French wildlife and beekeeping

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 see...

A small selection of bits and pieces from the last few weeks with a few photos some of which I’m quite pleased with especially the Libelloides longicornis which I've waited years for, massive thanks to Samuel Ducept of Vienne Nature for making his hand available.  Click on pictures to enlarge. Libelloides longicornis is found in South west Europe and frequents sunny open habitats where they hunt flies and other small insects by patrolling at a height of about 2 to 3 metres. Now a word in your ear about being a bit careful when translating French names to English for creatures which isn't always that simple especially when the dictionaries have it wrong in some cases. A classic example is the French word Sauterelle which will translate to Grasshopper in most major dictionaries when in fact it should translate to Bush cricket. This may help to avoid confusion. Sauterelle = Bush cricket – long antennae Criquet = Grass hopper – ...

It’s very difficult to get accurate information or an accurate perspective when it comes to the subject of Honey bee populations and this is for a number of reasons that are mostly obvious for anyone that is willing to take a dispassionate view or at least try. The reason a dispassionate view is required is due to the simple fact that almost everyone involved with honey bees has an agenda, no doubt I have as well but I’ll try to stick to the facts in so far as they can be separated from the modern day myths that are taking over the world and try to be clear when I am speculating or perhaps expressing an opinion. I find it quite extraordinary in this age of science and technology that far from diminishing the number of myths fed by disingenuous or downright stupid information sources is actually increasing at an alarming rate and the subject of honey bees has now become a gathering place for all manner of people to climb aboard without any real clue about the subject matter and...

With the spring well and truly advanced and the Oil seed rape, (Colza), flowering in the fields locally I finally managed to get the last of the “honey supers” on yesterday and breathed a sigh of relief - just in time, always at the last minute. Once the temperature exceeds about 15 – 16°C Oil seed rape produces sufficient nectar to create what bee keepers call “a flow” and at this point Honey bees will go totally crazy for it and will travel past all the other sources of nectar such as plum, cherry, apple and blackthorn to reach it, sometimes by several kilometres. The introduction of spring flowering rape has been one of the major changes both in the French countryside and for honey bees in the last 20 / 25 years with production in 1985 of 1.4 million tons, 1995 of 2.8 million tons, 2005 of 4.5 million tons and 5.5 million tons in 2012.  The change is so great in the areas where it is grown that it has completely altered the behaviour of bees in spring and weather condit...