In October 2025, the MJC de Puivert and Trace Nature collaborated to offer three outings through the MJC’s nature center to listen to the bellowing of the stag, the breeding period of Europe’s largest terrestrial herbivore.
These outings, which took place between Puivert and the Plateau de Sault, with two evenings open to the general public and an immersive night for the more adventurous, were a dazzling success , with 12 to 14 people signing up in just a few days…
Far more than we had anticipated!
So, despite a few last-minute cancellations that meant we couldn’t accommodate everyone on the waiting list :-), the primary objective of giving as many people as possible access to this essential period in the life of our forest and mountain wildlife was more than achieved.
But we didn’t stop there. In addition to giving people the chance to “hear”, by raising awareness of the effects of disturbance and making observation equipment available (binoculars, spotting scopes, twilight binoculars, light amplifiers), it even enabled some people to catch a glimpse of animals, while remaining at a distance so as not to interfere with this fascinating spectacle.
So, we hope we’ve gone some way to meeting the challenge of instilling a taste for observing nature, and even of inspiring a sense of wonder. As the old man in the red hat used to say: “We love what we marvel at, and we love what we see.
And we hope that this enthusiasm will continue in future offers from the MJC’s nature center, opening up a new way of discovering the remarkable environment of the Aude Pyrenees.