Vendoire, Charente, France - August 2013 (Part 3)

The final round of photos from my recent trip to south-west France.

Dragons and Damselflies

Keeled Skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

 

Broad Scarlet Darter (Crocothemis erythraea)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Western Demoiselle (Calopteryx xanthostoma)
Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Willow Emerald (Lestes viridis)  
Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Butterflies

Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Map (araschnia levana) 

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Comma (Polygonia c-album)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia)

Villebois-Lavalette, Charente, France, August 2013

We saw a few of these and my daughter found a seemingly dead specimen in the long grass beside the town's castle. No butterflies were harmed during the making of this blog... ;-)

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Dryad (Minois dryas)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Moths

Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth (Hemaris fuciformis)

Champagne, Charente, France, August 2013

Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis)

Villebois-Lavalette, Charente, France, August 2013

Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Rosy Footman (Miltochrista miniata)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Other insects and Spiders

Large Conehead (Ruspolia nitidula)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Field Cricket (Ruspolia nitidula)

Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

 Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

 Field Grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus) 

Champagne, Charente, France, August 2013

Wasp Spider - Argiope bruennichi
Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 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.

Fish sp - Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Ganoderma sp, possibly Ganoderma applanatum (Artist's Bracket)

Les Tourbières de Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Lords and ladies (Arum maculatum) - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Les Tourbières de Vendoire is an old peat workings now filled in and turned in to a nature reserve.

The visitor centre at Les Tourbières de Vendoire

You can see how peaty the soil is from these Mole hills...

Vendoire, Charente, France - August 2013 (Part 1)

I had a week in Vendoire in the Charente region of France from 18th to 25th August. Very nice, and full of fantastic wildlife... But, I was with la famille élargie, so there wasn't much chance to go birding properly. Fortunately, I did get a couple of trips to the nearby Tourbieres de Vendoire nature reserve, and some time out in the maize and sunflower fields. It's a top area for wildlife, with Vendoire being on the border with the Dordogne, and certainly a place we'll revisit …because our friends own the house we stayed in ;-)

Most interestingly (for me at least), is that this was my first opportunity to use my new camera: a Canon SX40 HS. It's a bridge camera, rather than a fancy-pants (i.e. expensive) DSLR, and basically a Canon point-and-click with a proper lens - with a whopping 35x optical zoom. I spent two weeks birding with Lee Evans not long after he bought one, and I was very impressed with it (it was obvious that any idiot could get great results from it...). Don't hold your breath for any fancy wildlife-photographer-of-the-year stuff, but hopefully my photos on here should improve.

Here are some of the birds and a few sites from the area. Mammals, herptiles, insects, etc, to follow in separate blogs…

 Cirl Bunting Emberiza cirlus - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

Cirl Bunting Emberiza cirlus - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

 Cirl Bunting nest - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

 Collard Dove Streptopelia decaocto - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

House Sparrow Passer domesticus - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

White Wagtail Motacilla alba - Vendoire, Charente, France, August 2013

On the penultimate morning I dragged myself out of bed before the kids got up and went birding in ab area to the northwest. I found a great vantage point overlooking some fields and found some great birds. Two Hen Harriers, four Kestrels, two Buzzards, a Stone Curlew and a flock of Mistle Thrushes and Carrion Crows, all in one field. Unfortunately, most were too distant for photography...

Common Buzzard Buteo buteo - Champagne, Charente, France, August 2013

Common Buzzard Buteo buteo - Champagne, Charente, France, August 2013

Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus - Fontaine, Charente, France, August 2013

Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus - Fontaine, Charente, France, August 2013

Stone Curlew Burhinus oedicnemus - Fontaine, Charente, France, August 2013

Stone Curlew Burhinus oedicnemus - Fontaine, Charente, France, August 2013

Young Kestrel Falco tinnunculus - Fontaine, Charente, France, August 2013

There were loads of Black Redstarts around the gîte and surrounding are, but I didn't manage to photograph any of them. A Spotted Flycatcher spent some time feeding from a tree by the pool, and I was too lazy to drag myself out and photograph it!

Think I had too much of this kind of nature...