Nature/Bird Watching/Eco-tourism at the Chateau

 

The Woods of Paris

Around Paris central, parks are relatively rare and scattered. The outer metropolitan area to the south east around the chateau has the biggest concentration of parks with an area of 1,200+ hectares within 20klms. of the city. The chateau has 60ha, La grange forest has 200+, Notre Dame has about 500ha and Senart is a similar size.

If you want to see more wildlife, a first option is to head to the two main parks located on Paris grounds: the Boulogne and Vincennes Woods. These two massive green areas located on the extreme West and East (respectively) of the French Capital cover a cumulated area representing about 18% of the city’s total area. Created under Napoleon III during Haussmann’s great transformations, in a time when English gardens were fashionable, both parks are composed of large areas of simulated wilderness.

France’s rolling countryside, its spellbinding landscapes and slower pace of life have always held a near magnetic attraction for tourists in search of authenticity.

In the North-West, the Vexin Français Regional Park covers an area seven times the size of Paris. Four major ecosystems coexist in this park: humid (marshlands and riversides), forest, limestone hills, and alluvial terraces. The Vexin area is a great week-end getaway, and a good stop to do if you plan to continue your trip towards Normandy.

If you plan on spending a few days in the Versailles area, make sure to head South of Versailles into the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Park. Mostly composed of plains or small plateaus, the land is partly covered by the Rambouillet Forest and is a great getaway for having a natural break. Forest wildlife is quite common. One major advantage of this park is the prevalence of cultural sites to visit, since many historic sites, and in particular castles, are located on its grounds.

In the South-East, the Gâtinais Français Regional Park is a large park mostly covered by forest. The sand and sandstone underground sometimes emerges from the soil creating mystical unusual landscapes.

In the North, the Chantilly area has a large green space known as Oise-Pays de France Regional Park, mostly covered by forest, and allowing visitors to see about three-quarters of all species living in the Paris and Ile-de-France area.

In all these parks, you may expect to see a lot of wild animals, mostly forest mammals such as deer's, stags, boars, or rodents. Numerous birds and insects also live in these ecosystems. Amphibians and reptiles are rarer but can be seen.

The Orléans Forest at 50,000 ha, is the biggest natural forest in France. It’s home to many species of bird including osprey and various species of eagle, buzzards, woodpeckers, nightingale and larks. But it’s also a great place to see larger animals, such as wild boar and even wild cats. The forest is located 130klms. from the chateau in the eastern Loire Valley.

The chateau has 60 hectares to explore as well as the 700ha La Grange and Notre Dame Forests in close proximity and the 3,000+ha. Senart forest is 6.6klms. away.

Ile de France Region

With a terrain which combines plains and plateaus, gorges and valleys and even a few mountains, the Ile-de-France region offers a varied landscape which encourages animal species to flourish.

The region is currently home to some 6,600 varieties of animal, insects being the predominate species at 5,600. The forest of Fontainebleau is home to ten or so wild cats.

It is also mainly in the forests that badgers, roe deer, wild boar, foxes, red deer (the most common in Europe), hares, stone martens and pine martens, which all fall into the mammal category, are observed. Ornithologists will be pleased to know that there is also a great variety of bird species. You may even be able to catch the Eurasian sparrow hawk, the honey buzzard, the common buzzard, the goshawk (a diurnal bird of prey, the only species living in Europe), the hobby (small falcon), the long-eared owl, the tawny owl, the grey-headed woodpecker, the black woodpecker or the nightingale....through the lens of your binoculars or your camera. It is also worth noting the presence of various species of bat such as the lesser noctule, the lesser mouse-eared bat, Bechstein's bat or, the smallest of them all, measuring just four centimetres, the Kuhl's pipistrelle. Add in a few snakes (the natrix Maura, the venomous vipera aspis and the ringneck) and butterflies (the gonepteryx, the peacock butterfly, the Painted Lady and, the largest in Europe, measuring around 3 and a half inches, the swallowtail) and you've got a pretty full zoo.

Roe Deer

Some of the beauties you may find.

Peregrine Falcon

 

Swallowtail Butterfly

Some of the flora and fauna to be found in the Ile de France parks.

Pyramid Orchid	Early Purple Orchid	Lady Orchid
Purple Spotted Orchid	European Tongue Orchid	Superb Lizard Orchid
Loose Flowered Orchid	Marsh Orchid	Fly Orchid
Argentine Vipers	Tassle Hyacinth	Autumn Squill
Cleopatra Butterfly	Common Blue Butterfly	False Ringlet Butterfly
Swallowtail	Southern White Admiral	Queen of Spain Fritillary

Brambling	Common Firecrest	Eurasian Blue Tit
Eurasian Robin	Crested Tit	Spotted Flycatcher
Europe Bluethroat	White Wagtail	Winter Wallcreeper
Great Tit	Hawfinch	Red Backed Shrike
Eurasian Bullfinch	Eurasian Wren	Brambling
Hoopoe	Common Cuckoo	Middle Spotted Woodpecker
Blue Rock Thrush	European Nightjar	European Roller
Black Woodpecker	Green Woodpecker	Great Spotted Woodpecker
Rosy Starling	Common Kingfisher	European Bee-Eater
Red Legged Partridg	Common Pheasant	Northern Hazel Grouse
Black Winged Stilt	Glossy Ibis	European Oystercatcher
Grey Heron	Barn Owl	Spoonbill
Black Shouldered Kite	Eurasian Scops Owl	Eurasian Kestrel
Eurasian Sparrow Hawk	Little Owl	Northern Goshawk

Eurasian Eagle Owl

 

Common Hedgehog	Eurasian Red Squirrel	European Fat Doormouse
European Garden Doormuse	European Badger	European Pine Marten

 

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