Emblematic animal species
You will cross it at least once and be surprised by its woolly coat and its size, the baudet du Poitou, a breed of donkey introduced in the 10th century. Bred in the past for mulassière hybridization, the species almost disappeared after 1945: in 1977, there were only 44 individuals left! Saved in extremis by the National Stud and the experimental asinery of Dampierre-sur-Boutonne (17), the stallion was reconverted into a pack animal and a carriage animal, even a saddle animal. This bird used to frequent the great cereal plains of the West before intensive agriculture deteriorated its environment: the little bustard, although extremely difficult to observe, can be recognized by its long black and white neck. The fierce corncrake, a ground-nesting migrant, was endangered by early mowing; in Poitou, it has found refuge in the bocage, a true biological corridor. One can only admire their head carriage and their phlegmatic flight (from a distance, because their hearing is very sensitive): six species of herons share the skies and banks of the Marais Poitevin, including the purple heron, a particularly bold crepuscular hunter. Its stocky silhouette, its orange beak and crest distinguish it from its peers: the cattle heron, a bird of the pastures, thrives with the livestock whose parasites it loves to glean. A procession of other emblematic creatures welcomes you to the Marais Poitevin, starting with the European eel, unfortunately considered to be at risk of extinction. The fish reproduces in the Sargasso Sea, off the West Indies, to migrate to the continent: the elvers, its fry - insanely expensive and subject to poaching, then strive to go up the rivers. The PNR du Marais Poitevin, a pioneer in the field of elver passes, contributes largely to the safeguarding of the species as well as to one of its great predators: the European otter, which counts here about a hundred very discreet specimens - to observe this small mammal will be a miracle. A consolation prize will perhaps await you: its pinkish epreuves with the smell of honey and shellfish... This xylophagous beetle appreciates humid environments, the tenderness of beech and ash woods that are dying: the alpine rosalia, which is also the object of a close protection. It is impossible to mistake its long spotted antennae and its unusual ashen blue dress. Finally, you should know that some Poitiers' rivers that have been slightly polluted have kept their faunal integrity. This is the case of the Salleron, where colonies of European pond terrapins - endemic black turtle spotted with yellow and with an olive green carapace - flourish. The same goes for the Boutonne, where you can see the lamprey, the white-clawed crayfish, the sculpin, the newt and the spotted salamander, above which hover the marsh copper, the butterfly with orange wings spotted with black, and the reed harrier.
A remarkable flora
Poitou will delight orchidophiles, who will delight in observing the widespread loose-flowered orchis, with its pretty violet-fuchsia color and strongly folded labellum, as well as its cousin the much rarer marsh orchis. And that's not all! About forty species of orchids can be found in the Vienne region, appearing randomly in a public garden, or in their natural environment, the dry grassland (in the Vallée des Buis, in Buxerolles, near Poitiers, or in Pamproux, in the Deux-Sèvres): goat orchis (with a pestilential odor, a pollinator magnet), bee orchid, elongated labellum serapia, dark red epipactis and yellow ophrys evolve next to a flora of Mediterranean affinity, such as Montpellier's astragalus (pink) and thatch sabline (white). Not so forested but generously watered, the two departments have beautiful alluvial valleys richly wooded. Mostly deciduous ecosystems where you will find oak (pedunculate, sessile, pubescent, green, tauzin), chestnut, white poplar, black alder, common hornbeam. These humid soils are home to several types of ferns, including the very common eagle fern (the largest of its kind, measuring up to 2 meters) and royal fern, field horsetail, a living fossil some 250 million years old, and officinal lycopod (two medicinal species), or the much rarer thorny isosceles, which is protected on a national scale. These fairly common shrubs play a fundamental ecological role: juniper, laurel, common honeysuckle, holly, hawthorn, and black elder maintain the temperature and soil humidity necessary for the survival of other species. A true monument since the 10th century, its medicinal virtues praised by the archangel Raphael, the angelica officinalis, when you come across it in the wild, surprises by its size (up to 2.5 meters high), the width of its pale green umbels (if they are white, it is the angelica sylvestris, less aromatic). The elegant meadowsweet also colonizes wet banks and peat bogs, recognizable by its very fragrant yellowish-white flowers. A natural aromatizer, it has powerful anti-inflammatory, analgesic, sudorific and diuretic properties. As you hike in March and prepare to cross a wet meadow, look for the graceful (and poisonous) guinea fern, once widespread and eagerly awaited each year by hikers and botanists in the Deux-Sévres. Finally, mushroom pickers will find plenty to do here: in spring, Poitou boasts excellent morel spots, while in autumn you can pick up coulemelle, amanite des césars, cepe, trompette-des-morts and other chanterelles. If there is no question of revealing the location of the best spots, we will not leave you without a few clues: go to the foot of chestnut trees and oaks in Gâtine, around Secondigny (79); in the north of the Vienne around Châtellerault and Bonneuil-Matours.
