumn migration. Traditional trapping methods, notably the use of pantes (large ground nets) and, historically, other capture devices in parts of south-western France. This is controversial in many ways because skylarks are migratory birds whose populations face pressures from agricultural intensification, habitat change, and hunting, and are of concern to other countries where skylark populations are declining more rapidly than in France.  The hunting of Skylarks is always being contested by the LPO and other environmental and wildlife protection structures, and th e latest court decisions make the situation particularly concerning.  2022: The Conseil d’État suspended authorisations for traditional net and ...

  You would think in a country that is apparently overrun with wild boar, [sanglier], there wouldn't be a requirement for boar breeding farms, but there are, in fact, maybe as many as 400 of them; up-to-date figures are hard to obtain.   Many people think this is to release even more wild boar into the open environment, but this is rarely the case. What we find is that there are 4 principal purposes for them. 1. Sold to hunting estates Some are sold alive to private commercial hunting establishments, particularly enclosed hunting parks, which must be securely enclosed, where they can release them into a designated area so that hunters can pursue them. French law specifically controls the origin and health of boar released at commercial hunting establishments. 2. Released into the natural environment Releases for restocking are also recognised under French regulations, but they require the appropriate authorisation. Animals must meet genetic-purity and health requirements....

  Ivy bees Colletes hederae are a species of ground-nesting solitary bee that can be found in all regions of France. They are expanding their range and numbers in the north and, since 2001, can be found in the south of the UK, where they are continuing to expand northwards. An attractive bee, slightly smaller than a honey bee, they have yellow and black bands and a ginger or chestnut brown hairy thorax. Ivy bees in a greenhouse They are often referred to as plasterer bees or polyester bees , due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry into a cellophane-like lining. They start to emerge from late August and, depending on conditions, can be seen until November. This coincides with Ivy flowering, which is their principal source of nectar, and in the case of females, pollen to provision their eggs for when they hatch, hence the common name in both English and French. Nests themselves are cr...

  Yesterday we had proper rainfall for the first time since mid May, the drought has been horrendous for wildlife as a whole, so, something a little different with this post. What changes are required to our eating habits and agricultural methods in a changing climate, with increasing droughts and water shortages? It is difficult for me to discuss this question without bringing in some of the wider issues surrounding food production, human health, wildlife and the environment. So please forgive me if I occasionally drift into some of these areas; I will on future posts anyway. At the risk of offending some people — and I suspect I probably will — it seems obvious to me that we in France, as in many other developed countries, generally consume too much of almost everything that modern society has made readily available to us. We really have become a consumer society. We are encouraged to consume everywhere we go, and food is no exception. Advertising and marketing are constant co...