Marchand dune

The Marchand dune is located on the North Sea coast east of Dunkerque. It is part of the Dunes of Flanders. It forms a natural and diversified environment in permanent evolution.
The variety of environments present on the nature reserve attracts a very diversified fauna. In the pools, refuges, many amphibians enjoy the food present: we discover the toads calamitus, crested newts or red frogs accompanied by a few dragonflies (blood sympétrum, wild ballast ...). In spring, we can recognize the song of the nightingale philomèle hidden in thickets.
With nearly 400 species, this site is home to a wide variety of flora. The oyat or the sea buckthorn are very present. For the curious, other botanical treasures characterize this exceptional space. Sandworm is one example: although rare on this site, it is well adapted to the salty land of the seaside. Its root system helps to preserve the dune from erosion.
On the embryonic dune, we find some pioneer plants adapted to a high salinity such as quackgrass and sea cakilier.
The gray dune owes its name to the predominant colors of mosses and lichens. This botanical procession colonizes soils left bare, very poor in food. Their installation avoids soil erosion and allows the attachment of sand. These environments are nevertheless very fragile: trampling too often repeated threatens the species present.
Made up of clear lawns, the gray dune hosts plants adapted to the particularly dry conditions of the environment: this explains the small size of the plants present. Their leaves are often picked, hairy and fleshy like those of large plants. These adaptations allow them to withstand wind, drought and salt air.
The Northern Wheatear is also a bird of the gray dune. It has a preference for open areas that represent an ideal place for catching insects such as butterflies or caterpillars ...
In the dunes, we find wetlands called "failures", totally different from gray dunes. These environments are just as exceptional at the ecological level.