Saint Just's moorland may be most famous for its neolithic monuments, but is also a wonderful natural habitat. The Conseil Général d'Ille-et-Vilaine manage the land, ensuring that it is grazed and maintained as heathland rather than reverting to woodland. Information boards explain that this was once typical Breton landscape; there is even a field of buckwheat, essential for galettes.
A combination of time, timing and a focus on the monuments meant that I didn't manage much in the way of nature photography. Well, that and my inability to spot anything until it's gone past. However, the area has impressive biodiversity: even I managed to notice a pondful of frogs and a variety of butterflies, and to hear birds including those spring stalwarts, cuckoos. Among the varied flora, the sight and sweet smell of gorse was unmissable: its golden flowers glowed in that brief afternoon of spring sunshine.
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