The operation only takes place every four years and it took ten days to evacuate the water from the two vast ponds of the city of birds in Landes-Genusson in Vendée. This vast ornithological reserve of the Vendée bocage now reveals an immense field of mud. “It’s our nursery to produce the carp that we have on our fishing trips in Vendée, explains Tanguy Arnaud of the Vendée Fishing Federation, For about fifteen years, every four years, this body of water has been drained. And we all swarm a little these big carp which weigh between ten and 20 kilos on all the large lakes of the department. We didn’t expect to have so many fish this year.” These beautiful carp will be returned to the water in the Moulin Papon pond in La Roche-sur-Yon.
Yves-René Tapon
Waist-deep mud
Emptying which is an old tradition in ponds has several uses. “To improve water quality and limit this siltation. explains Eric Roirand, head of the technical unit at the nature service of the Vendée department, Today, siltation is very significant. And then drying the bodies of water for a year will make it possible to mineralize these muds, therefore to reduce this volume of mud and to improve behind all the food chains, the phytoplankton, the plankton, therefore the food of these birds. “.
The city of birds will be re-watering in early 2026. It is also a unique place, closed to hunting, for observing many sedentary or migratory birds. “We have species of surface ducks and divers, scaup, pochard, mallard, teal, Jean-Robert Bariteau list of the Bird Protection League, and the drying will encourage the arrival of plovers, locusts, grasshoppers or butterflies. The others will return as soon as the water is refilled. While waiting for the water to return, the city of birds remains open to the public.
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Yves-René Tapon
France
