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...

Good news for our mountain biodiversity! The Capercaillie and the Rock Ptarmigan are now officially protected in France. These two emblematic birds are endangered: the capercaillie has lost nearly 80% of its population in the Pyrenees since 1960, while the ptarmigan, a survivor of the Ice Age, sees its habitat nibbled away at every year by climate change. Monique Barbut said: "Protecting is not just about banning hunting; it is also about restoring everything that allows a species to live and reproduce sustainably. Protecting our biodiversity means preserving an exceptional natural heritage, but it also means protecting the ecosystems of which we are a part and on which we depend for our livelihood. » An important step for the preservation of our mountain biodiversity. Rock Ptarmigan Capercaillie The Capercaillie is classified as vulnerable on the red list of breeding birds in France (populations of the Urogallus subspecies present in the Vosges, Jura, and Cévennes are even classi...

In France, some 14 million pheasants are reared in captivity every year for release into the wild at the start of the hunting period for the benefit of hunters, basically to be shot. Very soon, as I write this, we will see them wandering around in our French gardens and on our land. They are not a native species, although they have been in France since Roman times when they were introduced from Asia. In normal circumstances, their numbers would be very low, resulting from a high level of predation, often by foxes. In fact, a major reason why foxes are victimised is due to their killing of game birds. Now, a study has shown the harm they cause to our native species. The release of farmed pheasants exterminates populations of threatened and protected reptiles, and, like every year, they will resume to satisfy an increasingly controversial hobby called hunting: A scientific study has identified that areas where pheasants are released before the hunting season become biological deserts for...

  Violet drop wing Trithemis annulata Thrithémis annelé or Thrithémis pourpré Location - Peyras, 16270 Roumazières-Loubert, France Recently, I was out relaxing, just having a good time really on a Sunday at one of those man-made recreational lakes that France excels in, but with my eyes always on the lookout, I saw quite a large number of bright purple dragonflies that I had never seen before. Aerial view of lake I only had my phone with me, and I struggled in the bright sunlight to focus and get a half-decent photo, which, as it turns out, isn't that bad. What I didn't realise at the time was that these violet dragonflies were all males and that the females are a rather drab brown. Male Violet drop wing Originating in Africa, it first appeared in Spain in 1978, Corsica in 1989, and then mainland France in 1994, where it is now well established and rapidly expanding both to the north and to the east along the Mediterranean coastal band and the Rhône valley....

  Source info - Office for Insects and Their Environment, France Asian hornets are now well established in mainland France, and we have to accept it: it will be impossible to eradicate this species. Given this reality, the question is not how to make them disappear, but how to learn to limit their impacts without worsening an already alarming situation for French wildlife. Adopting a balanced approach, based on scientific knowledge, is essential today. Protecting domestic bees is important socially and economically, but this should not come at the expense of other wild insects that help maintain functional ecosystems. Managing Asian hornets cannot rely on isolated actions or responses driven by fear or instinctive rejection. On the contrary, it requires cooperation between beekeepers, scientists, local authorities, and public officials in order to put forward coherent, well-thought-out, effective solutions that respect living beings, especially other animals. It's important that de...

  For several years, measures have been taken to limit the worrying spread of pampas grass. In France, the decree of February 14, 2018 - amended in March 2020 and then in April 2024 - classifies Cortaderia selloana among the plant species whose possession, planting and transport are prohibited throughout the territory. This means that you can no longer keep it at home at the time of writing and that it is imperative that you destroy your stocks. The risks incurred in the event of non-compliance with these regulations are set out in Articles L415-3 and R415-1 of the Environmental Code. Their content is very clear: it is forbidden to "voluntarily introduce into the natural environment, transport, peddle, use, offer for sale, sell or buy a specimen of an animal or plant species", under penalty of risking a penalty of up to 3 years imprisonment and a fine of €150,000. How this will be enforced remains to be seen. Chris

Lots of questions about this subject crop up and this is no more than a rough outline. Winter climatic conditions in the Northern Hemisphere vary enormously, and even when we take a relatively small land mass such as France, there are huge variations in the different regions. The reasons for this will be obvious to most people, and to put it very simply, they are the geographical differences between North, South, East, West, inland or coastal, mountains, and plains. Of course, it's actually more complicated, but we can all get the general idea. For hundreds of thousands of years, creatures have adapted and specialised to survive these climatic conditions in different ways and hopefully will continue to do so, although many may find they struggle as climate chaos gathers pace and our demands on the environment increase. Migration:  Perhaps the most obvious method of dealing with winter is to physically move somewhere else, often long distances, mostly Africa, where it is warmer ...

The conflict between humans and wolves knows no end.  It was always going to be difficult as their numbers recovered and increased to maintain the "strictly protected fauna species" category that they have enjoyed at the European level.  Pressure, mainly from farmers, has resulted in their status being reduced to "special protected fauna species"  at the end of 2024 and put into action at the beginning of March 2025. This is a major change and a huge backward step that will make it easier for people to kill them when we need them to help address the proliferation of species that they prey on.  More LINK HERE Chris

  Being both a bit of a naturalist and a bee keeper people sometimes contact me to remove honey bee colonies that have been constructed between closed shutters and the window. This is an ideal space and a fairly common occurrence in France with second homes that are left empty during the swarming season and only discovered when the owners return to their house or when someone they know or employ takes a look at the house. A few years ago, August 2021 to be precise, one of the houses I was called to was in Charroux, (86250) by a neighbour of an empty property that was a keyholder, where the following day I proceeded to dismantle the comb and re house the bees in a ruchette, (small hive). During a pause in proceedings the neighbour invited me for a coffee and we then took a walk though his land chatting about wildlife and conservation in general. During the course of this chatting he mentioned that they had a large number of bats every year in their outbuildings which immediatel...

  We are increasingly reading about hospitalisations and deaths resulting from Asian hornet stings BUT are Asian Hornets any more aggressive or dangerous than our native European Hornet and Social colony forming wasps? You may think so if you only go by media sources but in reality this isn't actually the case despite there being some well publicised reports of deaths. Read the full post. About the Dangers from Asian Hornets in France