Wildlife
The biodiversity of the Tarn is remarkable: the territory is home to more than fifty mammals! This group includes common varieties such as the fox, the deer, the wild boar, the roe deer, the beaver, the genet, the otter and a dozen species of bats.
The wetlands are home to some twenty species of reptiles and amphibians, such as the ocellated lizard and the spotted pelodyte, an amphibian whose song resembles the sound of clashing petanque balls.
The Tarn is also a fisherman's paradise! The fresh waters of the department are home to several dozen species of fish and crayfish, notably the river trout and the common perch, emblematic specimens of the territory. The rest of the aquatic fauna is composed of barbel, chub, gudgeon, roach and minnow for the common species. Several protected fish, sometimes unknown, are also present: the bouvière, the sofie (or toxostome), the eel, the vandoises, the lamprey of Planer
... The sky of the Tarn is crossed by more than 200 species of birds. There are common species such as tits and swallows. Others hide near aquatic environments such as the kingfisher and the grey heron. Some of them are particularly rare such as the European roller, the mad bunting or the Emerald falcon. Finally, some more emblematic birds sometimes fly over the department such as the griffon vulture, the booted eagle or the white stork.The flora of the Tarn
The three environments that cover most of the Tarn territory are the wooded areas, mainly composed of oak, chestnut and coniferous trees, the open areas, which include grasslands, moors, rocky areas and cultivated areas, and the wetlands, which are of great ecological interest.
The local flora is the result of the diversity of the relief, the geological formations and the bioclimatic influences of the department. On the Ambialet side, at an altitude of 190 m, three types of vegetation are found side by side: mountain vegetation (Forez doradilla, wood carnation, Alpine erinaceous plant), Atlantic vegetation (peach-leaved bellflower, lock saxifrage, rock potentilla) and Mediterranean vegetation (southern polypode, yellow foxglove, sage-leaved rockrose, wallflower, tree heather). And the filaria, native to Palestine! Legend has it that a crusader brought back a plant from the Holy Land.
On the Lacaune side, the summit of Montalet is a real island of mountain vegetation, home to a hundred or so species: snowdrop, scilla, lily of the valley, Solomon's seal, daffodil, oak polypode, bear's garlic, deer's garlic, broad-leafed cardamine, Martagon lily, wolfsbane, plumeria lettuce, Austrian doronic, Saint Anthony's laurel, white alisier, bird's sorb, snowball viburnum, elderberry, borage, dog's tooth erythrone, Vosges pansy, bare-flowered crocus, acanthus-leaved carline, alchemilla, English sedum, Pyrenean cranesbill, round-leaved drosera (a small carnivorous plant), marsh violet...
On the Labruguière side, no less than 500 species have been recorded on the Causse de Caucalières: numerous orchids, but also plants such as cardoncelle, leuzée porte-cônes, small-leaved ornithogale and mountain inula, small trees (holm oak, Montpellier maple, hackberry), shrubs (boxwood, (boxwood, Kermes oak, pistachio, filaria, scorpion's broom) and herbaceous plants (wild asparagus, asphodel, Montpellier aphylla, lavender, immortelle), thyme, rosemary, and a rare fern called the "Montpellier capillary". Most of these species are rare and very fragile. Everyone must respect them. A nice picture will be without any doubt the best souvenir you can keep of the Tarn flora.
Woad, the gold of the territory
Woad, Isatis tinctoria by its Latin name, has been given many names: guesde, Lauragais or Saint Philippe grass, ververs, Persian blue...
The Egyptians used it as a healing balm, the Greeks used it to treat jaundice and warts. In the Middle Ages, it was used as a dye for the clothes of the simple (peasant's blouses) as well as for those of the great (azure coat of the sovereign). The plant with a hundred virtues required a long and arduous process before becoming a woad. The leaves had to be dried, reduced to a pulp, covered with crushed garlic and made into cocoons. These small sticky balls were then put to dry, their shells being broken and then stirred with water and urine. This liquid was then left to macerate for four months while being stirred regularly. Finally, after drying and crushing, the agranat was packed in canvas bags and shipped to Toulouse and elsewhere.
The plant made the fortune of an entire region by dyeing fabrics with a unique blue until the 16th century, when indigo arrived from the East to overshadow it. Forgotten until the 19th century, pastel has made a dazzling comeback thanks, among others, to the Toulouse School of Chemistry. We are already thinking of using this magic plant again in pharmacy and cosmetology. Will the blue gold bloom again in the land of Cocagne? The future will tell...
The Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park
Overlooking the immense cereal crops of the Lauragais and the wine-growing plains of the Languedoc, the Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park is a territory of 260,000 ha (47 communes in the Tarn) which backs onto the last southern foothills of the Massif Central. It is a mid-mountain area, but it is also the meeting point of the oceanic and Mediterranean climates. This particularity results in an incredible biological and landscape diversity, as well as a particularly rich fauna (roe deer, wild boar, mouflons, foxes, weasels, genets, freshwater mussels, white-legged crayfish, otters and 247 species of birds) and flora. The Nature Park is also a place to live and the best excuse for exploration and discovery.
