ETANG DU MOURA

Sensitive Natural Area, the Moura pond is the longest pond in Bas-Armagnac and constitutes a remarkable and original area within the Natura 2000 site of Bas-Armagnac ponds.

It was in the Middle Ages, thanks to the skill of the Cistercian monks, that it developed. The white monk, much more than an outstanding hydraulic technician, is a shrewd manager and a talented breeder. Taking advantage of his know-how, he embarks on intensive fish farming and every three years dries up these ponds and cultivates cereals, hemp and flax on these very fertile lands.

The ponds lasted until 1950, continuing to provide for daily needs: traditional fishing (carp, zander, pike, etc.) rushes for replenishing, cereal crops and operation of the mills. Today these production methods rolled away by industrialization and the consumer society have given way to a remarkable natural area which is home to 13 protected species and 19 species on the red list of threatened species in France.

The Moura site, relatively wild and protected, is still representative of these specific wetland ecosystems; It is characterized by a mosaic of natural environments. Wet and Atlantic influences are characterized by the expression of amphibious vegetation (Potamot with knotweed leaves), reedbeds and seagrass beds, but also wet meadows (Fritillaria guinea fowl) and wet or dry moors. Several of these habitats are rare in the Midi-Pyrénées. Its wooded surroundings, networked with floodplains and bocage meadows, located downstream of the pond, constitute a habitat of choice for protected species frequenting old trees and meadows (Pique-prune beetle).

This set forms one of the richest and most preserved natural processions in the Department. The pond is particularly favorable to avifauna (birds) as a migratory stopover and wintering area. It is the foundation of a multi-species heronry: Gray Heron, Cattle Egret, Little Egret. A total of 118 species of birds, including highly watched categories, are observed there. Beyond all these functions, this site remains above all the guarantor of the favorable development of a population of protected turtles: the European Pond Turtle.

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