Plateau de Leucate

On a beautiful spring like day although only at the end of February, we went for a long walk on the Plateau de Leucate. This plateau, bordered by a spectacular cliff, is an overhang into the sea that dominates the whole coastline: the beaches, the lagoons. Long occupied by man, it offers an astonishing landscape composed of a veritable maze of low stone walls. Now cultivated for the vines, it constitutes a unique terroir. This limestone plateau is covered with a mosaic of dry natural environments: dry lawns, scrublands, woods and groves, cliffs, hanging dunes… These environments are home to species of birds, reptiles, insects and a typically Mediterranean flora such as the Pipit rousseline, the Traquet oreillard, the ocellated lizard…The eastern part of the plateau where dry grasslands dominate is a Natura 2000 site which aims to preserve its biodiversity.