Cabanes des Grands Lacs biodiversity booklet: nature, fauna and flora

🌿 Our biodiversity booklet: an immersion in the heart of the nature of the Great Lakes

Staying at the Cabanes des Grands Lacs means taking a break in the countryside, between lakes, forests and silence...

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To enrich this experience, a biodiversity booklet was designed by an ecologist as a discovery companion: it invites you to slow down, observe and understand what is around you. Through its pages, this guide tells the history of the site, reveals the secrets of its fauna and flora, and shares our commitment to preserve this living environment.

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🌊 A story shaped by water and time

Before becoming this peaceful landscape of lakes and cabins, the Great Lakes site was much different.

The booklet takes you go back in time, in the heart of the Ognon Valley, formerly occupied by meadows, crops and forests.

For centuries, the river has shaped the soil, nourished the land and allowed the movement of people. There are even traces of human occupation dating back to Antiquity, such as ceramic fragments or Merovingian remains.

Then, over the course of transformations, especially with the exploitation of sand and gravel in the 1950s, landscapes evolved. The quarries were gradually filled with water to give rise to the current nine bodies of water.

Today, this natural setting invites contemplation... but it is the fruit of a rich and unexpected history.

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🌱 A recent nature... but already abundant

Contrary to what one might imagine, the vegetation of the Great Lakes is relatively recent.

She settled spontaneously after the creation of bodies of water, carried by the wind, birds or even small mammals.

The booklet highlights this biodiversity in motion:

• A great diversity ofIn willows, with varied foliage
• Alders, Aspens and hazel trees
• Typical vegetation of wetlands

On the banks, you can observe emblematic plants such as marsh iris, meadowsweet or water mint, which delicately scents the air.

As the seasons pass, the colors change, with touches of pink that appear from spring to the end of summer : loosestrife, valerian, fireweed... so many details to observe while taking the time.

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🌳 Between young forests and remarkable trees

The booklet also distinguishes between two types of plant landscapes:

• Recent vegetation, created after the developments
• Older vegetation, preserved along the Ognon

In these older areas, there are majestic trees: oak, beech, ash or even lime trees.

Some are even steeped in history, like Sully's linden tree, planted several centuries ago and is now recognized as a remarkable tree.

These trees offer refuge and food to numerous species, contributing to the balance of the place.

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🐦 Discreet wildlife to observe

The biodiversity booklet also invites you to look up... and listen up.

🎶 Songbirds

In the woods and hedges, a multitude of birds accompany the days:

• Nightingale, with a powerful song
• Robin, familiar
• Tit, Wren, or Warbler

The ideal time to listen to them? The sunrise, when nature awakens in a true symphony.

🌊 Water birds

Around the lakes, other species live to the rhythm of the water:

• Crested Grebes
• Swans
• Coots
• Ducks

Even if the lakes are deep and not very rich in aquatic vegetation, they regularly welcome these birds typical of wetlands.

🕊️ A show through the seasons

Some periods offer particularly magical moments:

• Heron colonies visible from some huts
• Cormorant gatherings in the fall, sometimes several hundred
• The passage of the great egrets in winter

So many natural scenes to be observed discreetly, from your terrace or during a walk.

🌍 Understand to better preserve

Beyond discovery, this booklet has an essential purpose: to raise awareness about the richness and fragility of this environment.

He recalls that each element - a plant, a bird, a tree - plays a role in this balance.

Some species, such as Himalayan balsamine, also illustrate the challenges associated with invasive plants and their impact on natural environments.

Observe, understand, respect: so many simple actions that contribute to maintaining this unique environment.

🤍 A commitment at the heart of your stay

This booklet is part of a more global approach: make each stay a meaningful experience.

At the Cabanes des Grands Lacs, this means:

• Attention to the environment and its evolution
• A desire to transmit and raise awareness
• Thoughtful development, in harmony with the place

As the booklet recalls, the ambition is clear: to make these areas places that contribute positively to the territory and to biodiversity.

🌿 An invitation to slow down... and observe

More than a simple guide, this biodiversity booklet is an invitation to take the time, listen to the wind in the trees, observe a bird in the distance... Rediscovering the richness of living things, simply.

During your next getaway to the Cabanes des Grands Lacs, this booklet will be waiting for you in your cabin.