The year 2024 was rich in discoveries and projects in the Vallée des Baux for the scientific team at Mas Mireille.
A year marked by significant progress
2024 was an intense and varied year for our teams in the Vallée des Baux and beyond. During the winter, essential work was carried out to manage the natural environment, with almost a hectare cleared of undergrowth to encourage the aristolochia, the host plant of the endangered butterfly southern festoon that we protect. Spring saw the relaunch of our wildlife monitoring programmes, with a number of significant discoveries over the months: the return of the Eurasian bittern, a bird that had not been seen for 30 years, the reappearance of the emerald damselfly in the Ilon marshes, and a record number of breeding pairs of the European roller.
We also diversified our activities with an inventory of marsh spiders (a spider that “walks on water”) and a study of trichoptera (insects), indicators of water quality. In October, the bird migration provided some pleasant surprises, including the sighting of several Yellow-browed warbler, a rare species.
Mobilisation and international partnerships
February was marked by the mobilisation against a very high voltage power line project threatening the Vallée des Baux. Even if the Vallée des Baux now seems to be spared from the project, it is still on the cards and could destroy rare natural environments in the Camargue and the Crau plain, and threaten millions of migratory birds in the area.
Internationally, we have begun working with A Rocha Ghana to protect the Keta lagoon, a crucial site for migratory birds.
A promising future in 2025
The year ahead promises to be an exciting one, with some ambitious projects :
- Restoring the marshes: An exceptional project to restore a former peat bog that has deteriorated over an area of almost 100 hectares in the Baux marshes. This site will help to combat climate change by storing carbon and harbouring a unique biodiversity.
- International studies: We will be continuing our efforts in Ghana with ornithological inventories and habitat mapping..
- Local conservation: The installation of 30 new nesting boxes for European rollers and new biodiversity studies, in particular on spiders and Caddysfly.
Other initiatives have yet to be confirmed, such as studies of passerines in the Alpilles or the Gomphus graslinii, an endangered dragonfly.
We look forward to sharing the progress of these projects with you in 2025. Thank you for your loyal support, which enables us to continue working to preserve our magnificent natural heritage!
To find out more, discover our actions in the Vallée des Baux through a general presentation video (3 minutes), and watch 13 short videos devoted to the different species we protect on the “Vallée des Baux” playlist on the A Rocha France YouTube channel.
You can help us to continue these great actions: