Wildlife

This is a quick guide to the wildlife I've seen in our region. The countryside is relatively undeveloped, but moves are afoot to bring it into the 20th Century and more 'accessible' to tourists. I don't know why these places need 'opening up' - the people who love and respect this landscape have already found it.

I don't claim to have seen, nor identified, all the wildlife down here, but these are the things I've spotted over the years:

Birds

Hoopoe

Bee-eater

Roller

Golden Oriole

Those above are between a blackbird and small crow in size. I've also seen Snake Eagle (aka Short-Toed Eagle), Golden Eagles, Buzzards, Black Kites, Red Kites, Swifts and Swallows galore, plus Warblers, Nightingales, and other song birds.

I saw the snake eagle swoop into vines and come up with a snake in its talens. It hovered at about 60 feet (20 metres), decapitated the snake, then flew off to its nest.

Bring your field guide and binoculars, there are raptors to see every day. Griffon Vultures were released into the Gorge du Tarn north of us some years ago. They are unmistakable, with a wingspan 3 to 4 meters.

Butterflies and moths

Swallowtails, Scarce Swallowtail, Cleopatra, Great-Banded Graylings, Tree Grayling, Mazerine Blue, Escher's Blue, Amanda's Blue, Southern Gatekeeper, Grizzled Skipper, Hummingbird Hawk Moth (and other daytime moths like Burnets).

Further south, in a sheep meadow, I found a colony of very rare blue butterflies that are virtually extinct in Europe. There were dozens of them flying around me, and crawling over my camping table and gear. I'm not saying what they were nor where. If you stumble on such a treasure, please don't shout about it. We don't want them trampled underfoot by gawpers nor collected by 'experts' with their killing jars.

Mammals

The usual range of little furry things scuttle around the fields ands river banks, plus:

• Stoats. I camped over their burrow and in revenge they came and trashed my rubbish bag every night!

Wild boar (in French Sanglier). They roam these hills in family groups. I've encountered them crossing the road around my car. The cute little striped piglets in the family group are not playing dumb for the tourists, they are wild animals so please respect them. If you see a group, by all means photograph them from the safety of the car, but don't get out until they've gone. The old Boar (the head male) stands guard until his family has passed safely out of sight.

Brown Bears. I have never seen any, but some of the last brown bears in Western Europe roam the mountains to the west. Don't worry, you'll never meet them, their numbers are so low they are nearly extinct at this end of Europe

 

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