[Animal mystery]

Sounds as though it could be a rat, not very exotic I know.

Chris

[Snake Dead in Window hinge]

For the sake of accuracy even though this thread is more or less dead and buried only two snakes in France are known to climb to the second floor or roof of a house - Western whip snake and Aesculapian snake.

What you had would appear to have been a juvenile western whip, there is a photo on this link part way down the page.

http://wildlifeinfrance.com/western-whip-snake-hierophis-viridiflavus-couleuvre-verte-et-jaune-france.html

Chris

[Migrating cranes]

Removed

Chris

[Otters]

Wonderful !

Must have been a magic moment, do you often find spraints?

Chris

[Garden birds]

Rather depends on what the birds were.

The start of the hunting is coincidental eh?

Are they back now?

Chris

[Mole rats aka campagnoles - how to get rid of them ?]

The only way is to go for a "scorched earth" approach, the nuclear option and destroy everything in the garden by a combination of highly toxic poisoning and constant ploughing. This should result in a temporary removal of said species from your garden.

They are of course a great primary food source for a number of species.

Chris

[Badgers]

I can't see anywhere your original question was answered, (maybe need specsavers).

Badgers are routinely killed in France using various means - shooting, digging out and stabbing, even illegally poisoning. Large organised digs occur and even competitions and can take place at any time of year with authorisation.

However the reason in France isn't given as Bovine TB although cattle here do have it, (less and less as increasingly dairy herds are kept in buildings), the reason is because they are supposed to eat the crops and I suppose just for fun.

Chris

[Migrating cranes]

Lucky indeed to have them on your doorstep, nearest to me is about an hour away, two hours if I want to see thousands.

Is there no way to include images or links in this forum?

Chris