Dry grasslands and wet meadows
The association Nature en Occitanie has identified four areas of major interest: the east of Montauban (from Albias to Verlhac-Tescou) and the Tescou and Tescounet valleys; the Vère valley (between Castelnau-de-Montmiral and Taïx); the Lauragais hillsides (from Caraman to Puylaurens, passing through Le Faget and Cuq-Toulza); and the hillsides of the Sud-Albigeois (from Aussac to Denat).
On the hillsides
, lavender, Aphyllante de Montpellier and numerous wild orchids (including the yellow Ophrys) nicely color the dry grasslands. Difficult to cultivate, these sloping grounds were formerly used as pasture, in particular for the sheep. The short vegetation is mainly made up of herbaceous perennials, with very few trees or shrubs. Nowadays, these spaces have become so restricted that grazing is very occasional, which leads to a natural evolution of the vegetation and a return to the moor (whose typical plants are heather, gorse or juniper) or the forest (pubescent oak grove) to the detriment of these dry grasslands richer in biodiversity. Among the animal species, many raptors and passerines nest or hunt in these areas.The wet meadows
are most often located near a watercourse or are fed by a nearby water table. These plots, which are flooded for a small part of the year, play a significant role in improving water quality: they filter out diffuse pollution or capture fine sediments during floods. They act as a sponge, thus reducing the risk of flooding. Moreover, the hedges that border them - as well as the isolated trees - limit soil erosion. Not drained, they are unsuitable for cultivation, which has allowed them to be maintained until today. Maintained by mowing and/or grazing, they are home to so-called "prairie" plant species such as the guinea fern, which adapts rather well to being trampled by cattle, which favors the multiplication of its bulbs, the common ophioglossa, the loose-flowered orchid or the autumn colchicum. There are more than 550 plant species including 44 of heritage interest, 81 species of butterflies including 7 of heritage interest, 25 species of dragonflies including 4 of heritage interest, 38 species of crickets and grasshoppers, 5 species of reptiles, and lizards including the Steps striated, a lizard with snake-like appearance.Up on the mountain!
A universe both enchanting and harsh, the Alpine region is a world apart, a kind of boreal continent between Spain and France, which hosts a specific fauna and flora. During the ice age, the current North European fauna arrived at the foot of the Pyrenees and, at the time of the deglaciation, had to choose between two options: to find the cold at high altitudes or to leave for the north. This explains the presence of similar species in Scotland or Scandinavia. The common beech is the most characteristic tree of the montane forests, a giant that can reach up to 40 meters high. Generally accompanied by the pectin fir, and occasionally by the common spruce, it is quickly replaced by the birch and the mountain ash when climbing in altitude
The middle and high mountains are located above 1500 m. These subalpine and alpine levels are subject to very harsh climatic conditions: snow-covered for about 7 months out of 12, the life span of the organisms is extremely short, limited to the summer months. On the other hand, the rate of endemism is remarkably high. Many plants and animals are found nowhere else but here. This is the case of the three species of Pyrenean lizards (the only strictly mountainous reptiles in Europe). In addition, this massif, which has remained very wild, is home to a fauna that has often disappeared: brown bear, bearded vulture... On the flora side, orophilous species - resistant to extreme temperatures, powerful winds, and a crucial lack of water and nutrients - thrive on the rocks and scree of the high mountains. The cushion-like shape of the Pyrenean Androsaces provides them with a humus that retains heat and moisture. Among the orpins, houseleeks and other saxifrages (called stoneworts), their fleshy leaves often grouped in rosettes are an adaptation to drought. On the tree side, the very small willows adopt a prostrate habit and lean against the rocks to take advantage of their heat. To counter the very short vegetation period, the glacier buttercup will form its flower bud a year in advance while other species adopt very bright colors to attract the few pollinating insects that live at these altitudes.
Further down, the mountain grasslands are covered with a floral carpet: Pyrenean aster, dioecious cat's-foot recognizable by its cottony stems, mountain arnica, Alpine clover, Pyrenean iris - by the thousands in the Pyrenean National Park (Gavarnie and Barèges - Tourmalet).
