Réserve naturelle nationale de la baie de l'Aiguillon, National nature reserve on the Atlantic coast of France.
The Réserve naturelle nationale de la baie de l'Aiguillon covers about 4,900 hectares of mudflats and salt marsh at the mouth of the Sèvre niortaise, facing Île de Ré. The mudflat alone extends over roughly 3,700 hectares and the salt meadow over 1,100 hectares. Two wooden cabins on stilts, one bearing a plaque marked 2005, stand above the wet, channeled ground.
The reserve was officially established through two phases, with the Vendée section created in 1996 under the Juppé II cabinet and the Charente-Maritime portion added in 1999 during the Jospin administration, following initial protection proposals dating back to 1959.
The bay maintains strong ties to traditional mussel farming on wooden stakes called bouchots, a cultivation method invented in this region that continues to shape the local landscape and economy while coexisting with conservation efforts.
Visitors can access organized guided tours and educational activities through the French Office for Biodiversity and the League for Bird Protection, with strategic viewpoints available at Pointe Saint-Clément and Port du Pavé for wildlife observation.
The bay alone winters 5,400 black-tailed godwits, between 30 and 50 percent of the birds wintering in France, making it the country's main site for the species. In September 2019 an amphibious excavator with a grinder removed old oyster tables abandoned near Pointe de l'Aiguillon in the 1960s and colonised by Japanese oysters, to restore the mudflats.
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