The kingdom of seabirds
With its cliffs, vast foreshores and numerous wild islets, the Breton peninsula, located at the crossroads of major migration corridors, is a land of choice for many birds, who come here to nest, spend the winter or stop over.
Brittany is a maternity ground for 17 species of seabirds. Europe's largest seabird, recognizable by its white plumage, yellowish head, piercing blue eyes and spectacular dive, the Northern Gannet nests on Rouzic, in the Sept-Îles, a colony unique in France. More than 30,000 individuals gather on this islet from January to October, forming a white patch visible from the coast! The archipelago is also home to France's only colony of Atlantic puffins: between 150 and 180 pairs come to hatch their chicks in their burrows, from March to July. These birds with their pretty multicolored beaks have been the victims of cruel hunting. The fight to save them led to the creation of the French League for the Protection of Birds in 1912. The LPO now manages the Sept-Îles nature reserve, the largest in France for seabirds, and offers boat tours to observe them. The archipelago is also home to endangered razorbills and common guillemots, English shearwaters, storm-petrels, black-legged kittiwakes, northern fulmars and more. Species found on the cliffs of Cap Sizun and Cap Fréhel. Other favourite spots for seabirds are the islands of Ouessant and Molène, and the Bay of Morlaix.
The region is also home to great cormorants, crested cormorants and terns. Not forgetting, of course, gulls. Sea, brown or herring gulls are omnipresent, even far inland. They can be distinguished from gulls by their larger size and their yellow beak flanked by a red dot.
The vast foreshore is a larder for many birds, who forage in the mud at low tide for worms and shellfish. Particularly in winter, when thousands of migrants flee the polar cold to find refuge in Brittany, in the bays of Mont-Saint-Michel, Saint-Brieuc and Quiberon, in the Trieux and Jaudy estuaries, in the Gulf of Morbihan or in the little sea of Gâvres. They include anatidae (geese and various ducks) and limicolae, small wading birds: curlews, oystercatchers, sandpipers...
Mudflats and marshes, such as those at Séné, are also home to grey herons, little egrets, avocets and white spoonbills... Inland, certain ponds, such as Careil in Ille-et-Vilaine, are important bird sanctuaries. Moors and peat bogs, such as those at Cragou in Finistère, are home to harriers and curlews. In the bocage and woods, the shy sparrowhawk and spotted woodpecker will reveal themselves to the most patient eyes.
A rich marine life
Brittany's seas are home to a large number of species, well known to fishermen and gourmets alike: fish (sardines, mackerel, cod, hake, conger eel, sole, sea bass...), crustaceans (spiders, edible crabs, langoustines, lobsters, spiny lobsters...) and shellfish (abalone, scallops...).
Numerous marine mammals also frequent Brittany's shores. Several hundred bottlenose dolphins make their home in the Normandy-Brittany Gulf, and it's not uncommon to see them in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel or Saint-Malo. Other groups of bottlenose dolphins have taken up residence in the Iroise Sea, around the islands of Molène and Sein. Common and Risso's dolphins and porpoises can also be seen... The grey seal, for its part, prefers the rocky environments of the Sept-Îles and Molène. It is also present, albeit to a lesser extent, in the Bay of Morlaix. Its cousin, the marine calf, lives in the Mont-Saint-Michel, Arguenon and Rance bays. Unfortunately, more and more marine mammals are washing up on Brittany's coasts, victims of storms, pollution or accidental capture.
Harmless but impressive sharks can be found offshore: in spring, the basking shark, the second largest fish in the world, can be seen not far from the Morbihan coast, in the Iroise Sea or near the Glénan. The porbeagle shark, a small cousin of the great white shark, has made a comeback in northern Brittany, off the coast of Trégorroise.
The foreshores are home to a wide variety of small fauna, more or less buried under the mud at low tide: cockles, clams, razor clams, scrobiculars... The presence of arenicolous worms can be spotted by the small twists of sand they spit out at the surface. Crabs, hermit crabs and shrimps can also be seen... The rocky sections are home to limpets, barnacles, anemones, curlers and pink shrimp.
