A small regional nature reserve protecting wet bocage habitat within the Lake Grand-Lieu watershed.
Réserve naturelle régionale du bocage humide des Cailleries
The Réserve naturelle régionale du bocage humide des Cailleries is a small protected area situated in the Pays de la Loire region of western France, within the Loire-Atlantique department. Established in November 2012, the reserve covers roughly 18 hectares of traditional wet bocage landscape on the commune of Saint-Colomban, near the border with the Vendée department. Its territory lies within the broader watershed of Lake Grand-Lieu, one of the most important wetland complexes in France, and preserves a mosaic of hedgerows, meadows, ponds, ponds, and woodland typical of the historic Atlantic rural countryside.
Ecologically, the reserve is notable for its concentration of humid habitat features in a compact area, including approximately 3.7 kilometers of hedgerows and about ten small ponds, alongside an étang, wet meadows, and pedunculate oak woodlands. The combination of woodland, open water, and pastoral elements sustains a rich community of flora and fauna, with 147 recorded plant species and more than 200 animal species, including 46 considered remarkable. The site's management by Lafarge Granulats Ouest reflects the unusual role of an industrial operator in conserving a regional natural heritage site.
Although modest in size, the Cailleries reserve serves as a representative and protected fragment of the disappearing wet bocage landscape of the Loire-Atlantique lowlands. It functions both as a biodiversity refuge, particularly for amphibians, dragonflies, and wet-meadow plants, and as an accessible educational site connected to the wider Lake Grand-Lieu ecosystem, offering free public visitation along a walking trail throughout the year.
