Les Grangettes, Natural reserve in Noville, Switzerland.

Les Grangettes is a protected reserve along Lake Geneva's shoreline with extensive marshlands, reed beds, and different aquatic habitats. The area sits at the base of the Arvel mountains and contains a range of plant and animal species adapted to wetland environments.

Nos Oiseaux set up a first reserve near Villeneuve in 1915, and a hunting-free zone was created at Noville in 1924. Vaud placed the lakeside marsh under cantonal protection in 1957 after a proposed airfield at Noville was abandoned. The 1970 Schoggitaler campaign funded the purchase of 70 hectares of wetland, and the site was recognised as a Ramsar area and included in the federal floodplain ordinance of 1992.

Locals call the wetland at the Rhône mouth "Petite Camargue" or "Camargue vaudoise", after the Camargue delta in southern France. The name Les Grangettes comes from a small hamlet on the lakeshore north of Noville. Since 1969 volunteers have cleared the reed beds each year, sometimes with helicopters instead of heavy machines.

The reserve lies at the mouth of the Rhône on Lake Geneva near Noville, with the protected land area covering about 200 hectares. The reed beds and the lagoon of Les Saviez, re-dug in 2008, are best observed from the lakeward side, where a stone-block dam built around 1980 shields the reeds from waves. Access to the water zones is restricted, so stay on the paths.

The "lagune des Saviez" was recreated in 2008 by excavation: 13,000 m² of flooded reedbed around 4,000 m² of open lagoon. Of the 385 bird species recorded in Switzerland, 265 have been seen here, and more than 5,000 waterbirds of 25 to 30 species winter between the Rhône and the Eau-Froide.