Beavering away in the lovely Loire

Richard Collins on the wonders of France’s great untamed river.

THERE are hardly any real rivers left in Europe; all of the great watercourses have been tamed. Hemmed in by dykes and their flows controlled by weirs, dams and sluices, they have become glorified canals. The Rhine and Danube burst their banks occasionally but even these mavericks do what they’re told most of the time; it takes gigantic amounts of rainwater to make them lose their tempers and run amuck. For wild and free rivers, you must go to Africa.

But are there a few exceptions to the general rule? It may be the misguided impression of a gullible starry-eyed tourist, but the Loire always seemed to me to have a mind of its own. This, the longest river in France, rises in the Massif Central and flows in a great semi-circular sweep to the Atlantic, west of Nantes. I have visited its banks many times and it has never looked the same on successive occasions.

In summer, the waters are reduced to a trickle in some areas, exposing great expanses of riverbed. Sandbanks appear; baked by a warm sun, their surfaces can reach 50° C. Young terns, fledged from local colonies, fly noisily about and gather on the beaches and shingle.

Later in the year, as the flow of water increases, the landscape is transformed. Flocks of wading birds fly in to feed along the newly-watered mudflats. Then, as the days shorten and it rains inland, the channels fill and the Loire becomes a mini-Amazon. The free spirit of this great river pays off ecologically. The fluctuating water levels create an astonishing range of habitats: great forests, marshes, heaths and water-meadows.

For the range and diversity of wildlife found in the region, this part of France is hard to beat. The river banks of Touraine have fine white willow trees. Further back from the water’s edge, beech oak and whitebeam abound. France has more woodland than any country in western Europe apart from Scandinavia. There are 136 tree species on the national list. Wild boar, red deer and roe deer thrive. The 37,000 hectare Orléans Forest boasts such celebrities as booted eagle, short-toed eagle and osprey. It has six species of woodpecker.

Between Gien and Blois the river loops around an area of small rivers, ponds and flood-meadows. Half a million hectares in extent, the Sologne holds more fresh water than any other region of France. The statistics are impressive; it has 1,200 higher plants, 220 bird species, 140 of which breed. More than 50 mammal species and 10 reptiles are found there. The dragonfly list runs to 56 species.

The Loire region is a nature lover’s Disneyland, but some of its more intriguing creatures are exceedingly hard to observe. One of the more elusive of them, the beaver, is active only at night, except in quiet locations where there is little disturbance. Europe’s largest rodent was hunted for its flesh, its fur and for castoreum, a substance in its scent glands once thought to have medicinal properties. ‘Le castor’ was driven into extinction in France, as in most European countries. Now, reintroduced to the Loire and the Rhône, it is holding its own.

The Loire habitat suits this civil engineer with the bat-like tail. River valleys and floodplains with lots of small trees are an eager beaver’s paradise. Trees are gnawed and felled, then dragged into the water for storage. Immersion helps preserve the rich nutrients just under the bark. Willows and poplars are the species of choice. Felled trees also provide the framework for the beaver dams, which can be over 100 metres long. The builders carry stones in their forepaws and sticks in their mouths to shore up the structures. French beavers tend to nest in river banks but family groups may construct a free-standing mound of branches with underwater entrances. Elaborate systems of channels control the water levels in the ‘lodge’.

We never had beavers in this country but our wildlife heritage was severely damaged when our rivers and turloughs were drained. What a pity. With a little imagination and foresight, the Shannon, Lee and Boyne might still have some of the ecological richness of the Loire.

* www.visaloire.com, www.tourism-touraine.com