French wildlife and beekeeping

France Becomes The First Country To Ban All Five Pesticides Linked To Bee Deaths. Most of us will have seen this or similarly worded headlines on a myriad of mainstream media sites, blogs, alternative information sites, and sites that are simply clickbait for advertising revenue. Many of these so-called articles are full of sensational, erroneous statements and speculations that have no factual or scientific foundation whatsoever. Large numbers of people will have liked, shared, and commented on these pages without any idea of what the reality is or giving it any real thought.   Most of us do this at some time or another on social media because to do otherwise would be too time-consuming. So what actually is the reality? Yes, France has banned the use of five types of neonicotinoid insecticides that by definition have been shown to cause harm to insects.   This is two more than the EU has banned, although countries frequently derogate from the ban in certai...

Chateau bees. It’s not unusual to get called out to bee swarms and colonies between the windows and shutters of French houses. After all, it's an ideal space if the shutters are closed.   The other day I was called to one in a Chateau, all very straightforward, with a nice-sized window for the Ruchette, (small hive box). Victoria, the woman from the Chateau, wondered if they had come from the bees in the large section of Lime tree trunk from the tree that they had cut down in the late autumn.   Immediately she had my attention, and so the story unfolded. It seems the tree had to be cut down as it had become dangerous, having split in a storm. They insisted that the section with the bees in it be cut out in one large piece, and this was later moved to a suitable location in the grounds, with the open ends covered up to provide protection but with enough gaps for the bees to come and go. Walking down to where it was, I was impressed by the size of it and although it wa...