Tour du Valat
Tour du Valat
  • Navigation access
  • Content access
  • Footer access
  • Adopt a flamingo
  • Documentary portal
  • Search
  • fr
  • en
  • The Tour du Valat
    • History and values
    • The estate
    • Our team
    • Organisation chart and CVs
    • Governance and budget
    • Partners and sponsors
    • Visiting the Tour du Valat
  • Mediterranean wetlands
    • Types of Mediterranean wetlands
    • Threats, issues and protection
    • Spotlight on the Camargue
    • The Mediterranean Alliance for Wetlands
    • The Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory
  • Our actions
  • Media
    • The Library
    • Recent publications
    • Activity reports
    • The HAL portal
    • Books, booklets and reports
    • Institutionnal documents
    • Photo gallery
    • Videos
  • News
  • Support us
    • Adopt a Flamingo
    • Make a contribution
    • Make a donation or bequest
  • Navigation access
  • Content access
  • Footer access
  • Adopt a flamingo
  • Documentary portal
  • Search
  • fr
  • en
Tour du Valat
  • The Tour du Valat
    • History and values
    • The estate
    • Our team
    • Organisation chart and CVs
    • Governance and budget
    • Partners and sponsors
    • Visiting the Tour du Valat
  • Mediterranean wetlands
    • Types of Mediterranean wetlands
    • Threats, issues and protection
    • Spotlight on the Camargue
    • The Mediterranean Alliance for Wetlands
    • The Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory
  • Our actions
  • Media
    • The Library
    • Recent publications
    • Activity reports
    • The HAL portal
    • Books, booklets and reports
    • Institutionnal documents
    • Photo gallery
    • Videos
  • News
  • Support us
    • Adopt a Flamingo
    • Make a contribution
    • Make a donation or bequest
Research institute for the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands
  • Home
  • News
  • News
  • Increasing presence of cranes in the Camargue: scientists and farmers take stock
Back to News
  • A- Switch to smaller font size
  • A+ Switch to biggest font size
  • Print
  • Share
  • RSS
News Camargue • Published on 11 April 2023

Increasing presence of cranes in the Camargue: scientists and farmers take stock

Common cranes in winter in the rice fields of the Camargue

Since 2007, the Tour du Valat has been coordinating the census of wintering common cranes in the Camargue. Some forty people, volunteers or employees of the Tour du Valat, the Réserves naturelles nationales de Camargue et des marais du Vigueirat, the Parc naturel régional de Camargue and the Syndicat mixte pour la protection et la gestion de la Camargue gardoise, take part in the count at dawn on the same day, near the cranes’ dormitories (nocturnal gathering areas), to count them as they fly off to their feeding grounds.

These censuses show that crane numbers in the Camargue are rising sharply, with over 26,000 cranes counted in 2023, compared with just 300 in 2007. In just a few years, the Camargue has become the main wintering site for cranes in France, ahead of the Lac du Der-Chantecoq in Champagne and the Arjuzanx site in Aquitaine. While this increase represents a potential boost to the region’s eco-tourism and economic development in winter, it also raises fears about the damage these birds could cause to crops.

Cranes are a farmer’s ally when they feed in rice stubble: they consume harvest residues and weed seeds, while improving the soil with their droppings. On the other hand, when they settle in winter seedlings (wheat, rapeseed or faba beans), they are likely to cause damage by trampling or consuming seeds.

To identify the factors influencing the presence of cranes in crops, the Tour du Valat conducted a study with the support of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (Initiative Homme-Faune Sauvage) on a sample of 254 plots, visited 14 times each, during the winter of 2021-2022. Although the sampled areas of rice and wheat stubble plots are similar, it appears that rice stubble plots are frequently visited (20% occupied on average), particularly in the depths of winter, in January. Wheat plots, on the other hand, are rarely visited by cranes (in less than 2% of cases). These rare visits occur mainly on late wheat sowings, sometimes causing significant damage.

On March 27, an information meeting on cranes was held at the Scamandre discovery center, bringing together around twenty stakeholders and partners. Organized by CEFE-CNRS, the Syndicat mixte pour la protection et la gestion de la Camargue gardoise, the Parc naturel régional de Camargue and Tour du Valat, and attended by farmers’ representatives from the Gard and Bouches-du-Rhône regions, the meeting began by sharing the knowledge of farmers, protected area managers and representatives of the French government and the Office Français de la Biodiversité on the causes and consequences of the presence of sandhill cranes in the Camargue. Next, the results of the study into the determinants of crane distribution were presented and discussed with the farmers, with a view to developing possible solutions to facilitate cohabitation between cranes and farmers.

For example, delaying the tillage of rice stubble would keep the cranes on this attractive land, where their presence is quite beneficial to farmers. The additional costs or loss of earnings associated with delayed soil preparation for subsequent crops could be covered by agri-environmental measures and be part of a tourism development policy. Frightening methods were discussed, which could be the subject of a derogation after application to the administrative authorities, as has been the case for several years for the Greater Flamingo.


This study was carried out with financial assistance from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation as part of the Man-Wildlife Initiative. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Tour du Valat.

 

Newsletter

Keep up with Tour du Valat news:
Show previous newsletters
News Archives
  • 2025
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
Agenda Archives
  • 2024
  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • 2017
  • 2016
  • 2015
  • 2014
  • 2013
Tour du Valat
Tour du Valat

Le Sambuc - 13200 Arles
France

Phone : +33 (0)4 90 97 20 13

[email protected]


Contact
  • Practical information
    • Calendar
    • Past events
    • Vacancies
    • Interactive map
    • Logo & access map
  • Legal information
    • Legal notice
    • Cookie policy (EU)
  • Linkedin
  • Facebook
  • Vimeo
  • RSS
Gérer le consentement aux cookies
We use cookies to enhance your experience on our web site.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Settings
Le stockage ou l’accès technique est nécessaire dans la finalité d’intérêt légitime de stocker des préférences qui ne sont pas demandées par l’abonné ou l’utilisateur.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. Le stockage ou l’accès technique qui est utilisé exclusivement dans des finalités statistiques anonymes. En l’absence d’une assignation à comparaître, d’une conformité volontaire de la part de votre fournisseur d’accès à internet ou d’enregistrements supplémentaires provenant d’une tierce partie, les informations stockées ou extraites à cette seule fin ne peuvent généralement pas être utilisées pour vous identifier.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
See settings
{title} {title} {title}