The bestiary of the countryside
Foxes, wild boars, hedgehogs, wild rabbits, field mice, roe deer... It's impossible to list all the wild animals that live inland. Among the remarkable species, the ermine, a regional symbol, has declined along with the bocage. The European otter, on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, has slowly made a comeback in the rivers of Brittany, now its stronghold in France. Exterminated in the early 20th century, the wolf has also reappeared, first reported in May 2022 in the Monts d'Arrée. Since then, it has been seen on several occasions, here and there, mainly in the same area.
The rivers are also home to trout, pike and carp... Several coastal rivers to the west, such as the Léguer and Scorff, even spawn salmon. Among the most common reptiles and amphibians are the spotted salamander, common toad, green frog, orvet, green lizard and wall lizard. Brittany is home to six species of snake, including the garter snake and adder. Some 80 species of butterfly have been recorded: the vulcan, the peacock and the machaon are among the most widespread. The Quimper snail can be found in the undergrowth of Basse-Bretagne: this large endemic gastropod can be recognized by its translucent shell.
A land of livestock farming, Brittany boasts a large number of domestic animals. Despite their omnipresence, pigs and poultry are rarely seen, often confined to buildings. Poorly adapted to intensive agriculture, many local breeds have disappeared, but others have been preserved thanks to the determination of a few enthusiasts. Four cow breeds have survived: Froment du Léon and Pie-Noir, appreciated for their rich milk, Nantaise and Armoricaine. Very common until the middle of the 20th century, the Blanc de l'Ouest pig, recognizable by its large ears that fall over its eyes, also almost disappeared. So did the Coucou de Rennes hen, with its pretty zebra plumage, and the Ouessant sheep, the smallest sheep in the world, with its often black coat and spiral horns. The Breton black bee found refuge on Ushant in the 1970s. Thanks to queens bred on the island and then sent to the mainland, this wind-tolerant bee is gradually re-establishing itself in the region.
Horses have always played an important role in Brittany. But the Breton bidet, a small, sturdy and versatile horse appreciated by farmers, did not stand up to the national policy of standardization. It disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, supplanted by the heavier, more powerful Breton draught horse and letter carrier, its heirs. Today, the Breton is one of the most widespread draft horses in the country.
An extraordinary wealth of plants
The variety of natural environments and the climate, halfway between north and south, ensure a great diversity of flora: more than 2,500 species have been recorded.
The northern coasts are among the richest places in the world for seaweed: kelp, bladderwrack, sea lettuce... The seabed close to the coast is also home to eelgrass meadows, plants that are resistant to salt water.
Dunes are inseparable from oyats, the tall, stiff grasses that help stabilize them. They are also home to the maritime blue thistle and the bee orchid. Sea cabbage grows in the sand and pebble beds. The Glénan narcissus, a delicate white flower, is an endemic plant of the archipelago, preserved in a mini-reserve. In the salt meadows, salicornia, obiones and other varieties adapted to salty environments grow.
At the foot of the rocks, just above the sea, black, yellow or greenish lichens reign. The rocky escarpments are home to sea fennel, with its yellow flowers in summer, and sea carnation, with its pink tufts in spring. One of Brittany's most typical landscapes, the heaths on the cliff tops are made up of mauve heather and golden gorse. Those of Cap Sizun, Cap d'Erquy and Cap de Fréhel are among the most remarkable. Rudimentary and shaped by the wind on the coast, heathlands also persist inland, even if their surface area has shrunk. The peaty heaths of the Monts d'Arrée and Montagnes noires are home to drosera, a reddish plant that feeds on small insects, and sphagnum mosses, which store large quantities of water and whose debris makes up peat.
In the 19th century, some exotic plants, brought back from the four corners of the globe by sailors and planted to embellish the coastline, which had become a tourist destination, flourished in Brittany's mild climate, to the point of becoming familiar: maritime pines, mimosas, agapanthus and hydrangeas... Brehat, with its particularly mild microclimate, is a shining example of this.
Oak reigns supreme in the woods, which are also populated by beech, chestnut and various coniferous trees. Yew, the only indigenous conifer, grows in the undergrowth. But the most remarkable specimens can be admired in parks and cemeteries, where some are several centuries old.
