Ted Moult used to say “the answer lies in the soil”… 
but with these 2 shield-bugs… an identification can be made… as “the answer lies in the legs”… 
G. lineatum has totally red legs…
G. italicum has totally black legs…
So it’s a Pentatomidae then 
might be Amphicyrta dentipes (?) or Phyllophaga
some sort of chafer beetle
We are moving ever close to our goal to be resident in the Lot and one of the things we appreciate is the variety of wildlife in rural France. Last evening sitting outside, the owls were particularly vociferous and active. We encountered a rather long snake crossing a lane last week - we were in the car 
. We’ve been quite noisily treading the footpaths since.
We were looking at a parcel of land for sale that ajoins a large area of woodland. The idea of animals venturing out in the night is exciting.
Dead?
it does look like a European chafer.
I thought that that was Rambling Sid Rumbold, aka Kenneth Williams, wasn’t it?
Yes indeed… my mind was only half with it yesterday… numbed by the amount of twaddle going on at the moment…
cheers David…
A sad man Ted Moult, but entertaining, I think he found his solution at the wrong end of a shotgun.
I thought it was Rambling Sid Rumpole who said that! Perhaps he pinched it from Ted.
you could well be right… … in those early days one comic would borrow from another…
I could have sworn hearing TM say the phrase, but perhaps he was borrowing from RSR TM was a real character and obviously his wry sense of humour hid deep unhappiness. (as in many cases… )
I’m still not quite sure how this fits in the nest with 4 chicks but it seems to work. In the wall in the side of our house.
I’ve seen this emerge around this time of year, they seem to seek shelter behind our rolling shutters when it rains heavily. Would need to trawl back through my photos to see if I’d identified it at the time.
The second one looks like some kind of Coreidae, possibly Coreus Marginatus:
Possibly Phologphora meticulosa, from the markings, but looks a little scruffy/feathery compared to most of the photos I can find of it.
Update on the field mice & rats in my house problem. Have caught and released, over a six-week period, 90+ mice, and yesterday and the day before caught and released 2 rats.
And yesterday morning I found excavation material in front of my log stove, which is set into the fireplace. Can’t believe that one rat has excavated so much material overnight which needs a wheelbarrow – it’s heavy stuff – to carry away.
There’s a gap down the sides of the stove and it looks as if a rat is trying to tunnel out, not in, or is setting up home somewhere behind the stove. I’ve blocked up the sides of the stove to put a stop to that!
Now that two of them have at last entered both traps, which have been sitting empty for 6 weeks, I’ll be trapping the rest, because the food supply, wherever that is, must be running out.
Little buggers - but I admire their determination. A force to be reckoned with!
Do you want to borrow some cats
I found a young rat, dead, in the front garden a few days ago so I think one of my cats is still up to it.
The trouble with 3 of my cats is that during summer they like to sleep outdoors hidden away in the fields. Early evening they return to munch a few croquettes & drink, and then they’re out again into the fields to hunt.
My other cat stays in the front garden most of the time but he has bad arthritis and I’ve noticed that blackbirds take great liberties with him. Fearless!