2024

BONNELLES PONDS

Ornithology
The former park of the Duchesse d'Uzès castle has become a nature reserve, ... Read more
2024

CASTLE OF BONNELLES

Castles to visit
Third château built on this site, in the Louis XIII style. Former home of ... Read more
2024

SAINT-GERVAIS-SAINT-PROTAIS CHURCH

Churches cathedrals basilicas and chapels
9th- or 10th-century parish church retaining its massive, fortified ... Read more
2024

BONNELLES PONDS REGIONAL NATURE RESERVE

Natural Crafts

Charming purpose of promenade, the ponds of Bonnelles historically belong to the territory of the castle of the Duchess of Uzès. This site stretches over 13 hectares and consists of two ponds, which links a small canal, powered by sources, and by the table of the sand of Fontainebleau. At the time of the walk, you will discover the traces of the castle garden and its factories built on the edge of the ponds: the Temple of Love - a bridge to two arches surmounted by a small building, leading to the kiosk island - the pier, and the culvert - a small bridge that serves Devil island from that of the Kiosk. Other factories have disappeared: the Chinese pavilion, the canardière, the cooler or the mosque. Botanists and other nature observers will appreciate the variety of environments: oak-charmaie, aulnaie to the east, roselière planted with poplar, bétulaie where birch dominates. There are some protected species. Avifauna benefits from these wetlands: among the most remarkable is a few breeding birds such as the effarvatte effarvatte and the reed morphology, but also hoberaux hawks, pêcheurs pêcheurs, cendrés herons, insects, 34 species of dragonflies…

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