"Between anger and sadness!" The members of the Association for the Protection of the Orpellières Coast are dismayed. In the night from Saturday to Sunday, bikers offered themselves "a rodeo session" on a beach in Sérignan (Hérault), destroying nests of dwarf terns, birds that lay eggs on the sand. To protect them, the municipality had however installed ribbons and prohibition signs. It will not have been enough.
"This is the first time that this device had been put in place [on this beach], it was unfortunately almost certain that it would happen", deplores Yann Geshors, the president of the association, who plans to file a complaint this Tuesday. "The human being, as soon as we disrupt their habits, it gives that ... But we continue to do prevention, education. Above all, the birds will soon be laying a second egg again. This one, we will watch it. "
"Birds seek tranquility"
For several weeks, many associations have been calling for walkers to be vigilant, due to the presence of broken-collared plover eggs or dwarf terns on the sand. These birds have indeed taken advantage of the unprecedented calm by the sea to lay eggs on the beaches. These species have certainly invested their usual areas of laying, but also new territories, deserted by lovers of sunbathing between mid-March and mid-May, blocked at home because of the Covid-19.
"The birds seek tranquility, and with confinement, certain areas, which they did not frequent too much until now, have become zones of tranquility, confided to 20 Minutes on May 25 Pierre Maigre, of the League for the Protection of birds (LPO) of Hérault. Entire colonies have settled there. The deconfinement arrived, the walkers found themselves on these zones, causing destruction. "
"The ramblings of dogs on the beach can in particular be harmful," explained Joseph Hiard, president of the Ornithological Group of Roussillon. If the walkers are confronted with a bird which moves while running, which emits sounds, or above their heads, which do not stop diving, as do the terns, it is that they are on a zone of nesting. They thus signal the presence of eggs. "
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