3. Grande Brière ( To view location on itinerary map click here)
General
Grande Brière is located on the Atlantic Coast, just north west of Nantes, in the Pays de la Loire region of France. It was one of first French landscape parks, created through local agreement in 1970, and is known as "Parc Naturel Regional de Brière"; covering an area of approximately 40,000 hectares, of which 17,000 hectares is wetland. The settlements and farms (many of which are reed thatched), are located on the higher, hedged ground and most of the wetland is similar in character to other European wetlands, with small field units bounded by ditches. However, perhaps the most unique feature of the Parc Brière is the core of the wetland; a single land management unit of around 6,800 hectares containing open water, small navigation canals, reeds, rushes and grassland.
An aerial view of Grande Brière
There is a very strong regional culture in Grande Brière. In the pre-industrial age, the area was widely, but not intensively, exploited by man: for hunting and fishing; for peat cutting; for grazing; for reed, used in roof thatching and manufacturing; and probably much more. As with almost all biologically productive wetland systems, the communities lives were dependant on the marsh and inextricably linked to it. Many would probably argue that this is still the case today.
A traditional boat on a canal in the Brière
Wildlife
The site has a very diverse flora including Thorella verticillinundata (does not occur in UK), starfruit Damasonium alisma, lesser water parsnip Sium latifolium, greater spearwort Ranunculus lingua and shoreweed Littorella lacustris . The aquatic vegetation is zoned according to the brackishness of the water: the site being effectively connected to the Loire Estuary at the Southern end.
The wetland is very important for wintering, breeding and passage migrant birds. Breeding birds include bittern Botaurus stellaris, purple heron Ardea purpurea, spoonbill Platalea leucorodia, garganey Anas querquedula, shoveller A. clypeata, marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus, coot Fulica atra, spotted crake Porzana porzana, water rail Rallus aquaticus, common snipe Gallinago gallinago, redshank Tringa totanus, black-headed gull Larus ridibundus, whiskered tern Chlidonias hybridus and black tern C. niger. The most important wintering species are common snipe Gallinago gallinago, black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa, wigeon Anas penelope, shoveller A. clypeata and pintail A. acuta. Grande Brière is also a very important site for otter Lutra lutra.
Hunting and Fishing
Hunting is very popular in Grande Brière and the wildfowling lobby is strong. It is also very defensive in the face of the birds directive. During my visit I saw hand painted, placard like, signs that had been posted by the road as a protest about the habitats directive; probably relating to likely restrictions on hunting during the period when birds are in passage. At the moment three are two areas where hunting is prohibited, one of 205 hectares and another of 700 hectares in the middle of the marsh.
One of the farmers that I met explained that many of the hunters that use the marsh now are not locals. Many non-local wildfowlers have purchased land in the area, dug decoy ponds and built well engineered hides. The farmer was concerned that this had driven up land prices in some areas and would have an impact in the wider area due to increased disturbance.
Wildfowling seems to be a very difficult issue for the French Government to resolve, particularly in relation to duties and obligations under the EU Birds Directive.
The site has been fished traditionally for hundreds of years. (Click for picture of fisherman in a traditional boat.)
Farming
Farming in the area around Grande Brière is predominantly beef and dairy, although there are some large mixed units. Both the farmers and conservationists that I met in Grande Brière expressed serious concern regarding the decline of farming in the area. Again, abandonment is a very serious threat here.
Much of the wetland is privately owned and managed and there are two landowners' syndicates that manage the drainage of the area. The 6,800 hectare core of the wetland is jointly owned by the 21 communities that lie around it. This is the area that has been most effected by changes in agriculture, largely through abandonment. Ecological concerns are: that the area of wet woodland is increasing due to lack of grazing; and that much open water is being lost as the reed beds form floating rafts and close up.
In the past many small holders and peasants would turn cattle out into the marsh during the spring and summer. Now there are few farmers who are prepared to put animals into the marsh. The ideal grazing management is to have water levels low enough in the spring in order to graze the fresh shoots of the common reed. One of the farmers that I met told me that if the reed was grazed early enough then snipe would nest in the aftermath. This really is an enormous expanse of marsh for cattle to free range across. I awoke early one morning to meet up with a farmer and enter the marsh with him in order to check his cattle. We waded across a deep canal and then trekked for a kilometre or so in order to find the site where he had seen them the previous day: they were not there. We walked to and fro, following tracks in all directions but did not manage to find the cattle, and so he decided to return later that day. The farmer was considering the use of simple radio tracking equipment to save him time with this task.
The management of the marsh is a constant struggle to keep the reeds in check. In an effort to increase the grazing interest, local stakeholders made a decision to contribute a proportion of the agri-environmental/rural development budget in order to purchase a boat for transporting cattle into the heart of the marsh.
The farmers that I met were farming land within the large, core, area of marshland and in the wider wetland. Many of the farmers in the area have land in the CTE scheme. However, this scheme was not applicable to the 7,000 hectare central marsh area. Instead the farmers of this area were entitled to payments, via their cooperative syndicates, through the "prime à l'herbe" scheme. This offers a fixed payment, for extensive farming of very special areas and was never widely applicable in France. The application to the scheme is managed by the farmers' cooperative syndicate. The farmers are then paid by the syndicate according to the amount of grazing undertaken. The "prime à l'herbe " scheme agreements will , most probably, be moving to the CAD scheme when contracts expire.
Being on the Atlantic Coast, most of the wetland areas was flooded with sea water as a means of defence against the allies during the WWII German occupation of France. This affected much of the 17,000 hectare wetland and led to a long period of abandonment, followed by the hard job of restoration from reeds to grassland. The main weed problems, as perceived by farmers, were soft rush and common reed, both of which are topped annually, sometime twice, as a means of control. Farmers like to top the common reed early if they can as the cattle find the fresh growth to be quite palatable. There is some occurrence of marsh ragwort, but this is not really significant and not regarded as a problem. The farmers did not express any concern regarding parasites within the wetland, and similarly to BVA, Aavermectins were used when the cattle were brought in for the winter.
One of the farmers was convinced that his animals' health and their ability to cope with the marsh, was related to his closed herd of Charolais cattle that had been built up over a period of time. Out of interest, I asked him about problems with birthing in the Charolais, as expressed by farmers in BVA, and he said that he had not had such problems as he had selected the smaller animals for breeding.