In our fields recently.

It’s fair to say that our fields aren't the most exciting habitat in the region although they probably are the most species rich as a whole for the immediate area albeit most of the species are common, but then common doesn't mean there aren't increasingly reduced numbers at a local level – it all adds up and ours is probably the only decent size bit of proper grassland for many kilometres, everything else is cultivated or so called improved pasture which is really only one step up from a wheat field in terms of species usefulness.

Anyway this isn't about the surrounding area but just a small selection from some idle wandering here and there in our own fields recently with the camera just taking photos of anything that caught my eye and hopefully draw a little attention to the simple plants that can make all the difference.

Starting with a couple of plants that once introduced to grassland will soon establish and sort themselves out, Crown Vetch and Birds Foot Trefoil. These two along with other vetches and tares provide food for a large number of species in both the adult and larval stages. In the last week or so I have seen 6 Spot Burnet moth, (Zygaena filipendulae), 5 Spot Burnet moth, (Zygaena trifolii), Reverdin's Blue butterfly (Plebejus argyrognomon), and large numbers of Burnet Companion moth, (Euclidia glyphica), so called rather obviously because it is invariably found where there are Burnet moths.

Click on images to enlarge

Four different orchids, Greater Butterfly, Loose Flowered, Pyramidal and Bee have all been flowering in the grasses and although they are native species and quite pretty I’m never sure what other value they have. Contrary to popular belief bees and other insects rarely visit most species of French wild orchid and as far as I know they aren't used as a food plant by anything. Having said that I did manage to catch a honey bee on a Pyramidal Orchid in a time of desperation when there was little else available to forage although it quickly flew on and ignored the others.

Marbled White butterflies are out and about in their hundreds, uncut grassland is their number one habitat for successful breeding.

Meadow Clary and Rampion Bellflower are great providers of nectar for insects as is Ragwort; the latter is more or less the only plant that is used by the Cinnabar moth for its caterpillars. We have quite a large number of Ragwort plants and although it has a somewhat bad press from some quarters it's really a rather useful plant provided it doesn't form part of cut hay for animals. The Roe Deer do their usual trick of biting off the tops and then presumably don't eat them - let's face it most animals don't eat things that are bad for them if they have evolved alongside them. 

The Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae), which form the celery, carrot and parsley family are wonderful insect plants, many are the wild plants that have been selectively breed over time to produce the cultivated varieties we grow and eat or use in cooking and indeed many of the wild species are edible although great care needs to be shown with identification as some such as Hemlock are highly toxic and many can produce reactions on tender or sensitive skin when brushed against but of course this no reason not to have them on your land. With the right soil it's possible to have one species or another flowering from April until September. A couple of examples here, more later when I post something about the wider subject of pollinators.

None of these species, (and many, many more), were present here when we first purchased the property which shows a little of what can be achieved with a bit of wilding.

Chris

Winter work 2013 - 2014

Perhaps understandably many people I meet often have the strange idea that managing land for wildlife means doing nothing, just letting everything go and take its “natural” course. If only that was the case, which I suppose it could be if the objective was to allow everything to revert to woodland, but even there it would require managing in one form or another to maximise its benefits. Anyway there’s no shortage of trees in the general sense here – yet !!!

Where we live certain habitats have all but disappeared in recent years, the final nail in the coffin was the removal in 2008 of the requirement to put 10% of land out of production, a process known in English as “Set Aside”, (to leave fallow / en jachère). This has lead to just about every last piece of land that isn’t woodland and that can be used for cereals to be ploughed up as mentioned elsewhere. Even in 1996 when we purchased our house and three hectares things were bad enough leaving little choice for us but to at least try and create a little oasis of decent habitat and manage the bulk of it, (about 80%), as “rough meadow or natural grassland”. The remaining 20% was already trees or woodland which I have also been slowly changing aided by a couple of serious storms that helped with the thinning process.

This winter I’m trying to catch up on one particular section that has been neglected for a couple of years more than it should have been with a danger of some species being temporarily lost due to brambles, scrub and small trees swamping them.  

In particular there are quite a large number of Greater Butterfly Orchids that started to show after we had been here about 8 or 9 years on this part of the land and it’s a tricky balancing act with them. It’s quite strange that I haven’t found this Orchid anywhere else remotely near our property or the Loose Flowered Orchids that we have a couple of although they must have been around here historically. Bee, Pyramidal and Lizard Orchids that have also popped up on the land are to be seen locally in the area so not a surprise, but it does show what can happen even on land that has been intensively cultivated given a little time.

