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Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport receives an average of 250,000 aircraft per year and more than 530 species of plants and animals. Report near the runways of the largest airport in France, to encounter a sometimes unexpected biodiversity.
A large iron bird flies almost overhead. It is an Air France plane, 100 meters above the ground, very close to landing at Roissy airport, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle (CDG), north of Paris, in a deafening din. We no longer hear each other, barely 300 meters from the track. But a few seconds later, the silence (all things considered) is there, and it’s another bird that we hear. ” It’s a woodpecker who laughs like thatnotes Nicolas Croizé, ornithologist for AéroBiodiversité, an association that defends and identifies biodiversity in French airports. We can hear, like now, moments of calm when the birds will be able to sing, and therefore identify themselves, find their young, form pairs… If they are here, it is because they have adapted to it and that they are well there. »
Airports, from where take off and where planes landing emitting 3% of global CO2 emissions, the main greenhouse gas responsible for the climate crisis, can paradoxically harbor a rich biodiversity. At CDG, we have already counted more than 530 plant and animal species, and therefore quite a few birds. “ I believe that opposite there is the sparrowhawk “, which flew away when we looked at it. Around us, below the track, the meadow, plants, trees, and a huge basin collecting rainwater that falls on the tarmac. On this September morning, the water level is at its lowest, due to the drought. But in the distance, a few ducks splash about. ” Over there, near the shore, it’s mainly mallard ducksdescribes Nicolas Croizé. In the middle, much smaller, are little grebes, these are the ones we see diving. » « Ah, we had a nesting on the other side », Answers Emmanuel Vesval, environment referent at Roissy airport.
bird nests
Several nests of different species of birds have been observed since the spring. ” That there is reproduction, it is interestingpoints out Nicolas Croizé. It means that the birds are not just passing through and that they will spend the whole season there, so that there is enough to eat, something to rest, something to make a nest. » « When you see storks, it can be surprising! As we have a wet part, with water, at the migratory level we can have a lot of birds that come between November and February “, specifies for his part Emmanuel Vesval.
AéroBiodiversité naturalists make regular visits to areas that can only be entered with special permission. ” We travel three times a year to airportsexplains Nicolas Croizé. We come in April, June and September. The purpose of our visit is to make an inventory of all the species that we will be able to find on the platform. » They are welcome. On the board of directors of AéroBiodiversité sit the bosses of the Parisian airports, anxious to present an image other than that conveyed by the airport platforms: pollution, noise pollution… ” Of the 3,800 hectares of platform at Roissy, we still have 1,200 hectares of aeronautical meadows, assures Emmanuel Vesval. We cannot say that they are polluted since we have many species living there. We have a biodiversity that is still quite impressive. »
A fox on the edge of the track
We went a little lower still. A small stream flows through the willows. The birds resume their song as soon as a plane has passed. Birds and airplanes don’t mix. ” What will pose a problem is above all the quantity, the number of birds that will meet at the same time in the same place.explains Meriem Methlouti, in charge of naturalist studies for AéroBiodiversité. And that’s why the scarers try to scare them away when a plane approaches the runway. At some airports, raptors are trained, but not at Charles-de-Gaulle. » « In general, these are people, trained, with vehicles, which emit sounds of birds, for example, or who fire a rifle in the air, so that the birds fly away from the track. This is both to avoid accidents with planes, but also to limit the impact of planes on birds, to prevent them from killing birds during collisions. », adds Nicolas Croizé.
But it’s not just birds at CDG. One can also come across mammals, rabbits for example, which the traveler, through the porthole, sometimes sees frolicking in the meadow along the runway, indifferent to the frightening noise of the plane. ” We do not see as many as years ago, however, notes Emmanuel Vesval. We have the impression that it regulates itself, because we don’t have diseases, we don’t have any of that...” The regulator precisely, we saw it this morning. A patrol of gendarmes in cars stops at our height. ” Have you seen any fox today?Emmanuel Vesval asks them. I saw the scarer on the south side, apparently they announced a fox on the edge of the track. »
A salad and an infusion
The promenade extends to the eastern end of the airport platform and takes on a bucolic air. The song of a gray wagtail. The cry of crows. Nettles. Rosehip berries, so red on this autumn eve. ” It’s the ass-cracker! It’s itchy hair! laughs Meriem Methlouti, botanist. We eat them in jam. We found verbena and chamomile, we can make ourselves a little infusion. There’s wild tomato, nightshade, and then there’s lamb’s lettuce, parsnips, carrots…» « You could almost make a salad at platform level with all the plants you have! Concludes Emmanuel Vesval with a smile. We can still hear a plane landing. We no longer count them. It almost feels like being in the countryside.
“Do the fish drink the cup? »
With their mouths open, the fish drink the cup constantly. And this sea water, it is through their gills that they reject it. At sea, there is no lack of salt, and the fish have particularly strong kidneys to evacuate all that. Without knowing the feeling of thirst; for fish, it’s drink at will. In fact, they drink like we breathe.