Nature at Courmettes: a 2021 retrospective
The temperature has dropped, the chestnut leaves turned brown and have fallen, a few flakes of snow have appeared… this means it’s time to take stock!
2021 was an exciting year! We have been able to launch new projects thanks to the many people who have helped us at one time or another during the year. Thanks to Alice, Christophe, Gabriel, Jane, Mike, Anna, Eva, Marylou, Solenn, Peter-Jan and Clément!
And it was also a year of butterflies, a daily marvel at all those twirling colours!
On the heights of Courmettes during a butterfly outing. (Photo: Daniel Maurer)
On the conservation side, projects are beginning to flourish with several new protocols being put in place this year. We have continued and completed the study of the ponds (mentioned here) including the monitoring of amphibians and dragonflies, as well as the butterfly study. The monitoring of reptiles could have been restarted, but the results were not satisfactory, so we decided to abandon it and replace it with another protocol in 2022.
Net and identification guide – the naturalist’s essential tools! (Photo: Augustin Gabriel)
We have also started specific protocols on species at risk:
- the Ocellated Lizard (Timon lepidus): to find out the size of the population, its distribution on the site and to follow its evolution on the site
- Orsini’s Viper (Vipera ursinii): to find out if the species is present
- the Hermit (Chazara briseis, a butterfly): we’ll tell you about it next month!
The analysis of the data and the drafting of reports has begun and the beginning of 2022 will allow us to finalise this.
In terms of welcoming the public and nature education, we have also been able to offer great benefits, thanks in particular to the help of our young interns and civic service participants. An educational project based on participatory science (to find out more and do the same in your garden: click here!) is gradually being developed with the implementation of two programmes in the centre and small events for walkers.
Always with the idea of transmitting and sharing our wonder at God’s creation, we have developed new themes for nature outings and continued with public and private outings (we ran 23 of the latter). In total, more than 55 nature activities were carried out with our visitors over the year; a great result and a lot of great shared experiences!
Another good bit of news: Coline was awarded the “Qualinat guide” label in December 2021! This label, which guarantees the quality of the outings offered by certified nature guides, gives a real and well-deserved added value to the activities offered by Coline.
We’ll tell you about 2022’s projects… in the next newsletter!