It’s also an area with a few different species of violet that need to be given a bit of light and space, all common species but important for the Fritillary butterflies we have here that use them - Weavers, Queen of Spain and Silver washed, all fairly common species as well but starting to struggle with the steady reduction of available plants. Many of the violet plants that do manage to survive are often by the roadsides that are constantly cut to the ground giving little chance for any eggs or caterpillars.

Masses of Lung wort, Pulmonaria, flourishes in this section as well and again although a common plant it’s just so important as a long flowering early insect food source, especially for Bumble bees when there is little else around in February. 

More of this later, Chris

Roe deer in the early morning mist.

Finally I got round to buying a Trail Camera and this is my first capture other than a hardly visible rat scurrying around in the dark and a feral cat that roams around the immediate area.

The model I’ve bought is a NatureView Cam HD Max 119439 and I’m hoping it comes somewhere near their glowing sales pitch! I like the idea of the two close focus lenses 25 and 46cm for use with a bird feeding station and the automatic switch from daylight colour to darkness IR.

  

Of course there is the small matter of what’s actually around, some of which I’m already aware of from either actual sightings or traces. The Roe deer I see quite often and plenty of Red squirrels when they decide to show themselves. Occasionally I have sightings of Marten and Weasel, (dawn or dusk), but I more often see their excrements although I haven’t seen any for a month or two and I suspect I may have to resort to a bit of “baiting” to try and attract some creatures to a feeding zone. 

Anyway with the hunting season in full swing this male with his three females would do well to stay on our land where hunting isn’t permitted.

Chris

Let's get started

Having built and operated the website planetepassion for many years and more recently Wildlife in France as well as writing the wildlife section for Living Magazine I have often toyed with the idea of a Blog to create a space where I could be more immediate and write more about day to day matters. Now the time has come "to get started", but where to begin? 

Best to start by explaining a little about where we live, our attitude to wildlife biodiversity and the environment in both the wider world and our own little piece of the planet we own and manage. For me achieving maximum species diversity is paramount within the constraints of what would be present or perhaps historically was present in a given region providing those previous conditions can still be met. Evidently it isn't possible to put back heath-land where a city has been built and there are many localities where that type of situation exists which we can only make the best of. Fortunately that wasn't a situation we inherited some 18 years ago when we purchased our cottages and land here in the west of France, even though a large part of our three hectares had been intensively cultivated with sunflowers, wheat, barley and oil seed rape for many years, all regularly dosed with "cides" - (herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and probably any other poisons you can think of). 

First action plan for us and simple to initiate was zero or as near to zero as possible use of chemical products anywhere on the property, house and land, this in itself raises the quantity of species both in variety and population numbers significantly in a fairly short time frame, certainly observable within three years.

Second action plan was to see what was required from our land by understanding what had been historically in the region before the cereal production swept all aside in the 1980's with the "de-bocage", (the removal of hedged fields), to create ever larger fields that leaves very little if any land area uncultivated except for the small woodlands and copses.

Third action plan was to leave most of the land alone to see what happened which turned out to be very interesting with some surprising results.

Fourth action plan was to get set up for bee keeping and get some bees which would also be managed with no artificial substances introduced to the hives other than syrup if required and with the minimum of intervention and manipulation.

Fifth action plan is that nothing is killed or harmed unless deemed totally necessary or by accident. This is strictly adhered to enabling a balanced food structure for species to develop in a natural manner over time.

I'm sure there is a Sixth action plan but no doubt that will reveal itself in time as the points above are revisited and looked at in greater detail.

These two photos give some idea of what we started with in the top photo and how things changed in the first year in the bottom photo.

The most obvious initial growth other than grasses was Creeping thistle, Cirsium arvense. Named in French Chardon des champs, (literally Thistle of the fields), this is a well known robust plant that manages to survive the plow and the sprays by virtue of its deep creeping roots where even a small piece will rapidly spread into several "plants". Interestingly we have found it gradually expends itself if left alone providing the soil is neither feed or disturbed other than superficially. As we were aiming broadly for a poor, sparse meadow type habitat over time this didn't present any issues, in fact that and the grasses helped to take out any excess nitrates and other feeds.

 

In the Vienne and in many other Departements of France it's legally possible to be ordered to cut thistles of any type and prevent them from flowering to prevent the seeds spreading to other gardens and fields. In practice this is unlikely to happen unless you live in a hamlet and the neighbors complain. In fact it's not unknown in France for the Maire to order a person to keep their garden or land closely cut even on the periphery of a hamlet or village. Some farmers have even suggested that land should be forcibly removed from people that fail to control Creeping thistle. From a strictly wildlife perspective in the right habitat it's a fantastic plant for so many species including honey bees.

The next photo is one of my favorites of Creeping thistle that shows just how sought after the flowers are.

See The part of France we live in for a background to the area.

Chris