French wildlife and beekeeping

Human activity has always changed the environment, and in this article in 2014 I took a quick look at an extraordinary area that since 1980 has been the first and only State Nature Reserve in the Vienne departement of France, La Réserve Naturelle du Pinail which is located in the commune of Vouneuil-sur-Vienne, (86210). The Reserve is 30 km north-east from Poitiers and 15 km south of Châtellerault, where it sits high on the plains between the river valleys of the Vienne and the Clain, at the north of the state-owned Moulière forest. The reserve is well worth a visit, especially for people with an interest in Odonata, (Dragonflies and Damselflies). CONTINUED  HERE. Chris

Very few people are neutral when it comes to certain native plants, (or weeds as they are often known as), especially the more robust and common types such as Dandelions and Thistles and I certainly don’t want them in my vegetable or flower beds. However they along with a few other native plants form the most important natural source of nutrition for many of our butterflies, bees, hoverflies and other flying insects growing as they do in a vast range of different habitats and are worth a second thought before trying to chop them down or poison them at every opportunity as is sadly the case in an increasingly tidy and over managed landscape here in France. Click on pictures to enlarge. Of course I don’t expect for one minute that anyone will suddenly think “Oh, I must grow some thistles or sow a dandelion patch” especially if they live in an urban environment or in very close proximity to their neighbours but I would like to encourage anyone with some land or with larger ...

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 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 ...

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...

France is quite well known in Europe for its Mistletoe and exports large quantities every year to the UK for the Christmas celebrations, something it has been doing for well over 100 years.  Although its abundance here varies greatly from region to region where it does grow it really grows with a vengeance especially on poplar trees that have grown in the wetlands of France since before the second world war. However they have been planted in increasingly large numbers in recent years as a fast growing crop making use of boggy areas and places that are regularly inundated such as riversides. They are almost exclusively hybrids and there have been trials in France with Genetically Modified varieties, (GM or OGM).  Environmentally these poplar plantations are a catastrophe destroying wetland habitat on a vast scale with a corresponding loss of species BUT money talks everywhere and nowhere more than in France where leaving a piece of land without it producing something is a ...