Réserve naturelle régionale de la ferme de Choisy: Mapping Protected Wetland Landscapes in the Pays de la Loire

The reserve is best known for its sub-brackish wet meadows that mimic the ecological character of salt marshes, sustained by traditional mowing and cattle grazing rather than salinity. These pastoral wetlands form a key habitat for waterbirds, functioning simultaneously as a wintering site, a migratory stopover, and a breeding area within the Marais poitevin. Its birdlife diversity is a defining feature: the reserve hosts more than 140 recorded bird species, including greylag goose, wigeon, teal, golden plover, black-tailed godwit, black tern, common redshank, and black-winged stilt. Botanically, the wet meadows also shelter rare plants such as the ophioglossus-leaved buttercup, starfruit, and Iris spuria, reinforcing the reserve's reputation as a compact but ecologically rich wetland refuge.

The land on which the reserve sits has a long history shaped by human engagement with the coastal marshes. The site once belonged to the historic Chaussées domain, an area of land reclaimed from the sea around the 12th century. In 1850, this domain was divided into three separate farming operations, fragmenting the landscape into smaller agricultural holdings that today form the broader matrix around the reserve.

The reserve itself began as a hunting reserve under the ownership of the Fédération départementale des chasseurs de Vendée. Its formal protection history began on 6 May 1991, when it was designated as a réserve naturelle volontaire, an early French designation for privately or locally driven conservation sites. Following changes in French nature protection law, the site was reclassified by decision of the Regional Council on 19 November 2012 as a full réserve naturelle régionale, a status conferring stronger and more durable legal protection. The classification was granted for an initial period of six years, subject to renewal, marking a new chapter in the long history of human management of these reclaimed marshes.

The reserve occupies a flat expanse of reclaimed coastal plain within the Marais poitevin, a vast wetland region shaped over centuries by drainage channels, embankments, and agricultural use. At about 80 hectares, the site is a relatively small but well-defined portion of this larger marshland matrix. The terrain is low-lying and open, dominated by wet meadows traversed by a network of ditches and small water channels that recall the engineered hydrology of the surrounding marshlands.

Although technically inland, the meadows carry a sub-brackish character that visually and ecologically resembles coastal salt marsh habitat. This affinity is not incidental: the broader Marais poitevin was once connected to marine influence, and the soils here retain traces of salinity and hydrological patterns typical of transitional coastal wetlands. The result is a damp, treeless pastoral landscape framed by embankments and watercourses, an understated but visually distinctive environment within the Atlantic coastal marshlands of western France.

Ecologically, the reserve belongs to the family of sub-brackish wet meadows that fringe the Atlantic coast of France. The habitat is maintained in an open state by traditional agricultural practices, particularly mowing and cattle grazing, which mimic the disturbance regimes that shaped similar coastal grasslands elsewhere. Without this management, the meadows would rapidly succeed toward scrub or woodland, losing their value for ground-nesting birds and specialised wetland flora.

The vegetation is botanically diverse for such a small area, with 137 species of flowering plants recorded. Among these are several species of conservation interest, including the ophioglossus-leaved buttercup, starfruit, Iris spuria, small-flowered bittercress, hornwort, and Micheli's clover. These plants are closely associated with seasonal flooding, nutrient-rich wet soils, and the open structure maintained by grazing, making the reserve a useful reference site for understanding sub-brackish grassland ecology in the Marais poitevin.

The reserve is primarily recognised for its birdlife, with 142 bird species recorded using the site. The wet meadows function simultaneously as a wintering area, a migratory stopover, and a breeding habitat, allowing the reserve to play multiple roles across the annual cycle. In winter, the site hosts flocks of greylag goose, Eurasian wigeon, and common teal, while migratory passages bring golden plover, black-tailed godwit, black tern, common redshank, and black-winged stilt through its meadows and channels.

Beyond birds, the reserve supports a notable amphibian community, including agile frog, European tree frog, and natterjack toad, reflecting the network of ditches and seasonal pools that intersect the meadows. The European otter is also recorded as a visitor to the site, using the watercourses that connect the reserve to the wider marshland hydrology. Together, these groups illustrate how the reserve's combination of open wet habitat and connected water network supports a broad slice of wetland fauna.

The reserve's conservation significance lies in its preservation of a working pastoral wetland in a region where such landscapes are under sustained pressure from drainage, agricultural intensification, and land-use change. By anchoring traditional mowing and grazing as ongoing management practices, the reserve maintains a living example of sub-brackish meadow habitat rather than a static, abandoned site, a model increasingly valued in European wetland conservation.

Within the Marais poitevin, the reserve contributes to a wider conservation network alongside the nearby national nature reserve of Saint-Denis-du-Payré. Its regional designation, classified by the Conseil régional in 2012, provides a renewable legal protection framework that locks in habitat continuity for six-year periods. The involvement of the local hunters' federation as manager also reflects a feature of French conservation practice, in which local land users play a central role in sustaining protected wetlands across generations.

The reserve sits within a landscape whose human history stretches back nearly a millennium. The site was once part of the Chaussées domain, reclaimed from the sea during the Middle Ages, a deliberate project of polder creation that transformed coastal estuarine land into productive farmland. The 1850 division of this domain into three separate farms established the pattern of small, family-scale pastoral holdings that continues to influence land use here.

The ongoing practice of cattle grazing and haymaking on the reserve's meadows is therefore not merely an ecological tool but a continuation of centuries-old land stewardship. This rural cultural heritage, embedded in the marshland identity of the Vendée and the wider Marais poitevin, gives the reserve a dual significance, ecological and cultural, as a fragment of reclaimed marshland kept alive through traditional use.

A compact regional nature reserve of about 80 hectares centred on sub-brackish wet meadows within the Marais poitevin, maintained by mowing and cattle grazing. Hosts more than 140 bird species across wintering, migratory, and breeding seasons, alongside a botanical inventory of 137 flowering plants. Located in Saint-Michel-en-l'Herm, Vendée, and closely associated with the neighbouring national nature reserve of Saint-Denis-du-Payré in a network of protected marshlands on France's Atlantic coast.

The reserve changes character with the seasons, reflecting its strong ornithological role. In winter, the wet meadows fill with flocks of geese, ducks, and waders seeking refuge in the mild Atlantic coastal climate, making the site a particularly rewarding season for waterbird observation. Spring brings migratory passage and the return of breeding species, while the open meadows and ditches become active with amphibians and the visible flowering of wetland plants. Summer and autumn, marked by traditional haymaking and cattle grazing, sustain the open habitat structure that defines the reserve year-round.