Escaille reserve

Nature reserve

The site is located in Hesbaye, on the course of the River Orneau, a tributary of the Sambre, in a hollow dug by the river and one of its tributaries, the Rabaudy. The Escaille nature reserve owes its name to a former slate quarry The soil comprises clay. The vegetation consists of dry and moist wildlands around a main water body (former settling basin for the sugar refinery), source areas, willow planting, semi-marsh areas featuring a reed marsh with common water reeds and cattails. This protected location is prized above all for its ornithological resources: 170 bird species have been recorded there. A large number of migratory birds find sanctuary here: warblers, ducks, wades...but hedge-nesting passerine birds also abound in this location. The reserve is akin to an oasis in a biological desert devoted to intensive farming. (Author : B. Philippart).
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