French wildlife and beekeeping

  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...

What role, if any, does hunting play in the massive species population declines we are experiencing across the board in France? Hunting is one of those subjects that invariably divides people into being either for or against with both sides of the argument frequently suffering from the blindness and anger that comes with entrenched attitudes but the question that needs to be asked is how much harm results from hunting relative to other perhaps more acceptable activities when it comes to the declines in wildlife that we are witnessing?  Looked at objectively it soon becomes clear that although the practice of hunting may be abhorrent to many people it doesn’t really have any impact on the populations of deer and boar, (gros gibier or large game as they are known), which is the main form of hunting in France . Many birds are specifically bred to be hunted such as Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge & Mallard and as such don’t really count, (see link at the bottom). Where...

It would be negligent in the extreme to ignore the importance of Organic food production if we are to be serious about preserving our wildlife and the environment. All of the major French Bird and Wildlife Associations are now forming relationships and working closely with Organic farmers to enable them to be even more “Wildlife friendly” including installing ponds, hedgerows, bird and bat boxes.   Although the consumption of organically produced food or Bio as it is known in France still only represents 3% of the total food consumed both the growth in demand and availability are increasing at an unprecedented rate with sales in 2015 reaching 5.75 billion euros which in itself is probably an underestimate. France itself at the end of 2015 had 28,725 certified organic farmers and 1.3 million hectares of certified land. Of course a considerable amount of the organic food purchased in France isn’t actually produced in France but is imported from other countries. In som...