Parc naturel régional de la Brenne
Three thousand ponds, every one dug by hand
A hundred and eighty-three thousand hectares, fifty-one communes, and more than three thousand ponds. One of Europe's great wetlands, and it is entirely man-made.
That is what makes it singular. These ponds have been dug since the Middle Ages for fish farming, and they still produce around eight hundred tonnes of fish a year, mostly carp. A working landscape that became one of the country's richest wildlife sanctuaries.
Listed under the Ramsar Convention in 1991 as a wetland of international importance, the fourth in France.
It is France's foremost stronghold for the European pond turtle, the native freshwater tortoise, found here in the tens of thousands. And the area is home to around three-quarters of France's protected bird species: purple heron, little bittern, whiskered tern.
Twelve hides are open to the public, at Rosnay, Saint-Michel-en-Brenne, Mézières-en-Brenne, Lingé. The Chérine nature reserve, created in 1985, holds several of them.
Two starting points: the Maison du Parc at Le Bouchet, in Rosnay, and the Maison de la Nature at Chérine. Bring binoculars.