Thickets and hedgerows
In these low-lying areas, criss-crossed by the Garonne arc and its tributaries, wildlife is concentrated in a few large forests (Bouconne, Buzet, Giroussens...), in the few uncultivated open areas that remain here and there... and, of course, in the lush riparian forests of the rivers: marbled newt, Rome hyacinth, night heron, European nightjar - which nests on the ground in a small hollow. The numerous thickets are dense and tangled. Consisting of shrubs of varying sizes (black and bunch elder, willow, aspen: from 0.5 to 7 meters high), they are difficult to penetrate and are often reduced to "bushes" or "scrub". In linear form, they constitute bucolic country hedges. Almost everywhere in the plain, we will find : blackthorn, hawthorn, dogwood, privet, roses, brambles... or lianas such as clematis, bryony or tamarisk. On the more acid grounds, the shrubby mantle is dominated by Fabaceae mixed with broom, gorse often accompanied by eagle fern. In cooler and wetter environment, borage and heather with brooms complete this herbarium.
Between mother rocks..
On sedimentary limestone bedrock, rainwater infiltrates quickly into the depths, so the soil tends to be dry. On the numerous small causses of the Tarn, traditionally dedicated to sheep grazing and to a few crops (vine, truffle...), the arid lands take on a steppe or Mediterranean aspect, where pubescent oak and holm oak are the kings. One can meet important populations of ocellated lizard, of oedicnème criard (a small bird high on legs with funny wide eyes!), and very diversified orchids. Curious insects can also be observed there: particularly the serrated magician, a mysterious giant grasshopper with the appearance of a phasma, probably the largest insect in France with a body length of 9 to 11 cm without wings!
On non-sedimentary and low-permeability parent rock - granite or gneiss for example - water stays longer on the surface. The Monts de Lacaune and the Montagne Noire (Tarn) are cool, rainy and green lands, largely dedicated to cattle breeding. As they approach the Massif Central, they are home to various northern species at the southern limit of their distribution, rare or absent further south: Siberian liger, Peliadian viper, Grey shrike...
Protected areas
The Midi-Toulousain region currently includes: 1 National Park, 2 Regional Natural Parks plus 1 in the process of being created and 7 Natural Reserves.
The Pyrenees National Park,
created in 1967, protects 50 000 hectares. The headquarters is in Tarbes. It shelters 4,000 animal species including 250 vertebrates: 1,000 species of beetles, 300 species of butterflies, 200 species of birds including many endangered birds of prey such as bearded vultures, Egyptian vultures or golden eagles (32 couples). Among the animals that are symbols of this park: the isard, hunted in the 50s, had almost disappeared (today, 4000 individuals); the marmot, disappeared since the last ice age and reintroduced from the Alps in 1948; the brown bear (these males evolve in the valleys of Aspe and Ossau). There are also lynx, genets and the Iberian ibex, a subspecies similar to the Pyrenean ibex (officially extinct in 2000). In 2020, 250 ibexes were counted.The regional natural park of the Ariegean Pyrenees
, created in 2009, occupies about 40% of the area of the department of Ariege, or 2,468 km2 limited by the borders of Spain and Andorra. Located at the confluence of oceanic, Mediterranean and mountain climatic influences, it results in very localized microclimates that depend more or less on these influences, depending on altitude, exposure or location. Water is very present: several rivers (Salat, Lez, Vicdessos...), 69 lakes and ponds of altitude, 33 peat bogs and 133 ponds. It is also inventoried as a natural zone of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest - ZNIEFF, because of its remarkable character for 85% of its territory.The Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park covers 306,000 hectares. Created in 1973, it is an inhabited rural territory whose "gateway cities" are Castres, Revel, Saint-Chinian and Lodève. It shelters an important fauna (250 species of birds, 26 species of bats out of 33 in France) and endemic flora (about 2500 species), rare and protected at the national and even European level. Some of them are particularly emblematic of the Haut-Languedoc: the red-headed shrike, the pearl mussel, Bonelli's eagle, the little owl, the fario trout, the white-legged crayfish, the European otter, the common genet, the Capaccini's murine... Originality of the park, the presence of a population of a thousand mouflons (in the national reserve of hunting and wild fauna of Caroux-Espinouse) originally imported from Corsica and reintroduced in 1956! And 3000 species of mushrooms...
