French wildlife and beekeeping

  Violet drop wing Trithemis annulata Thrithémis annelé or Thrithémis pourpré Location - Peyras, 16270 Roumazières-Loubert, France Recently, I was out relaxing, just having a good time really on a Sunday at one of those man-made recreational lakes that France excels in, but with my eyes always on the lookout, I saw quite a large number of bright purple dragonflies that I had never seen before. Aerial view of lake I only had my phone with me, and I struggled in the bright sunlight to focus and get a half-decent photo, which, as it turns out, isn't that bad. What I didn't realise at the time was that these violet dragonflies were all males and that the females are a rather drab brown. Male Violet drop wing Originating in Africa, it first appeared in Spain in 1978, Corsica in 1989, and then mainland France in 1994, where it is now well established and rapidly expanding both to the north and to the east along the Mediterranean coastal band and the Rhône valley....

  Source info - Office for Insects and Their Environment, France Asian hornets are now well established in mainland France, and we have to accept it: it will be impossible to eradicate this species. Given this reality, the question is not how to make them disappear, but how to learn to limit their impacts without worsening an already alarming situation for French wildlife. Adopting a balanced approach, based on scientific knowledge, is essential today. Protecting domestic bees is important socially and economically, but this should not come at the expense of other wild insects that help maintain functional ecosystems. Managing Asian hornets cannot rely on isolated actions or responses driven by fear or instinctive rejection. On the contrary, it requires cooperation between beekeepers, scientists, local authorities, and public officials in order to put forward coherent, well-thought-out, effective solutions that respect living beings, especially other animals. It's important that de...

  For several years, measures have been taken to limit the worrying spread of pampas grass. In France, the decree of February 14, 2018 - amended in March 2020 and then in April 2024 - classifies Cortaderia selloana among the plant species whose possession, planting and transport are prohibited throughout the territory. This means that you can no longer keep it at home at the time of writing and that it is imperative that you destroy your stocks. The risks incurred in the event of non-compliance with these regulations are set out in Articles L415-3 and R415-1 of the Environmental Code. Their content is very clear: it is forbidden to "voluntarily introduce into the natural environment, transport, peddle, use, offer for sale, sell or buy a specimen of an animal or plant species", under penalty of risking a penalty of up to 3 years imprisonment and a fine of €150,000. How this will be enforced remains to be seen. Chris

Lots of questions about this subject crop up and this is no more than a rough outline. Winter climatic conditions in the Northern Hemisphere vary enormously, and even when we take a relatively small land mass such as France, there are huge variations in the different regions. The reasons for this will be obvious to most people, and to put it very simply, they are the geographical differences between North, South, East, West, inland or coastal, mountains, and plains. Of course, it's actually more complicated, but we can all get the general idea. For hundreds of thousands of years, creatures have adapted and specialised to survive these climatic conditions in different ways and hopefully will continue to do so, although many may find they struggle as climate chaos gathers pace and our demands on the environment increase. Migration:  Perhaps the most obvious method of dealing with winter is to physically move somewhere else, often long distances, mostly Africa, where it is warmer ...

The conflict between humans and wolves knows no end.  It was always going to be difficult as their numbers recovered and increased to maintain the "strictly protected fauna species" category that they have enjoyed at the European level.  Pressure, mainly from farmers, has resulted in their status being reduced to "special protected fauna species"  at the end of 2024 and put into action at the beginning of March 2025. This is a major change and a huge backward step that will make it easier for people to kill them when we need them to help address the proliferation of species that they prey on.  More LINK HERE Chris

  Being both a bit of a naturalist and a bee keeper people sometimes contact me to remove honey bee colonies that have been constructed between closed shutters and the window. This is an ideal space and a fairly common occurrence in France with second homes that are left empty during the swarming season and only discovered when the owners return to their house or when someone they know or employ takes a look at the house. A few years ago, August 2021 to be precise, one of the houses I was called to was in Charroux, (86250) by a neighbour of an empty property that was a keyholder, where the following day I proceeded to dismantle the comb and re house the bees in a ruchette, (small hive). During a pause in proceedings the neighbour invited me for a coffee and we then took a walk though his land chatting about wildlife and conservation in general. During the course of this chatting he mentioned that they had a large number of bats every year in their outbuildings which immediatel...

  We are increasingly reading about hospitalisations and deaths resulting from Asian hornet stings BUT are Asian Hornets any more aggressive or dangerous than our native European Hornet and Social colony forming wasps? You may think so if you only go by media sources but in reality this isn't actually the case despite there being some well publicised reports of deaths. Read the full post. About the Dangers from Asian Hornets in France