We visited the Cher Department (mid-France) for a rather impromptu trip spurred by a combination of factors including intense work schedules and a very opportune meteorite fall, which we thought could be worth a spontaneous strike at. Since there was very little chance we would actually be able to find a meteorite given the terrain and conditions, we took it as a lighthearted adventure to an area we had never considered visiting before, and vowed to make the most of it while we were there, come rain or shine. This transpired to be a sensible vow, for not only did we (entirely expectedly) fail to find anything that could have come from space, it also rained from dawn until dusk every day from almost the minute we arrived. However, despite the heavy rain and changeable temperatures, it was an extremely enjoyable trip and surpassed all expectations I had for wildlife in France in autumn.
DAY 1 - The Bounty of Nature
On our first night (and every night after) we went for a night walk around our accommodation. I found a large number of Mottled Shieldbugs / Punaise nébuleuse (Rhaphigaster nebulosa), a juvenile Common Toad / Crapaud commun (Bufo bufo – that’s what I’m assuming, although B. spinosus seems to have been recorded in this area too) and a lovely male Purse-web Spider / Mygale à chaussette (Atypus sp.). The most unexpected discovery came when we heard some strange bird calls, which turned out to be two Black Woodpckers / Pic noir (Dryocopus martius) displaying or fighting around the trunk of a tree.
We also saw a beautiful male Field Cricket / Grillon champêtre (Gryllus campestris) with lovely gold dusting on his body.
It rained non-stop for the entire first day, and us, our clothes, our ‘waterproof’ boots and all the equipment got absolutely soaking wet. My sturdy double-layered work trousers became so saturated on the outside that they started leaking through the knee seams, so I had wet knees. I had to put doggy bags over my socks for the remainder of the time we were there. However, this weather was great for the seasonal wildlife, and we saw a number of things that we’d never have seen in the summer months.
The mushrooms were in full swing, and the forest floor was awash with textures and colours. Conspicuous species included parasols, Fly Agarics / Amanite tue-mouches (Amanita muscaria), Panther Cap / Amanite panthère (Amanita pantherina), False Death Cap (Amanita citrina), Earth Star (Astraeus hygrometricus), Earth Ball (Scleroderma citrinum), Beefsteak fungus / Langue de bœuf (Fistulina hepatica), Upright Coral Fungus / Clavaire droite (Ramaria stricta) and the charming Hoof Fungus / Amadouvier (Fomes fomentarius). Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) and various Russula and Boletus were growing everywhere, and there were innumerable fungi which I couldn't put a name to.
Above: Unknown fungus, Fly Agaric, Coprinus comatus, unknown (young Sulphur Tuft?), Hoof Fungus, False Death Cap, Jelly Brain Fungus (Tremella mesenterica)? Earth Ball, Upright Coral Fungus, Earth Star.
We also saw for the first time the Devil’s Fingers fungus / Anthurus d'Archer (Clathrus archeri), a naturalised species in Europe thought to originate in New Zealand, Australia, and southern Africa. I managed to find some by scent during the night, as their distinctive smell was similar to a stinkhorn and permeated quite well through woodland in the cool, wet conditions.
In the evening, we were stopped by a small group of Wild Boar / Sanglier (Sus scrofa) at the side of the road, foraging in the verge. Every woodland path was ploughed up by the truffling snouts of the boar, creating clearings under the trees through their innumerable rooting for tasty morsels. We passed two Red Deer / Cerf élaphe (Cervus elaphus) hinds, and two Roe Deer / Chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus) ran across the road in front of us. The mammal list was only added to by dead specimens after that, with a single Red Fox / Renard roux (Vulpes vulpes) and Hedgehog / Hérisson commun (Erinaceus europaeus) on the road. We also glimpsed several bats, but I hadn't brought a detector with me.
DAY 2 - Woodland Denizens
Being late October, I wasn’t expecting many bugs to be about, but I did manage to find several soggy Graphosoma italicum and a Carpocoris (?purpureipennis) on the last dying heads of Wild Carrot.
The most common insects we encountered were Dor Beetles (Geotrupidae - Anoplotrupes stercorosus seems to be quite commonly recorded in that area), and Dad found a beautiful Carabus intricatus under a log. It was sad to see so many road-killed reptiles and amphibians, including toads of all sizes, three dead Fire Salamanders / Salamandre tachetée (Salamandra salamandra), a couple of dead Grass Snakes / Couleuvre helvétique (Natrix helvetica) and a Slow Worm / Orvet (Anguis fragilis). Thousands of amphibians must be killed on the roads every year - as we would come to notice when driving about at night, even quite large amphibians are often very difficult to see against the dark tarmac.
Above: Woodland Dor Beetle and Carabus intricatus
When we eventually returned to our accommodation it was dark and the heavy rain had just finished, so we decided to finish the second day with another night walk to see if we could find any live amphibians. It was still drizzling slightly, the pressure seemed low, and there was a chilly breeze outside the wooded areas. The ground was saturated and the roads were covered in water, which had brought out the worms, snails and slugs. Walking along the road through the accommodation complex, a small shape stood out, standing tall: a perfect and very-much-alive Fire Salamander. Before long we had all found a salamander each, and the tally kept going – five, ten, twenty – in the end, we saw 36 different salamanders of all different sizes. There were small juveniles, probably last year’s, all the way up to large males with powerful-looking forelegs, and chubby females. An incredibly beautiful and charismatic species, and for an animal with such bright contrasting colours, they camouflaged against the fallen autumn leaves surprisingly well.
