Bees killing hornets in France

I know it is stating the obvious but every year is different in the natural world and no two years can be the same, however this is becoming increasingly exaggerated.

Habitat loss, agricultural methods and climate change along with other factors are causing rapid major changes for our native species requiring them to adapt or perhaps in some cases disappear completely.

For some species this is creating opportunities and they have expanding populations that are sometimes associated with an expansion in their range. However for most species there are accelerating declines and this in turn leads to changes of behaviour as species attempt to adapt.

Where I live most insect species have been in overall decline for the last 25 years and this year has been abysmal for them but I want to talk specifically about hornets. 

Following the usual slow start as nests were established and populations grew I started to see a gradual increase in both Asian and European hornets in the 2^nd half of July and there are presently sizeable numbers of both around the hives and where the bees take water. Of course it’s to be expected that the Asian hornets would be behaving like this but it’s the native European hornets that are behaving differently in so much as they are concentrating their activity on taking honey bees. They always do take some but this is different and I can only speculate that it’s the shortage of all the usual insects they take to feed their larvae. This in turn is putting them more in harms way than would otherwise be the case and I have been finding several dead European hornets in front of hives.

Unlike the Asian hornets that keep their distance I have noticed that our native hornets tend to get very close to the hive entrance, even briefly landing on it, so it was no surprise that when putting the mouse guards back on the hives for winter the other day I saw a European hornet mobbed by a mass of guard bees when it got too close to the hive entrance. The hornet didn't stand a chance but it was 45 minutes before the bees were finally satisfied that they had dealt with her.

Amazingly no bees died in the process.

Chris

Ferrets and hunting with ferrets in France

In France the ferret has the status of domestic animal which is guaranteed to it by the order of August 11, 2006, issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, and as such anyone can own a ferret as a pet.

However the use of ferrets for hunting creature such as rabbits is regulated in law and can only be practiced during the periods specified by the Prefecture each year.

The followings departements also require an individual permit to be issued by the Prefecture.

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Ariège, Ardèche, Aude, Aveyron, Bouches-du-Rhône, Cantal, Charente, Corrèze, South Corsica, Côtes d'Armor, Creuse, Dordogne, Finistère, Gard, Haute Garonne, Haute-Corse, Hérault, Haute-Loire, Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Savoie, Haute-Vienne, Gers, Gironde, Landes, Lot, Lot et Garonne, Lozère, Morbihan, Puy de Dôme, Pyrénées-Atlantiques,, Pyrénées-Orientales, Tarn et Garonne, Var, Vaucluse.

It can be required to state the exact locality(s) where this is to take place and requires the permission of the landowner

Chris

Chafers and Honeybees in France

The other day a chap on a French Beekeeping Face book group posted a photo of a beetle trying to get into one of his hives.   His initial reaction having “Googled” was that it may have been a Large hive beetle, Oplostomus fuligineus, a species that is found in Africa and although this has not yet been recorded in France we can’t be sure where anything is going to turn up these days. New non native species seem to arrive on almost a weekly basis in France and the Small hive beetle, Aethina tumida, another non native, has been found in Italy but as of this moment hasn’t reached France.

Anyway it was clearly a Chafer, that much was indisputable but not a Large hive beetle. I was sure, (ha,ha,ha), at first that it was dark Rose Chafer beetle due to its general appearance and size, (close to 2cm). However I couldn’t find any evidence of Rose Chafers trying to enter hives and although they are plentiful at our place, (Rose chafers and hives), I have never seen them on my hives so I started to deepen my search for any examples of this. After much searching and changing search terms I finally came up with some examples of where peoples hives had been invaded by chafers, but not Rose Chafers but Protaetia morio known as la Cétoine noire. In many ways they look like dark Rose chafers, they are 1.3 to 2 cm long, the dorsal surface is dull, blackish to brownish with small ochre spots more or less marked, or even absent, on the pronotum and aligned transversely on the elytra. Although the greatest populations are to be found in the Mediterranean zone they are present to some extent in almost all other regions of France. Other than the fact that they are attracted to honey their behaviour and life cycle is much the same as the Rose chafer, feeding on thistles, knapweeds etc with larval development in rotting wood and fibrous soil.  

Click on images to enlarge

It seems that the observations of them entering honey bee colonies take place in July and August and if the beetles are numerous they can cause severe disruption for the bees which can’t eject them as the beetles bodies and wing cases are too hard for a bee sting to penetrate. In the case of a hive it should be a simple case of using a hornet guard to keep them out but we can assume that they have developed this behaviour over thousands of years by entering natural colonies in trees.

Chafers in France

Video with Cétoine noire and a hive.

Chris