The Poitou stallion
In Vendée, if there is an emblematic mammal, it is the Poitou donkey! This donkey of big size and imposing gauge (from 350 kg to 450 kg) is the oldest race of donkey of France. In addition to its beautiful brown coat, it has another particularity to have the eyes, the nose and the muzzle surrounded by silver gray. After being endangered in the 1980s, there are now 350 heads in the purebred herd, and thanks to exports at the beginning of the 20th century, the breed is present in several countries, such as Germany and the United States. Did you know that ? A Poitou donkey and a Poitou donkey give a fedon.
The birds
The department is full of different bird species. The little egret, a white bird half the size of the grey heron, has a long black bill, large black legs and yellow feet. It is found near ponds or atop willows, where it feeds on small fish, insects and other aquatic animals. The Common Snipe is about the size of a large robin and has a very long bill (which allows it to find the mollusks and insects it feeds on in the mud) and medium long legs. Its plumage is brown, streaked with yellow on the back. Its flight in zigzag is characteristic. The elegant avocet also lives and feeds in the mud. A protected species, tall and elegant with black and white plumage, the avocette has long light blue-gray legs. With 25% of the population, the Vendée was thefirst French department for the reproduction of this species. The Bay of Aiguillon and the Bay of Bourgneuf are the two main wintering sites of the avocette in France. The tern, from the same family as the gulls and the larids, is different by its size, its silhouette and its tail, which earned it the nickname of sea swallow. The small and elegant black-headed gull has red legs, which differentiates it from other black-headed species. Its dark beak is tinged with red, and its legs and beak may be orange. The herring gull has a white head, chest, belly and tail. Its back and its wings are light gray contrasting with the black feathers of its wings (the remiges). As for its beak, yellow, it has a small red spot on the lower mandible.
The grey heron, majestic when standing at rest, has long yellow or gray legs, a long neck and a large grayish-yellow dagger-shaped bill. You'll find it near water; the grey heron seeks its food near all kinds of water. Finally, the woodlark, a land bird, inhabits open landscapes and can be distinguished from its cousin, the skylark, by its lack of a crest and white stripe on its tail feathers.
The flora of the Vendée
The Vendée has no less than 150 protected plant species, including the French carnation, the coastal omphalodes, the sea lily, the Illyrian gladiolus and the marsh euphorbia. Several species of orchids such as the bee orchid, the hanging man orchid and the spotted orchid can also be found in the Vendée. The department has a plethora of rare flowers and plants. Among them, the small coastal borage, a discreet plant endemic to the Atlantic coast, which blooms from May to June on the dunes. The guinea fern, a pretty plant that has become rare, was once widespread in the wet meadows of the west of the country. It can still be found in large numbers in the wet marshes of the southern Vendée, where it flowers from March to April, as well as in the Nalliers-Mouzeuil-Saint-Martin reserve. But be careful not to let yourself be seduced by the beautiful one! Its bulb is poisonous. The oyat, which is called "sand reed", under its false airs of chive, is a perennial plant which grows on the dunes, in clump of 60 cm to 1 m height. The immortelle of sands or dunes, is a perennial plant whose stems let spout a yellow flower. Its name comes from the fact that it does not change with time, symbolizing immortality. It is also worth noting that when its leaves are crumpled in summer, its smell is reminiscent of curry.
Nature reserves and parks
Of course, the Vendée has a coastline and beaches that delight tourists and locals, but its charms are not limited to that. The parks and natural reserves are precious places to discover the nature of the Vendée. The Marais Breton offers a singular and authentic landscape, with its 45,000 hectares of wet meadows crossed by canals. Imagine the rare and varied fauna and flora that you can observe!
Lovers of scents and flowers, the rose garden of Vendée in Saint-Révérend is waiting for you! A nature trail leads you to the discovery of more than 10,000 rosebushes, and as many intoxicating perfumes. The Olfacties garden in Coëx and the Court-d'Aron floral park, in Saint-Cyr-en-Talmondais, will complete your themed discovery tour. You can also visit the extraordinary vegetable garden of La Mothe-Achard, a huge garden full of pumpkins, melons, pumpkins and other cucurbits, each one more incredible than the last. As for bird lovers, the nature reserves of Saint-Denis-du-Payré and the Bay of Aiguillon are ideal to satisfy their curiosity. Would you like to discover the Belle-Henriette lagoon, the Lay estuary and the Pointe de l'Aiguillon? A specialized naturalist from the ADEV (association for the defense of the environment in Vendée) will accompany you. Then, going back up to Les Sables, stop at the reserve of the island of Olonne. Once in Les Sables, take a guided boat tour of the Olonne marshes by the salt river. Birdwatchers, the Cité des Oiseaux in Landes-Génusson is a great place to visit.
Classified as a Regional Nature Park in 2014, the Marais Poitevin is recognized as an exceptional heritage of the main wetland area of the Atlantic coast. Three types of landscapes can be distinguished: the dry marshes close to the ocean and their open landscapes that the dikes protect from floods and tides. The wet marshes, areas where the floods of the rivers spread out, with thousands of channels covered in summer with green lentils (hence the name "Green Venice"). And the Bay of Aiguillon, or maritime marsh, one of the main halts of reception and wintering of migratory birds.