The toads were out as well, mostly very small individuals, although we did see a larger one next to a building. I found a very small newt of some sort in the road, either Smooth or Palmate (Lissotriton sp.) and Dad discovered a beautiful red Agile Frog / Grenouille agile (Rana dalmatina) hiding in the leaf litter.
DAY 3 - Pleasant Weather
Eventually, the weather cleared up and the daytime temperature rose to an almost tropical 15 degrees, which was a relief, although we had had plenty of fun in the rain. On this day, we saw plenty more fungus, Dor Beetles, and a few more Atypus, all males wandering for the autumn breeding season. Purse-web Spiders are incredibly long lived, possibly surpassing 7 or 8 years, and the females remain largely sedentary in their webs while the males exit theirs during spring and autumn to find a mate.
We visited the La Guette Peatland, a pilot site of the European initiative Care-Peat, and a Sensitive Natural Area. The area is managed for sphagnum mosses and other peatland biodiversity by removing Purple Moor-grass. While we were crossing the boardwalk across the bog, I found some small Raft Spiders / Dolomède des marais (Dolomedes fimbriatus), which were helpfully illustrated on their own little sign. We also found several small Glow-worm / Lampyre (Lampyris noctiluca) larvae underneath various pieces of wood.
Below: Information sign about the peatland
On our customary night-walk we saw one salamander and one big fat female toad, since there had been no rain. We heard the Wild Boar noisily crashing through a pond or stream. We also saw another lovely Field Cricket, this time right near his burrow, sitting in the little clearing outside. One of the most common slugs seemed to be the Ashy-black Slug / Grande Limax (Limax cinereoniger), which loved the mushrooms, and we also encountered a couple of Roman Snails / Escargot de Bourgogne (Helix pomatia).
This was, of course, on top of a rather nice array of chrysomelids, tenebrionids, field cockroaches, psychidae larvae, planthoppers, chafer larvae, and other small invertebrates.
DAY 4 - Aggressive Amphibians
The next morning, I spent some time photographing a beautiful Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis), an American species which has become naturalised in Europe. They were on their way into the buildings to hibernate (alongside the Mottled Shieldbugs).
The highlight of the night-walks occurred that night, when we witnessed the salamanders fighting. The first pair we encountered were in a ditch at the side of the footpath; they made quite a rustle for their size, rolling about in the leaf-litter. You could almost hear them swearing at one another. I believe that we saw only male-male combat (such as the video below), as opposed to any attempted courtships, but it can be difficult to tell. They didn't like the torchlight and would typically stop as soon as the light fell on them, but with a quiet approach and a careful angle that didn't provide too much light interference they would carry on regardless. It was difficult to determine a winner of these fights; the objective seemed to be to push your opponent over (and be pushed in return) numerous times until one of you gave up. Generally the fights dissolved quite peacefully as one or both parties would apparently simply lose interest and saunter off, although I suppose it's quite hard to judge whether a salamander is running away with its tail between its legs.
We found several more fungi during the next couple of days, including several of what I think were the Destroying Angel (Amanita virosa), a highly poisonous species which in the UK is not particularly common, and to my knowledge I had never seen it before. Bright white all over, it has a rather textured stem, and its lack of definitive markings and resemblance to several edible species (particularly when young) have implicated it in numerous poisonings, although not quite as many as the infamous Death Cap. We saw no true Death Caps, although the False Death Cap (Amanita citrina) was one of the most common mushrooms we encountered. We found several more huge Beefsteak Fungi, several of which were dripping with red jelly-like secretions.
Above: Destroying Angel, False Death Cap, Beefsteak Fungus
FINAL DAY - and a few more surprises
On our last day, we went into town during the evening for dinner, and I was pleasantly surprised with several final insect finds: a close up view of an Asian Hornet / Frelon Asiatique (Vespa velutina) visiting some flowers on a road verge, several Hairy Shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum), which were already changing into their duller winter colours, and a late-instar nymph of the Brown Marmorated Shieldbug (Halyomorpha halys), which was a new species for me. This species is not native to Europe, and its spread has been monitored in recent years; it has recently been recorded for the first time in the UK. It goes without saying (considering the sensation that they have caused in the tabloid press) that the Asian Hornet is also not native to the area, although it is now ubiquitous in nearly all of France.
We also saw some Firebugs / Gendarmes (Pyrrhocoris apterus) under Lime trees - a common species, but an incredibly striking one.
That night, to round off the holiday, we went out in the rain for one final amphibian excursion, and ended up moving a large toad from the road, and prevented a salamander from going into a drain. A very decent end to a wet and wild little trip!
Invertebrates:
• Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina)
• Brown Marmorated Shieldbug (Halyomorpha halys)
• Carabus intricatus
• Field Cricket (Gryllus campestris)
• Purse-web Spider (Atypus sp.)
• Raft Spider (Dolomedes fimbriatus)
• Shieldbug (Carpocoris ?purpureipennis)
• Shieldbug (Graphosoma italicum)
• Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)
• Woodland Dor Beetle (Anoplotrupes stercorosus)
Amphibians & Reptiles:
• Agile Frog (Rana dalmatina)
• Common Toad (Bufo bufo/spinosus)
• Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra)
• Grass Snake (Natrix helvetica) DOR
• Newt (Lissotriton sp.)
• Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis) DOR
• Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis)
Mammals:
• Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) DOR
• Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)
• Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) DOR
• Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)
• Wild Boar (Sus scrofa)