Carrière des Nerviens Regional Nature Reserve

IUCN Category IV - Habitat-/Species Management Area

Dry meadow

The Carrière des Nerviens is a nature reserve ( Réserve naturelle régional ) within the Regional Natural Park Avesnois in Nord-Pas -de- Calais in France. It was established on 25 May 2009 for the Protection of about three acres, with rare plants. The area covers the municipalities Bavay and Saint Vaast in the department of Nord. The name goes back to the Celtic tribe of the Nervians, whose capital was Bavay ( Bagacum Nerviorum ).

Description

The reserve is a former mining area of sandstone from the Famennian, especially for Psammite and arkoses, which was filled in the 1970s with marl. The new floor was colonized by a pioneer vegetation, which coexists together with a natural reforestation and forms therewith a mosaic habitat.

His protection status of the area owes fifteen rare native plant species, several of which are regionally protected and three are listed in the Habitats Directive. These are particularly favored by calcareous soils and the double impact of oceanic and continental climate. The reserve also plays a role in the spread in Francophone countries concept of Trame verte ( " green grid ").

Owners and managers of the Carrière Nerviens is the non-profit environmental organization CPIE Bocage de l' Avesnois, which has set itself the preservation of biodiversity to the main target. To this end, working groups are regularly formed to fight the spread of the forest and the introduction of invasive plant species.

Flora and Fauna

In the field a total of 171 plant species are represented, including spotted orchid, Round-leaved wintergreen, bear pepper, Lesser butterfly orchid, pyramidal orchid dog, bee orchid and wild pea. At the edges of forests grow forest forget-me -not and zigzag clover. A tall herb hall houses the ordinary butterbur.

Of 42 species of birds that visit the reserve on a regular basis, 25 are brooding. You can meet include hawks, sparrow, grasshopper warblers and woodcock. Of the amphibians and reptiles, the common toad, the frog, the viviparous lizard, the wall lizard and slow-worm inhabiting the habitat. Notable insects are the Western Clubtail, the alder - Bluebird, the congregation sickle cricket and the long horned grasshopper -spine.