About
About ... Moulismes, Vienne and the Brenne
La Vienne GALLERY
Our first house in France was in the village of Moulismes. With a population of around 400, Moulismes lies on Route Nationale RN147 between Poitiers and Limoges, in the departement Vienne (86). A 40 minute drive east is the Brenne, departement Indre (36), an area well-known for wildlife, although much of the same flora and fauna can be found around Moulismes; and a few species are more easily found here. The countryside of the southern Vienne is subtly different from that of the Brenne, but in both areas farms are mostly non-corporate and small by UK standards. Sheep, cattle, maize, sunflowers and vegetables are the principle produce, along with cereal production. There is much woodland, many etangs (lakes), and plenty of marginal land, unimproved meadows and pasture. Most etangs in the Vienne are too small to be of any wildlife interest, but the older more established ones, and the few larger ones, are prime wildlife habitat. The Brenne has many large etangs, and fish-farming is a major source of income. Most woodland is privately owned, but some larger ones belong to local authorities and have public access. The maize prairie provides habitat for finches and migrating cranes when the stubble is left until spring. In the unimproved meadows, many butterfly and insect species can be found, and an established etang may hold up to 20 odonata species
This website
On the following pages are lists of some of the species that can be seen in the southern Vienne and the Brenne. Hopefully this will be of use to visitors and local residents alike, as a guide to what you can generally expect to see. Even if visiting for a week, using IGN maps (Cartes de randonees), and local sentiers (footpath) maps, free from the local Marie (Mayors office), many species listed here can be seen. If there are any mistakes with identification, they are entirely mine; please let me know through the Contact section.
Images, concept, etc.
Clearly this is not a ‘photographic' website and was never intended to be one, rather a natural history reference resource for those living or staying in the area. I have gradually built up a photographic library of images taken locally since January 2006, which to be honest are mainly for my own reference. Basically the collection is an online database of what I’ve seen since moving here. Consequently there is the odd record shot, usually distant photos of rare birds, digiscoped shots, and numerous images of the same species – Common Buzzard and Heath Fritillary being two classic examples. Both of these show a great variety of colour and markings as do other species I’ve repeatedly photographed. With difficult species and groups there may well be observational notes to accompany the image – I use these personally as reminders; hopefully they can be of use to others also. Generally they're aide mémoire-type comments gleaned from the main references, plus observational comments of my own.
At the last count there were in excess of 12,500 images, all of which are now on Flickr collections
Acknowledgements
A big thanks to those who have helped in the past and those who continue to help with species identification, site info, etc.
Ducept, Samuel - Samuel Ducept for help with identification of moths/butterflies
Faupin, Gregory - formerly of LPO Vienne. La petite pépinière
Indre Nature
LPO Vienne
Male-Malherbe, Eric - formerly of R N Cherine, who helped with two odonata sites in the Brenne
Smallshire, Dave - Devon, UK, for help and encouragement with all things odonata
Warrilow, Pete, and Nolan, Gill - La Chaume, Rosnay, for good company and sharing site info in the Brenne
Wells, Barry - Barry Wells Wildlife Photography for site info and all things photographic
Williams, Tony - formerly of LPO La Brenne
Williamson, Thomas - formerly of LPO Vienne
Young, Stephen and Una - formerly of Belabre, for originally introducing us to the Brenne and Vienne
Moulismes...
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6/7/2015 - Au revoir Moulismes... après 10 ans nous passons à la recherche de nouveaux horizons. Un grand merci à tous nos amis en Moulismes qui ont rendu notre séjour très agréable. Je vais continuer avec le site web Moulismes Nature d'après notre nouvel emplacement à environ une heure à Lignac, Brenne (36)
Goodbye Moulismes... after 10 years we move on to pastures new. A big thanks to all our friends in Moulismes who made our stay so very enjoyable. I will continue with the website Moulismes Nature from our new location about an hour away at Lignac, Brenne (36)
The Brenne...