Nature reserves
The Confluence Garonne-Ariège Regional Nature Reserve
, located south of the Toulouse urban area, covers nearly 600 hectares over a stretch of about 15 kilometers, from Venerque on the Ariège and Pinsaguel on the Garonne, to the Cavaletade road in Toulouse. There you can find: French silene, shad and eel for fish; Girondine coronella and European cistude for reptiles; otter and eared murine for mammals; great-owl and European bee-eater for birds.The regional nature reserve of Cambounet sur le Sor
is located in the alluvial plain of the Sor and Agout rivers, west of Castres. This wetland is composed of several basins of former gravel pits colonized by rushes, typhaies, willows, poplar groves and other meadows. It is an ideal place for birds. Migratory (storks, ospreys, terns, sandpipers...), they stop there for a break. Wintering birds (mallards, teal, snipes...), they nest there waiting for the return of the good weather. To note, the important colony of herons which elected residence there. The nature reserve is closed to the general public but has four accessible observatories.On the northern slope of the Tabe massif, between 1280 m and 2368 m, the nature reserve of the Saint-Barthélemy massif
comprises mostly open environments serving as a summer pasture area above the limits of beech and fir. There are 32 different habitats: wet and peaty environments, moors and mountain grasslands. The flora is very present with about fifty species among which the round-leaved drosera, the androsace of Vandelli (protected nationally) and the sheathed linaigrette. Among the 64 species of birds: the grey partridge of the Pyrenees, the rock ptarmigan known as the "snow partridge" (changing plumage with the seasons). For the invertebrates, we can mention a few "hurluberlus" like the agrion hasté, the leste dryade, the leucorrhine douteuse, the grand apollon or the moiré pyrénéen.Located in the Hautes-Pyrénées, in the valley of Louron, the regional natural reserve of the Massif du Montious
is constituted of 739 hectares of old forests, moors and wetlands of altitude. The site is situated between 1,590 and 2,171 m of altitude. We are on the land of the Capercaillie - also known as the Rooster - of the Tengmalm's owl, of the bearded vulture (a scavenger recognizable by its 3 meters wingspan, its carmine eyes, its black goatee), of the Pyrenean desman (an insectivore with a trunk, webbed feet, and the body of a mole)! Not to mention the 312 species of flora inventoried.In Néouvielle
, it is the glaciers of the quaternary period that have shaped the current landscape. The ice sculpted the granite into flat-bottomed cirques separated by ridges in "chenille", dug lakes and deposited moraines. The reserve benefits from a warmer and drier microclimate, which has caused the limits of life to rise. This reserve was created in 1936. The typical tree is the hooked pine which reaches its highest altitude here (2600 m), the massif is also covered with rhododendrons, refuges of a multitude of passerines: redstart, venturon, pipit and crossbill (endowed with crossed mandibles allowing him to extract the seeds of the cones of pine by spreading the scales). What can we say about the toad that lives up to 2400 m where it remains a tadpole for nearly 10 years! Among the 1,250 vascular plants (with vessels to circulate water!), about twenty of them are very rare, including some species testifying to past ice ages. As for the aquatic environments, they have made the reserve famous for its 571 species of algae and 2/3 of the French species of sphagnum moss (a kind of moss typical of peat bogs).At the foot of the Arbizon and very close to Néouvielle, is the regional natural reserve of Aulon
. A 1237 ha area spread out between 1350 m - at the confluence of the torrents of Lavedan and Rabat - and 2738 m at the Pic d'Aulon. There are torrents, wetlands (the gourgues) often dried up in summer as well as the lake of Portarras. Privileged domain of the otter, the ptarmigan, the rock robin and the large ungulates. A beautiful collection of Alpine lycopods, Pyrenean androsace, ash geranium, perfumed poppy, glaucous bluegrass, etc. welcomes about forty breeders and their herds (about 400 cattle and 3500 sheep) each summer.The Massif du Pibeste-Aoulhet
has steep cliffs and vast forests where a large number of prestigious and rare species live in addition to an exceptional diversity of vegetation: 850 plant species have been recorded. The southern slope has a Mediterranean feel with its broom, heather and gorse moors and its scrubland covered with thyme and pubescent oak woods... On the northern side, the atmosphere is rather oceanic. There are 27 species of mammals including the isard and the mouflons of Corsica; 5 species of bats); 112 species of birds including 90 protected at the national level among which the raptors (22 species of which 18 are nesting and 7 threatened with extinction): Percnopterus of Egypt nicknamed "Marie Blanque"; Griffon vulture recognizable by its very characteristic flight: wide circles above the peaks, taking advantage of the ascending currents to rise and plunge abruptly); circaetus Jean Le Blanc or royal kite.
