Local wildlife

The area around Maoutens, and further afield, is teeming with wildlife. The following is an account of a short ten-day stay in July, by Paul Doyle, a visitor from UK:

If like me you have spent a lifetime searching out some of the rarer birds and insects in Britain and other parts of Europe, prepare to be amazed when you go to Maoutens in mid-summer. Despite the appearance on the map of a fairly well-populated area covered in towns and villages, within the first two hours of our visit to Fiona and John's B&B we had seen Golden Oriole, Firecrest, Nightingale, Black Redstart, Black Kite, 20 species of butterfly and Stag beetles and all without moving from easy reach of our locally produced (and excellent) glass of vin rouge. Along with Fiona's superb cooking the temptation is just to sit in the garden for the entire fortnight!

As the week progressed the species just kept piling up, without too much effort. I've been in various parts of the world looking for insects and birds and I have to say that this area is one of the best I've been in for diversity in one spot. By the end of the stay the butterfly list was at 35 species, with new species being found every day right up to the last day. There are birds and butterflies here which are very rare and difficult to find in the UK. A highlight was a good number of Large Blue butterflies, as well as lots of Hummingbird Hawk Moths and Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moths feeding on the lavender flowers, and an abundance of Swallowtails, of both types.

Red Squirrels and Coypu are common and easy to see on a walk along the nearby canal. There are deer around but they stay hidden; European Lynx were reintroduced to the Vosges and Pyrenees a few years back and one was found killed on a road not far from here.  It is easy to see why the countryside supports such a wealth of animals and plants: apart from the obvious advantages of the climate, the agriculture is not as intensive as it is in some other parts of Europe, fields are relatively small, and interspersed with areas of woodland, hedgerows, canals and rivers.
Wildflowers are abundant. Hunting is a popular pastime and an effort is made to provide suitable habitats in every area, and perhaps because of this  people are sympathetic to, and have a respect for, the countryside, an attitude which has been lost in some other countries. There is no hurry to clear away dead wood, predators are tolerated and fly-tipping is rare.

We visited in July which is a great time for butterflies. I can't wait to get back there again; maybe in spring for the flowers or in autumn for the bird migration.