La Bruyère, the sensitive area!

6 points of interest

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  Flora

  ENS de La Bruyère

  The hill of La Bruyère received the departmental label sensitive natural area (SNA) in 2005. In this context, several plots were purchased by the Luberon Regional Park and the Conservatory of natural areas in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in a natural heritage preservation objective. These courses are open to the public only on marked trails and within siliceous preservation of this unique island.

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  Panorama

  This path is of gold, ochre and vermilion ...

  This route, This route, away from the Calavon, flowing between the massifs of the Monts-de-Vaucluse to the north and Luberon to the south, enters the wooded hill of La Bruyère rising above this agricultural valley dominated by vineyards. It includes ochreous soils and cliffs quite colourful, hidden in part by a woodland takeover. This vegetation is used to sandy soils which are a minority in this limestone Provence.

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  Flora

  La Bruyère hill

  Like a siliceous island in the middle of a limestone ocean, the hill of La Bruyère (listed and labelled as an environmentally sensitive area) contains a flock of siliceous (silica-loving), acid-loving (likes acid soils) and psammophile (preferring sand) plants. You can come across many species of amphibians (like the Western Spadefoot), birds (such as the European Bee-eater) and bats (like the Greater or the Lesser Horseshoe Bat, the Common Bent-wing Bat).

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  Fauna

  Trou des Américains pond

  This wetland is rooted in the ochre activity of the site and served to store the water used for washing the ochre. This is one of the best preserved ponds of the Luberon Regional Nature Park which is a part of the known breeding sites of Western Spadefoot (or Spanish Spadefoot Toad). This rare and vulnerable species in France is considered near threatened globally. With "spades" in its hind feet, it hides in the sand until it rains!

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  Flora

  An original flora

  Associated with a Mediterranean climate, the distinctive geology of the hill of La Bruyère, consisting of ochre and sandstone of the Cretaceous, enables a very specific and diverse flora to thrive. The vegetation here is composed of a Holm oak associated with a Scots pine and typical species of Heath,: Common heather, Laurel-leaved rock rose, Broom heather. These species are very different from those in neighbouring massifs.

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  Fauna

  Forests as guides...

  The maintenance and development of woodlands and deciduous hedges is very important for bats. These areas serve as their hunting grounds and above all, as reference points. Some species are able to make a 5km detour to reach two places a kilometre apart only because they prefer to follow a straight line of hedges rather than to cross an open space.