Since fighter and transport planes no longer take off from the Creil air base, the birds have taken over to fly over the 450 ha of the site, including the runways. This Saturday afternoon, the volunteers of Picardie Faune Sauvage released one more, a eagle owl that should soon become the master of the place. Or rather the mistress since she is a female who has regained her freedom.
"We picked her up injured and very weakened near Maubeuge in the North of France last May," says Christophe Rousseau, president of Picardie Faune Sauvage, whose care centre has rehabilitated nearly 2,000 animals in 2023. We kept her for eight months, she stayed on the ground for a long time, which was not very reassuring for her health. But in recent weeks, she had been showing more and more impatience and aggression, which meant she was ready to return to the wild. »
An important nature reserve
The bird wasted no time in opening its transport box, to spring up like a ball and land a little further away to examine its new domain. This nocturnal apex predator will have no trouble finding its prey in this area, rats, rabbits and even young foxes or roe deer can fear this hunter with a wingspan of more than two meters with sharp talons.
This is the first time that such a bird of prey has been released on the military base in Creil. "We signed a partnership agreement on 21 December," says Olivier Robert, from the Oise League for the Protection of Birds (LPO). We would like other military bases to follow the example of the one in Creil for this type of operation. »
When the transport box was opened, the bird was quick to speed away.
Since the departure of the planes in 2016, the military site in Creil has become a real paradise for birds but also for all the fauna and flora. "We have an important natural site for the south of the Oise," says Colonel David Sécher, commander of the air base and commander of the Creil defence base. We have installed nesting boxes, we have beehives and we have undertaken the reforestation of the site, to diversify the species present and replace the diseased trees. There are already hawks, buzzards and a couple of red kites on site. »
And even specimens of the Pipit Farlouse, a species of passerine bird that has become rare, whose presence has somewhat delayed the development of the old tracks into a vast photovoltaic plant, a project that will become a reality in the coming months.