indie birder: Vendoire, Charente, France

Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Vendoire, Charente, France - August 2013 (Part 2)

Coypu (Myocastor coypus) - Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

A follow up to yesterday's post, this time with mammals, herptiles and some random stuff. These aren't my forte, but I'm looking to improve - any ID help much appreciated!

Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

I'm not entirely sure about the identification of the frogs below. The more I look into Edible/marsh/Pool Frog ID, the more my head hurts! The internet seems to be full of conflicting ID tips and (potentially) mis-labelled photos (to which I may have just added...). Give me some small brown warblers any day...

Possible Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Possible Edible Frog (Pelophylax kl. esculentus) - Limoges, France, August 2013

The Coypu were visible from the nice outdoor restaurant on the reserve. In Europe, Coypu are an introduced species (from south America) and are now well established in many areas. They were easy to see - we just threw out some bread and the Coypu came for it. There are meant to be Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) on the reserve too, and although we saw some much smaller looking Coypu, I think these were all the same species.

Coypu (Myocastor coypus) - Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Fish and fungi ID are areas I'm really trying to improve on, although I have absolutely no idea what this fish is. Anyone? It was in one of the old peat workings at Les Tourbières, in very still, shallow, alkaline water. Length around 15-20cm.