Réserve naturelle nationale de la baie de Canche, National nature reserve in Étaples and Camiers, France

The Réserve naturelle nationale de la baie de Canche covers 505 hectares of the Canche estuary, 465 of them on the public maritime domain, on the right bank across Étaples, Camiers and Lefaux. At low tide tan sand flats cut by shallow channels stretch toward a dark ridge, marked by a green buoy; behind them lie mudflats, salt meadows with glasswort and obione, and dunes plastered against an old chalk cliff.

The bay was submerged by the sea in Carolingian times, with the highest water level around the year 800. During the First World War the British installed a camp at Étaples for up to 80,000 people to train anglophone soldiers and prepare machine guns, with a military hospital on the dune edge that was bombed at the end of the war. A freshwater dam project for Lille nearly degraded the site, prompting opposition from regional biologists and the creation of the Nord Nature federation; the reserve was finally established on 16 July 1987.

The reserve attracts birdwatchers who come to observe migrating species passing through the estuary during seasonal transitions. The wetlands and dunes support wildlife that depends on this coastal landscape for survival and reproduction.

The reserve can be explored on foot using several marked paths that vary in length and terrain difficulty. Plan your visit during calm weather when trails are easier to navigate and wildlife is more active.

The dunes north of the bay are a "dune plaquée": wind-driven sand has fastened onto an old chalk cliff and covered it. According to the reserve's documentation, only one other such formation exists in Europe, in southern Portugal.