Sophie Mowles
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sophiemowles.bsky.social
Sophie Mowles
@sophiemowles.bsky.social
94 followers 160 following 50 posts
Co-director of Merops – organising field courses for universities in the south of France.
Field Ecology🌳 Behavioual Ecology 🦗 Animal acoustics 🦇
Photography 📷 Environmentally conscious 💚 Vegan (sometimes difficult in rural France) 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️
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sophiemowles.bsky.social
Some very busy Beavers nearby! Discovered their new worksite on a recent walk with Oscar the cat (our honorary dog...).
Sophie stood at the bank of a river holding a sapling cut down by Beavers. It is approximately 2.5m high. Fabrizio on a Beaver trail through woodland, with a white cat walking along it close to him. Fabrizio smiling at a white cat (Oscar) walking along an old tree trunk. A white cat with a few dark patches balancing on a sapling felled by Beavers. He is sniffing the cut end and it makes it look as if he was the culprit.
December 9, 2025 at 9:43 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Encountered a really nice Cirl Bunting singing on my morning walk the other day. Not the most complex song, but hearing this trill always makes me happy, knowing its scarcity back in the UK. Duly recorded on Merlin @cornellbirds.bsky.social & added to @inaturalist.bsky.social #acoustic #ornithology
October 31, 2025 at 10:59 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Fascinating! I recognized the image. This animal grabbed my attention when I visited the museum in 2019 (I had no idea this species had existed), and I liked its placement alongside the Red Fox, for a bit of comparative anatomy. Thanks for sharing more information about this specimen - and species.
A taxidermied Falkland Islands Wolf, alongside a Red Fox. They are of similar sizes, but the Red Fox is orange while the wolf is a darker grey-brown. The Falklands Islands Wolf also has a shorter, more muscular looking muzzle and more muscular appearance over all.
October 30, 2025 at 2:27 PM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Among our camera trap footage from this autumn was this male Wild Boar, near a newly dug wallow adjacent to the river. We’ve not seen this behaviour before, but think he may be scent-marking with his metacarpal glands. Wild Boar continue to fascinate! @chantallyons.bsky.social
October 29, 2025 at 8:18 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
We always hope the students gain a lot of ecological knowledge in our field courses... However, we suspect a highlight might have been the "splitting an apple in half with your bare hands" technique showcased at our picnic in the Causse Méjean. Here I am presenting the apple in the customary way…
Sophie holding an two halves of an apple, one in each hand, having split it apart. I am wearing a broad rimmed hat as it is sunny, a t-shirt with vultures on it, and have a pair of binoculars around my neck.
October 22, 2025 at 8:08 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Going back over some camera trap data from earlier this summer and finding I completely sympathise with this Wild Boar. Who wouldn't want a swim in the river when it's still 29 degrees after 8pm!
A Wild Boar swimming in the shallows at the edge of a river. The image is a still from a camera trap, which shows that the temperature is 29 degrees Celsius at 8:06 pm. The river looks cool and refreshing.
August 28, 2025 at 9:13 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Running ecology field courses - except there are cats. Last autumn we were dismayed to find two 10-day old kittens abandoned in a dustbin. They are now 9 months old, doing really well and have graduated to becoming fully integrated members of team Merops! @meropsfieldcentre.bsky.social
#EcologyCats
A cat peeking out of the top of a moth trap it is sat in. A cat sitting in a kick sampling net. Students in the field identifying insects. They have a beating tray at their feet. A cat is stood in the middle of it. An educator giving a talk about GIS with students watching. Two cats are also at the front of the classroom.
June 29, 2025 at 9:16 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Our foundling kittens are now 8 months old and almost fully-fledged field ecologists. They have been helping students explore the trails, helpfully "pointing" marten scat and otherwise interfering with experiments. The students love them. #EcologyCats
A cat stood next to a quadrat and sweep net. Students taking a picture of a cat that is up a tree. Two cats in a woodland. One is lying on a mossy rock while the other stands nearby. A cat walking along a trail in a pine forest with a group of students following it.
June 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Also found these. Somewhat more confusing for the south of France @markuseichhorn.bsky.social
Three beer bottles. They are named "Markus" and each feature an illustration of a hippo face-on. The sub-heading reads "2 tonnes de finesse".
April 26, 2025 at 2:42 PM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Found these fantastic beers in the supermarket (obviously HAVE to buy any beer or wine featuring wildlife). Our challenge: we could only drink them once we'd seen the animal! A Hoopoe was near the house. We found an Ocellated Lizard on a walk. Now I've just seen a Kingfisher. The last beer is mine!
Three beer bottles with vibrant labels depicting wildlife: a Hoopoe, an Ocellated Lizard and a Kingfisher.
April 26, 2025 at 1:08 PM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
A really lovely Easter Monday walk in the sunny garrigue and we came across this beautiful Southern Festoon butterfly. Amazingly I had the appropriate camera with me, and it landed right in front of me. So happy to see this species.
