Dordogne Wildlife | ObsessedByNature

Here are some photographs of the Vertebrates, Insects, Plants, Fungi and Landscapes from the Dordogne department (county) of France.

Vertebrates

Fire Salamanders, Salamandra salamandra	Edible Frogs	European Tree-Frog, Hyla arborea	If you put it down, it disappears!
Snake’s eggs	Lesser Horseshoe Bat	Pair of Roe Deer, Capreolus capreolus, eating fallen Apples	Hoopoe

INSECTS

See also the photo-essay ‘Dazzling Insects of the Dordogne!’

Butterflies and Moths

Lesser Purple Emperor, Apatura ilia	Peacock butterfly, Aglais (Inachis) io, caterpillar on stinging nettle	Glanville Fritillary, not uncommon here, very rare in England	Gatekeeper on garden mint
Southern White Admiral Limenitis reducta	Hemaris fuciformis, Broad-Bordered Bee Hawk-Moth, hovering to take nectar from lavender	The oddly symmetric rows of holes chewed in Canna Lily leaves by Bee Hawkmoth larvae	Queen of Spain Fritillary
Clouded Buff, Diacrisia sannio	Caterpillar of a species of Zygaena, a Burnet moth	Cream-Spot Tiger Moth, Arctia villica	Knapweed Fritillary on Brown Knapweed
Mating Pair of Spotted Fritillaries, Melitaea didyma, on Greater Pignut	Fiery Clearwing moth	Sooty Copper on Mint	The so-called Scarce Swallowtail is actually the commoner of the two swallowtail butterflies here
Large Skipper	Clouded Yellow in flight	Alder Moth, Acronicta alni, caterpillar on Elm	Burnet moth Zygaena fausta flapping wings after rain
Mating Pair of Zygaena fausta Burnet moths	Woodland Grayling	Grizzled Skipper	Drinker Moth
Plain Golden Y Moth, Autographa jota	Fox Moth caterpillar	Geranium Bronze (from S. Africa)	Silver-Washed Fritillary
Small Copper	Dingy Skipper	Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary	The Four-Spotted Moth
Common Blue females, with brown uppersides	Wainscot Moth	Dryad	Mating Pair of Common Heath Moths, Ematurga atomaria
Mallow Skipper	Red Underwing Moth Catocala nupta	A micro moth, Pyrausta purpuralis	Passenger moth Dysgonia algira
Male Common Blue	Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)	Latticed Heath	Burnet Companion
Marbled White	Clouded Yellow on Knapweed	.	.

Ants, Bees, and Wasps

The magnificent Sand Wasp Ammophila sabulosa	Potter Wasp building mud nest	Potter Wasp’s Pot, ready for use	Pompilid spider-hunting wasp carrying spider under body up wall
A carpenter wasp taking nectar from Fennel	Long-tailed Ichneumon wasp	Asiatic Hornet stalking prey	Dark Potter Wasp pots
Anoplius viaticus, a large spider-hunting wasp	.	.	.

Beetles

Longhorn Wasp Beetle cf Clytus	Longhorn beetle Strangalia maculata on Spiked Star-of-Bethlehem	Green Tiger Beetles, Cicindela campestris, Coteaux de St Victor	Cerambycid Longhorn Beetle Strangalia maculata on Spiked Star-of-Bethlehem
Thick-legged flower beetle, Oedemera nobilis (male)	Longhorn beetle, cf Rhagium sp., a serious pest of timber	Male Monochamus sartor, a Cerambycid longhorn beetle	Giant Wood-Boring Longhorn Beetle, Prionus coriarius
Turquoise Weevil Phyllobius cf pomaceus	Mating Cantharid soldier beetles	Trichodes alvearia .	Saperda punctata, a rare green longhorn beetle with black spots
Iridescent Magenta-Green Leaf Beetle on Rosemary	Dor Beetle	.	.

Dragonflies and Damselflies

Small Pincertail Dragonfly, Onychogomphus forcipatus, Coteaux de St Victor	Scarlet Darter, Crocothemis erythraea, Tourbières de Vendoire	Ruddy Darter	Male Banded Demoiselle, Calopteryx splendens
.	.	.	.

Grasshoppers and Crickets

Speckled Bush Cricket Leptophyes punctatissima on Convolvulus flower	A magnificent dark Bush-Cricket	Great Green Bush Cricket	Stripe-Winged Grasshopper Stenobothrus lineatus
Marvellously Cryptic Gray Grasshopper

True Flies

Tabanus bovinus: a giant horsefly, actually associated with cows (as 'bovinus' suggests) — Tabanus bovinus: a giant horsefly (ok, really a cow-fly)

Volucella inanis, a large handsome Syrphid hoverfly on Fennel

Leucozona leucorum, a large black-and-white Syrphid hoverfly

Other insects

Female Scorpion Fly	Praying Mantis, Chalk hillside near Saint Sulpice	A 2nd or 3rd instar shieldbug, possibly Hawthorn Shieldbug	Crab Spider with captured tabanid flies, Tabanus bovinus
Mating Firebugs	Wasp Spider (yes, not an insect) trussing Grasshopper	Italian Striped Bug, Graphosoma italicum	.

Plants

Lizard Orchid, Himantoglossum hircinum	Greater Butterfly Orchid, Platanthera chlorantha	Pyramidal Orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis	Lady Orchid, Orchis purpurea
Military Orchid, Orchis militaris	Early Purple Orchid, Orchis mascula, has two tubers shaped like testicles, hence the name ‘mascula’	Fly Orchid, Orchis insectifera	Tall Broomrape, Orobanche elatior
Tassel Hyacinth, Muscari comosum	Viper’s Bugloss, Echium vulgare, a characteristic plant of chalk	Autumn Squill, Scilla autumnalis, on limestone	Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa, on limestone
Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, at Tourbieres de Vendoire, a rare survival of an alkaline (fen) wetland, once worked for peat	Star of Bethlehem on chalk hillside (with an ant)	Dogwood	.

Fungi

Collared Parachute mushroom — Collared Parachute, Marasmius rotula

Witch's Butter, Exidia glandulosa — Witch’s Butter, Exidia glandulosa

Landscapes

The landscapes of the Dordogne are immensely varied. Here are a few on the more open areas of chalk in the north of the department. Other parts of the department have sandy-clay soils with very different natural vegetation, including Maritime Pine-Oak-Sweet Chestnut forest rich in fungi including the famous Perigord Truffle.

Trees preserving old field boundaries near Vendoire. Much of the chalk grassland is now arable	Vive la France! A cockerel with an old car	Coteaux de St Victor – dry chalk grass – orchids – juniper scrub	Thunderstorm over chalk downland
Large Fairy Rings in old permanent pasture on chalk, now lost to the plough	Forested lake scene at Tourbieres de Vendoire: old peat workings created shallow, straight-sided ponds ideal for wildlife	St Sulpice Juniper scrub-chalk grassland; arable; hilltop hamlets with distant oak and chestnut forest	Putting Up Decorations for Verteillac Fete