Drosera rotundifolia, Tourbière du Gué d'Hossus, France.

Last satursday was for me a kind of perfect day in its own right. Along with my friend Philippe Dabrowski, Chairman of Dionée, our French carnivorous plants society, and my younger daughter Alice, we visited the French Ardennes area, just near the border with Belgium. There, thanks to the kind advice of Christophe M. (thank you Christophe!), we aimed to prospect the 'Toubière du Gué d'Hossus' (Gué d'Hossus peatbog) in order to observe Drosera rotundifolia and Drosera intermedia, two of the three French sundews species (the other species left being Drosera anglica). The Ardennes are a plateau which extends from southern Belgium to Luxembourg, Germany and the French region of Lorraine. The highest point being about 500 metres above sea level.

Just before we found the peatbog we were greeted by a gentle stream whose orange brown colour showed that we were arguably entering a boggy area. Alice and I quickly gazed at a few damselflies (distinctive males of Calopteryx virgo) but we would fail to photograph them on that day. Anyway, it was a sign that a piece of nature was awaiting. Actually, the peatbog is located in an abandonned protected area. There were traces that some people do visit the place from time to times but the paths and trails are neglected and we would not meet a single human being in the area. The place was as pristine as one could get in that European part of the world. Fair enough as far as I am concerned. ;-)

We quite easily found the peatbog thanks to Christophe advices, to kind local people and to... Google Earth! After a short pause, we decided to enter an aborted trail in order to immerge ourselves in the habitat. 

There were several open spots as expected...

... where Sphagnum is very abundant...

... to say the least!

Soon,  we found some Drosera rotundifolia, maybe the most emblematic carnivorous plants of our French CP flora.

These plants were growing in bare soil but most of the plants we would see would be growing intertwined with Sphagnum. Some plants were quite spectacular.

As we progressed, the number of plants were increasing, most of them being as I said growing along with the Sphagnum moss. We noticed that some parts of the Sphagnum carpets were nearly crimson and in those particular spots, Drosera rotundifolia was clearly thriving. I do not know though why some parts of the moss are turning red while most remain green. This is something I noticed several times before in my past field trips but I have yet to learn the reason behind this (if someone knows, please drop me a message!).

We found an aging wooden trail with a similarly old sign indicating that temporary ponds are forming and disappearing in the bog hosting a peculiar flora and fauna: plants of the genus Potamogeton, Menyanthes and species of newts such as Triturus cristatus and Ichtyosaura (Triturus) alpestris (I did not see any of them but I didn't have the time to search for them either). The great dragonfly Somatochlora metallica was also said to be an inhabitant of that peat bog and indeed, I did see one specimen hovering nearby. But sadly, no picture.

Alice here, just before she would spend the following hours observing dragonflies, damselflies and other insects. 

It was a great opportunity for ther to practise her net skills as Odonata are certainly not the easiest insects to catch. While Philippe was already photographying some of the beautiful strains of Drosera rotundifolia that surrounded us, my daugher tried to handle the far less cooperative 'darners'! :)

And she did catch a few (that she would release immediately after observation). Here is a male Orthetrum coerulescens ('l'orthétrum bleuissant' in the French language)  from the Libellulidae family, apparently a common species there.

Other species of Odonata included Libellula quadrimaculata, Libellula depressa, Orthetrum cancellatum, Pyrrhosoma nymphula and a few Agrion that I could not identify with certainty. Cordulegaster boltonii was said to be occuring there but it might have been a bit early in the season. It would be interesting to visit the place again in order to study the Odonota diversity. Something I will likely do in the foreseeable future. But last satursday, I tried to remain focused on carnivorous plants ; experience taught me not to try to achieve too much goals at the same time in the field. :)

The area was literally covered by huge patches of Sphagnum that was itself colonized by thousands and thousands of Drosera rotundifolia. Looking carefully, you will be able to distinguish the sundews from the rest of the vegetation even in the few pictures below.

Now, they're getting really apparent, aren't they?

From times to times, we noticed the presence of the aforementionned temporary ponds as indicated by the sign we passed by. This one, which is about two square metres, was filled with Potamogeton plants.

A close up of the floating leaves of Potamogeton.

The margins of the pond were also surrounded by Sphagnum and Drosera rotundifolia.

In the centre of this little sea, a minute island made of grass and moss was the harbour of a small tribe of shimmering sundews.

An exquisite sight and a fitting reward for us botanists wannabees.

We would see other Drosera rotundifolia later on that afternoon but already, our mind was shifting onto the other species that was supposed to grow there: Drosera intermedia. It turned out to be much more localized than we initially thought but we eventually found it as you will see in the next post. :)