A Southern Festoon butterfly sat on a yellow flower. The butterfly has its wings open, showing a complex pattern of yellow and black, plus blue and red spots near the base of the hindwings.
April 21, 2025 at 1:15 PM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
We’ve completed our first field course of the year with our two new field assistants. They are very curious, and our now seven-month old kittens have gone down very well with the students (and the kittens loved all the attention). Now it’s quiet here and they're wondering where everyone’s gone.
A woman with glasses sat at a table working on a laptop. There is an open file next to her and a pot of coffee. On the laptop there is a small pot containing a tiny scorpion. The woman has a small grey striped cat on her lap. He is looking at the camera with his blue eyes. A man working on a laptop in a large covered terrace. A white cat with a few dark spots is walking in between his laptop and another one facing it.
April 17, 2025 at 8:29 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Happy to see my first Green Hairstreak of the year yesterday. Just hanging out on the box bush outside the front door.
A Green Hairstreak butterfly sitting on a Box bush. The butterfly has its wings closed, showing the metallic green undersides. It is about 1.5 cm in length. Its antennae are striped black and white with little orange tips.
March 6, 2025 at 7:35 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
On the subject of Beavers as ecosystem engineers, we found this abandoned willow stick clearly cut by a Beaver (note the diagonal end). It’s growing new roots like a cutting. Who knows how many abandoned sticks like this have floated down rivers to start new trees on downstream banks.
The end of a willow stick that has been gnawed by a Beaver. The end is cut diagonally, a classic sign that a Beaver has cut this. The branch is green and there are long roots coming from the cut end, like a cutting. A willow stick lying in a shallow pool at the edge of a river, where we found it. A small willow bush is behind it, along with some water mint.
February 28, 2025 at 10:47 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
This is fantastic news for the UK! It’s a shame to read the consideration of “lethal control of unruly Beavers”. Here in France, we’ve seen prized trees, and those in orchards protected from Beavers by chicken-wire (this orchard has a river just adjacent). A simple solution for small-scale farmers.
A fruit tree with chicken wire wrapped around its base to protect it from gnawing Beavers. Behind it is a field of lavender, protected by a simple two-wire electric fence. The tree is just coming into leaf as it is spring. The sky is cloudless and blue. An orchard of fruit trees in spring. Each one has chicken wire wrapped around the base of the trunk to protect it from Beavers.
February 28, 2025 at 10:38 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
This is the wheelie bin site where we found them. After which they spent some cosier nights in one of our field equipment boxes with a heat pad and wombat cuddly toy for comfort. Once they were bigger, they were transferred to a playpen (aka "kitten prison"). Yes - they are sleeping in a wine box.
A row o f three large wheelie bins enclosed in a wooden barrier. We found the kittens in the general waste. Two white kittens inside a large black plastic container. They have a towel on the base and a stuffed wombat cuddly toy, which they are snuggling underneath. Two pale kittens inside a mesh animal playpen. They have towels as a substrate, lots of cardboard boxes and tubes to play with, plus a couple of fuzzy balls. Oscar and Gonzo asleep inside a wine box. There is a folded up towel in there that they are resting on.
February 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
One thing I may occasionally post about is cats. As an ecologist, I find them quite conflicting – they are not an animal I ever planned to have. But we found these two kittens dumped in a bin at 10 days old last autumn. So, now we have cats… They are Oscar (as in “the Grouch”, obviously) and Gonzo.
Two tiny kittens being held in a pair of hands. They are both white, one with a couple of large grey spots. Two tiny kittens in a box with a towel. Their fur is frizzy and a bit dirty. Gonzo, the smallest kitten, being bottle-fed. He struggled a bit with coordination and has milk around his face. Me holding the pair of kittens gently in my cupped hands. They are tiny, with heads roughly the size of a ping-pong ball.
February 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
I received a macro rail for Christmas, so have had a go at image stacking. It’s early days, but I’m quite happy with these first attempts at Butcher’s Broom flowers. They’re tiny and grow straight out of the cladodes. The plants are dioecious, but I found both female (left) and male (right) flowers.
A female Butcher's Broom flower. It grows straight out of the cladode, which is a flattened spine that looks like a leaf. The flower has six tiny petals arranged like a star and a purple round ovary which will develop into a red berry when fertilised. A male Butcher's Broom flower. It grows straight out of the cladode, which is a flattened spine that looks like a leaf. The flower has six tiny petals arranged like a star and a purple round centre. At the very top of the flower, the tiny anthers are producing yellow pollen grains.
February 10, 2025 at 9:09 AM
sophiemowles.bsky.social
Hello world!
I’m Sophie Mowles, a former academic from the UK. I now live in the south of France and run a company organising field courses for university groups.
I’m passionate about inclusivity and believe that everyone should be able to benefit from a great field course experience.
Sophie standing in the shallows at the edge of a river, looking up into the camera. I'm holding a long-handled kick-sampling net in my right hand. In front of me is a white tray that I am collecting invertebrates into to help students find study organisms.
February 5, 2025 at 10:16 AM