French wildlife and beekeeping

Extraordinary as it may seem the French hedgehog population has declined by some two thirds during the course of the last 20 years or so with an average of some 2 million killed each year and a lthough they are still captured illegally to be eaten by Romany people, however interesting that may be, it would be wrong to hold them responsible for something that is much closer to home for all of us. Hedgehogs in France and their decline Chris

Fire bug Pyrrhocoris apterus le Pyrrhocore or Gendarme Many will know this highly successful common bug by the name of Gendarme or perhaps, depending on the region, names such as Suisse, Soldat, Punaise rouge, Cherche-midi or Punaise au corps de feu , all of which are widely used French vernacular names for this colourful insect. As most people will have noticed the "gendarmes" are gregarious and as such live in colonies, which can be described as "gendarmeries", and can number several hundred or even thousands of individuals. Their Black and Red colouration apparently contains a substance that gives them some immunity from predation and as such they make no attempt to hide and even have a very pronounced propensity for collective sunbathing, hence the name of  " Cherche-midi " . Even in winter on a warm day a sunny stone wall or tree trunk will see them out and about. Click on photos to enlarge Being well equipped defensively ...

Although the vast majority of Mantis species have their homes in tropical and sub-tropical climates France plays host to a dozen species most of which are in the Mediterranean region, some quite rare and only found in the coastal band.  However the one that most people are familiar with, the Praying Mantis Mantis religiosa, can be found throughout all of France and much of continental Europe as far north as Denmark . Without doubt people will be drawn to their two bulbous complex eyes but like many insects they also have three small simple eyes located between them which largely go unnoticed by most people. Although called “simple” they aren’t at all simple. (Human beings have “simple” eyes see link at the end).   Their triangular head has powerful mandibles and can rotate through almost 180° allowing them to remain motionless while looking around.  Their vernacular name comes from the manner in which they hold their spectacular forelegs with hands joined as i...

Honeybee swarms that issue from colonies that live in hollow trees, cavities in stone walls, roof spaces and such like are always of interest to me as they have invariably developed the ability to survive without all the treatments and manipulations that beekeepers generally use and to my mind these are the survivor bees we need for the future. This little piece is about one such swarm……. To my surprise I was called to a bee swarm on the 18 th August this year which is extremely late in the season but these things do happen and after asking the caller a few questions to verify it really was a swarm of bees I prepared a ruchette, (which is a small hive or nuc box in English), popped it in the car and set off. Sure enough, when I arrived there was the small swarm clustered close to the ground attached to an Oleander shrub about 20 metres from the persons’ house where it had come from. Remarkably the roof of the house has three separate bee colonies in it, one on each eave a...

   In the UK the Sphingidae family of moths are commonly called Hawk moths and in France they all use the word Sphinx as part of their common name. The simple list that is linked gives their names in English, Latin and French, the caterpillar food plant, annual generations and migratory status, (if any), and a link to photos & distribution for each species on Lepinet. LINK - Hawk or Sphinx moths in France, (Sphingidae).    Chris

In France there are 9 species of Owl and unlike the UK they have a name prefix that divides owls with visible ear tufts from those without visible ear tufts.  It seems even most French people are unaware of this as they only learn the name and not the reason why. Most of these owls have other popular names including many of which that are local.  Full list with names in French - Latin - English can be found here in PDF format you can save. Chris

Living where we do it's highly unlikely that I will see anything but the most common species of either solitary bees or bumble bees and even those are under increasing pressure as almost all the available land surface is constantly plowed for the production of cereals and crops for the animal feed industry. It's mainly the ground nesting species that are suffering although increasingly people also spray insecticides on the solitary species that nest in the outside walls of their houses or block the tiny holes and spaces they use. Many people also spray ground nesting bees in their gardens but I'm sure in most cases this isn't malicious but simply because people don't know what they are or the important role they play in our environment. Of course even the common species are a joy to me and I see a reasonably large number at our place. Here are a few I've managed to spot so far this spring which given the rather poor weather it isn't too bad.  Click on...