The Vivier de Rodignies at Flines-lès-Mortagne

The Vivier de Rodignies is a nature conservation site covering 6579 hectares at Flines-lès-Mortagne, a commune in the Regional Nature Park. It was acquired by the Scarpe-Escaut Joint Association in 2002, and is a designated ‘Natural Area of Ecological Interest for Flora and Fauna’ (ZNIEFF) and ‘Special Protection Area’ (SPA).

The Vivier de Rodignies is a marshy area skirted to the west and south by the Calonne (a small tributary of the river Jard, itself a tributary of the river Escaut) and criss-crossed by close-set, parallel drainage ditches, dividing the area into small, linear plots of land. The Escaut Canal is 350 m to the south and there are two forested areas in the close vicinity, Flines-lès-Mortagne to the north and Raismes-Saint-Amand-Wallers to the south. The site also borders the Bois des Poteries woods to the west.

The wetlands at the Vivier de Rodignies site have changed over the centuries; in the 40s you could get around by boat when the area flooded.

The Vivier de Rodignies was drained and developed by monks in the Middle Ages so that fish coming up the Escaut via the Calonne could spawn there. Today, the site is no longer used as a breeding pond (vivier) due to the falling water levels of the river Escaut, the natural spreading of willows, and the ditches silting up.

The site is a significant ecological entity where numerous habitats coexist: wet grasslands subject to flooding, megaphorbic meadows, reed beds, clusters of poplars and ponds and small lakes drained by a dense network of ditches laid out in a fishbone pattern.