Passionate about birds, the adventurer Nicolas Vanier traveled in microlight among wild geese to make his film "Give me wings". He tells, at the microphone of Isabelle Morizet, this experience not only outstanding but useful for the preservation of the species.

INTERVIEW

Invited in the show There is not a life in life , the adventurer, writer and filmmaker Nicolas Vanier, unveils, Saturday, November 16, the underside of his film, Give me wings , released on 9 October at the cinema. Inspired by the life of Christian Moullec, ornithologist committed to the conservation of the dwarf geese, the film tells the journey of a father and his son, who will try to save this endangered species thanks to a flight in ULM.

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Nicolas Vanier was then, to his surprise, boarded the ultralight of the ornithologist who was already thinking about making a film about it. "I would not have imagined a single second find me one day in the middle of birds," says Nicolas Vanier, adding that it was "so close that sometimes their wings come to caress your cheek and you can pet them."

"The geese look at you like, 'Be careful, do not press my feathers too hard'"

For this nature lover, who lives in the forest in Sologne, the experience was "overwhelming". "The amazing thing is that the geese look like you're saying, 'Be careful, do not press too hard on my feathers because that's what helps me to get in,'" he recalls. .

What can such a flight serve? Nicolas Vanier explains that it serves to preserve the species. "Some animals recognize as a parent the first being they see.A little goose, when she is born, if she sees a human being, he becomes his dad she will follow indefinitely," he recalls. "Christian Moullec imagined that by making heard and that accustoming the little geese to a sound of engine, he could fly with them and thus be able to change their migratory route knowing that this is precisely what caused their disappearance".

In thirty years, 420 million birds have disappeared from the European sky

Urbanization, lack of insects ... The causes of disappearance of these dwarf geese are indeed multiple and worrying, because, difficult to prevent. "For millennia they have crossed areas that have become so urbanized that they no longer have the opportunity to land and feed themselves, the only way to save this species was to reprogram the amazing little GPS they have in the head flying with them ", explains Nicolas Vanier, adding that" in thirty years, 420 million birds have disappeared from the European sky ", two thirds of their initial number.

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Nicolas Vanier and Christian Moullec would like to repeat this experience, flying from Scandinavia to Germany. They however face the rejection of the European administration. "We should repeat the experience with at least 200 or 300 birds, but Norway, Sweden and Germany do not agree at all," laments Nicolas Vanier, who does not intend to abandon his dream. "As we need, to make this trip, authorizations of the different countries crossed, we hope that with this film and the political supports, we will obtain them one day".