the essential
In recent years, listening to the bellowing of deer has become increasingly attractive to both local residents and city dwellers. Organized nature outings are growing in popularity, and for good reason. Many nature enthusiasts travel miles to admire this spectacle. The Coudons forest in Aude is one of the very popular places to experience this kind of adventure.
From mid-September to mid-October, in the undergrowth, you can hear the famous bellowing, which has made the deer famous for millennia. It is a cry quite similar to the mooing of the cow and the braying of the donkey, which males utter during the mating season. This allows them to mark their territory and assert their dominance in order to be able to integrate the herd of deer. In the parking lot of the wildlife observation platform, route d’Espezel, this Friday evening in October, Bastien Brunon takes charge of a group of around ten people. Environmental educator at the Association Développement des Hautes Corbières (ADHCO), passionate about nature, he gives instructions to participants before inviting them to go down to the observation platform. Along the tree-lined path, Bastien describes the bellowing of the deer and reveals the secrets of deer (biology, lifestyle, behavior, etc.), what they may be lucky enough to see and hear, and why they will all have to be particularly discreet. The wood creaks slightly under their feet, but everyone advances quietly, aware that each noise could disrupt the harmony of the place.
Arriving on the wooden platform, perched between the trees, and after having silently climbed the stairs which lead to the observatory, the evening visitors gaze in wonder at a vast meadow bordered by deciduous and coniferous trees, sometimes centuries old. Installed with binoculars, Serge, Bertrand and the others have the chance to observe, in the distance, a deer and a herd of does. Night falls little by little, the rule is simple: stay silent and still, to hear the famous bellow! Very close by, the first laugh is heard. A deep roar pierces the cool evening air. It resonates in the forest like an invitation, or a warning. Like an echo, another responds in the distance.
For Laure and her Chaurien friends, it’s impossible not to feel a shiver run down your spine. When night has completely fallen, Bastien invites the group to leave the observatory and to continue, still in silence, on the way back. This evening, the deer did not give much of their voices, the bellowing season is coming to an end. No matter, Laure, Serge, Bertrand and the others had an exceptional evening, during which they had the chance to enter a wild world, far from everyday life, where nature reigns supreme.
