French wildlife and beekeeping

I know it is stating the obvious but every year is different in the natural world and no two years can be the same, however this is becoming increasingly exaggerated. Habitat loss, agricultural methods and climate change along with other factors are causing rapid major changes for our native species requiring them to adapt or perhaps in some cases disappear completely. For some species this is creating opportunities and they have expanding populations that are sometimes associated with an expansion in their range. However for most species there are accelerating declines and this in turn leads to changes of behaviour as species attempt to adapt. Where I live most insect species have been in overall decline for the last 25 years and this year has been abysmal for them but I want to talk specifically about hornets.  Following the usual slow start as nests were established and populations grew I started to see a gradual increase in both Asian and European hornets in t...

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...

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...

Hardly extraordinary I can hear people thinking but the other day I saw a May bug here, first one in several years. In fact in the 25 years we have been here there have only been a couple of years when I have seen them.    A May bug or Cockchafer generally refers to Melolontha melolontha or the Common Cockchafer but there is an almost identical species in France with which they could be confused which is the Forest cockchafer, Melolontha hippocastani, which is a species found in woodlands.   Generally Melolontha melolontha is considered an to be   an agricultural pest and they were brought almost to the point of extinction in the arable areas of France following the use of chemical insecticides such as DDT and Lindane. Both of these caused massive environmental harm before being banned from use. In the 19 th century prior to insecticides being available the beetles were collected by hand to be killed, a process called “hannetonnages” that had some effe...

The presence of Beavers has been confirmed in the area around Val-Joly, in the Avesnois, Nord-Pas-de-Calais after 150 years of absence. More than 20 trees have been found with the distinctive pencil cutting and fur traps have provided DNA evidence. The beavers will have crossed the border from Wallonie, ( Belgium ), where they were released in the early 2000’s by activists where they have apparently expanded at an extraordinary rate both in numbers and territory covered in the canals and rivers that crisscross the region. Unlike the recent discovery in Pyrénées-Atlantiques which is likely to have been a clandestine release this will be a natural progression and should provide a basis for continued expansion throughout the region.  Chris Beaver in France Link

This summer we experienced a very long period of drought and two scorching heat waves which are probably the reason for an unusual and little known phenomenon to occur in the Vienne departement along with other parts of west and southwest France ! These were exactly the right conditions when the water warms sufficiently for the emergence of a tiny freshwater jellyfish, craspedacusta sowerbii.   They are normally only seen when they take the form of a small bell-shaped jellyfish known as a hydromedusa and float near the surface of the water but this requires a water temperature of at least 25°C and forms only one part of their interesting lifecycle. As a jellyfish they are 20–25 mm in diameter, somewhat flatter than a hemisphere, and very delicate. They have a whorl of up to 400 tentacles tightly packed around the bell margin. Hanging down from the center of the inside of the bell is a large stomach structure called a manubrium, with a mouth-opening and four frilly l...

It’s not that Asian Hornets venom is anymore toxic than our native hornet and wasps, or even that they are more aggressive away from their nest. It’s more about where Asian Hornets are increasingly choosing to make their nest. I’ve chosen a few recent cases to illustrate this. In Montmorillon, Vienne , a  76 year old man  was stung more than 30 times by Asian Hornets in his garden when cutting a small hedge outside his house on the 30th of October 2019 . When his wife came to his assistance he was covered in hornets and she was stung 5 times before neighbours arrived with thick clothing and managed with the use of wasp sprays to get him away from them. He was transported to the hospital by the Pompiers to receive treatment. The couple had never noticed the presence of the hornets in the hedge which is about 50cm high. Earlier in the year on 1st August, in the Nantes area another man was stung more than 10 times when he disturbed an Asian Hornet nest in ...