2. Basses vallées Angevines ( To view location on itinerary map click here)
Map taken from the leaflet "Partez à la découverte des Basses Vallées Angevines"
Basses vallées angevines (BVA), meaning "Low Angevines Valleys", is a wetland area of approximately 4, 500 ha, located immediately to the north and south of the city of Anger in the Pays de Loire region of France. The area is crossed by three rivers (Mayenne, Le Sarthe and Le Loire), which form the River Maine before it joins the main River (La) Loire. The alluvial valley is up to 3 km wide in places, and is subject to regular flooding along 25km, from north to south; as it drops from 19 metres to 14 metres altitude.
The area is comprised primarily of grazing marsh, managed traditionally for hay and late summer grazing. It has a typical wetland landscape of fields bounded by ditches and strewn with willows and ash trees. Whilst the annual winter and spring flooding of the meadows creates spawning grounds for fish and limits the potential for agricultural exploitation by encourages late hay cutting. It also provide nutrients to the grassland in the form of silt that fertilises the alluvial clay soils maintaining the sweetness of the hay. The settlements and farms are on the higher surrounding floodplain and farmers may travel 5 or 6 kilometres for their hay and late summer grass. Much of the floodplain area is subjected to little or no disturbance from the time that the floods begin until the time that the hay is made.
Wildlife
BVA is botanically interesting, with predominantly two main communities of plants, varying according to topography and time subjected to inundation. According to the Ramsar site index, BVA is important for nesting garganey Anas querquedula, quail Coturnix coturnix, hobby Falco subbuteo, spotted crake Porzana porzana, yellow wagtail Motacilla flava, and several bunting and warbler species. Migrating and wintering birds using the site include great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus, cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo, coot Fulica atra, snipe Gallinago gallinago, lapwing Vanellus vanellus, golden plover Pluvialis apricaria, Bewick's swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii, greylag goose Anser anser, teal Anas crecca and shovellor A. clypeata. Perhaps most important widlife feature of the site is its breeding corncrake Crex crex population. BVA is France's principle nesting site for the globally threatened corncrake, with between 300 and 400 calling males in some years.
The vulnerable corncrake, breeds in hay meadows and tall grassy vegetation, where it has good cover; situated in an open or semi-open landscape.
Farm Visits
I visited two farmers around BVA, both of whom were approximately 50:50 mixed beef/dairy units, of between 100 and 120 animals. The beef cattle favoured by both of the young farmers were Limousin (click for more information) for beef and Holstien (click for more information) for dairy. Both of the farmers had kept Charolais (click for more information) until recently but had moved to the Limousin breed due to problems with calving.
Both of the farmers were pleased to be in the CTE agri-environment scheme. One of the prescriptions within the scheme is for "nice" hay cutting. This involves cutting from the centre of the field outwards so as to encourage the corncrake young to move out of the field being cut. One of the farmers did not like the prescription very much as it made the cutting and harvesting operations more awkward (ie unable to follow the most efficient line). However, he was getting on well with the scheme in general and felt that it made good business sense for him to be a part of the scheme. The farmers were of the opinion that there were no weed problems at the site; although there was some concern regarding parasites. According to the farmers Avermectins are used only when the animals are taken in for the winter.
I was pleasantly surprised that the French farmers were not worried about marsh ragwort Senecio aquaticus, as there were some fields where it appeared to be quite abundant. In the UK there has been much publicity regarding the toxicity of common ragwort Senecio jacobea and this has fuelled concerns regarding Marsh Ragwort. In the UK there are some farmers who are concerned regarding the toxicity of Marsh Ragwort, whereas others are not. Tests have revealed that Marsh Ragwort is much less poisonous than common ragwort .
A field where marsh ragwort is abundant
One of the major threats to the site has been the expansion of the Poplar plantations which were planted within the floodplain during the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The poplars are utilised primarily for paper pulp (Is this correct?) and the programme of planting was funded by the government. This has caused some concerns amongst both farmers and conservationists. Many farmers do not like the Poplars. This is because debris that falls from the trees in the winter is then carried by floodwaters to hay fields, where it lies waiting to damage farm machinery during the hay making season. Farmers are also concerned with the impact of shading of grassland areas, thus reducing productivity; as well as the general loss of grassland across the "farmed" landscape. Conservationists are very concerned regarding the loss of corncrake nesting habitat within the grazing marsh. There has been much effort to control the spread of the poplar plantations by working with the communities to develop landscape vision for the floodplain which zones areas to be retained as pasture or plantation.
During my visit to BVA I was lucky enough to be invited to attend an Agri-Environment Scheme Review meeting hosted by the farmers union, who administer the scheme, at their office in Angers. The budget is allocated to the local scheme administrator along with a list of broad objectives. There is then local flexibility with regard to the detailed targets and objectives. It was the aim of the meeting to discuss these detailed objectives and stakeholder groups present included; dairy and beef farmers, arable farmers, organic farmers, conservation groups, hunters and government organisation such as the DIREN. Unfortunately my spoken French is very limited, but the meeting did appear to be positive; the warm French gestures suggesting constructive debate between the stakeholders and farmers.