French wildlife and beekeeping

  Gardeners and householders in France are forever complaining about the presence of voles in their gardens, either because of the holes they make or the harm they can cause to plants and vegetables. Any harm they may cause depends on the species, with some preferring roots and others seeds, grains, leafy plants and even insects.   Although there are eleven species of vole in France, only a few are of concern to gardeners or farmers. As a general rule, these are the Field vole, the Common vole and the Bank vole. The Water vole in its land-based form (known as rat taupier) can have a major impact, but they are only present in some regions of France .   Occasionally some vole species have a population explosion that reaches a peak, and then equally as rapidly the populations collapse back to normal or less than normal for a year or more. What needs to be considered, as always, is the greater good, and voles along with wood mice provide the main food source for a large...

  Our house is full of places where animals live and overall we are happy with that and it rarely causes any actual harm although occasionally something dies which needless to say can smell a bit. Fortunately, as always, the natural world is well equipped to deal with any small corpses that are inaccessible, (as they invariably are), and Burying or Carrion beetles are one of the insects that make their living from such things. There are some 20 odd species in France with a total of 30 species in Europe although not all are true burying beetles; some of them eat fungi or rotting vegetation.     This year in September we were finding Nicrophorus vespillo in one part of our house and I would speculate that they had been on a dead Loir , (Edible Dormouse), probably behind the bath or false wall in the downstairs bathroom, one of the places where they frequently live. These amazing beetles can smell a corpse from a vast distance using the highly sensitive hairs on the e...

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...

In the Pyrénées-Atlantiques the first photos emerge of a beaver after several centuries of absence for this species in this area of France . In February 2018, a naturalist on vacation in the Basque region of France discovered indices of beaver presence on the banks of the Nive at Ustaritz (64) in the form of cut tree trunks and debarked branches. Click on photos to enlarge - Credits photos  SD64  ONCFS This led to the realization of a joint research by the ONCFS, Thomas Ruys of Cistude Nature association, a representative of APPMA, (the angling federation), and a local naturalist. This investigation confirmed that the indices were indeed those of a beaver but didn’t provide any actual sightings of one. Following these observations of new cutting activity on fresh trees in November 2018, a photographic trap was installed which resulted in pictures of a beaver working on the trunk of a tree! For the moment only one animal has been identified that...

As soon as we start to take a look at either Hedgerows or Dry stone walls it soon becomes clear that in France as in many parts of the UK it’s difficult to talk about one without the other. Although there have been what could loosely be called hedgerows to some extent in France since before Roman times they really started to come into their own in the 16 th and 17 th centuries as the available land not already owned by the nobility or the Church was eagerly snapped up by the wealthy middle classes, the bourgeoisie urbaine. They used hedgerows to define their boundaries, to protect their crops and to prevent other farmers from grazing their land. Apparently hedge laying, (plessage), was widely used throughout France but has disappeared without a trace in many regions since the 1960’s and I have yet to see an example or a remnant in our region.  From the end of the 19 th century and into the first half of the 20 th century the industrialisation of agriculture started to c...

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...

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

20 years or so ago it would have been impossible to find an Otter or Beaver in any of the rivers and waterways of the Vienne department of France; in fact, the Otter was almost pushed to extinction in France and was only to be found in the Atlantic regions and the Massif Central by the 1980’s. Since then, there has been a steady improvement, with continuous recolonisation inland towards the east along the main river systems and their tributaries. In the Vienne department, we have the  Charente, which enters the sea near Rochefort, and the Vienne, a tributary of the  Loire . Both of these rivers also have numerous tributaries; notably, in the Vienne, these are the Clain and the Gartempe, which again have their tributaries. The situation with Beavers is somewhat different,  following their extinction in most of  France, with  reintroduction being required in many places. The only river in Poitou Charentes where a reintroduction was attempted was the Creuse...

All of a sudden whoosh, the sun is shining, the air is warm and the spring rush commences and it’s early by a good week or two, surprises everywhere with the last 7 or 8 days having been simply gorgeous with spectacular apricot and plum blossom and spring flowers everywhere. As usual at this time of year I find myself falling behind or more correctly that I have fallen behind with all those jobs that should have been finished by now, so just a quick update on what I've managed to capture with the Trail Camera I purchased back in November last year as mentioned HERE. Other than a constant stream of Roe deer that is to be expected, (I can see them easily in the fields outside most days, even right up close to the house), I managed to get a short clip one night of a badger at a friends property and will go back there soon now the hunting season is over. Sadly Badgers are hunted and persecuted in France on a large scale and although my friends’ woodland is removed from h...

One thing I've learnt is that when you get out and about you never know what that day will bring and that was certainly the case again the other week when I went to do a bit of underground Bat recording organised by Samuel Ducept and Miguel Gailledrat of Vienne Nature. We met at the bureau at 9am which is early enough for me in winter and as soon as everyone was present set of in two vehicles, 5 people in each to go our separate ways for the day. I must mention that for some unknown reason it seems that it’s mainly females in France that are “into” bats and Saturday was no exception. Other than Sam and Miguel I was the only male the other 7 being “girls”, (any female under about 35 or possibly 40 is a girl to me these days). We were going to try and research some underground cavities that either hadn't been looked at before or hadn't been researched for several years. These are all old workings, principally underground quarries in ...

I think it's best to start for non Bee keepers with a short explanation of a basic hive structure. Shown below is a French Dadant Ruchette which is basically a small starter hive and is exactly the same as a full size Dadant hive in design, Dadant being a style of hive. The box structure at the bottom is called the Brood box which is where the bee colony lives.  Next with the hole in the middle is the Crown board or the cover that goes over the bees. The hole in the  center  is for placing a syrup feeder over or for placing a block of fondant for the bees to eat. When not in use it is normal to close it with a small cover. Finally standing on edge in this photo is the outer metal covered weatherproof lid. All very simple really. From time to time I lift the outer lids on my active hives to check everything is OK and as it's quite common to find various creatures that have made it their home I thought I'd take a few photos over the last week to ...