Marais d'Harchies
Belgium
The Site is a complex of wet grasslands, ponds and marshes fringed by reedbeds and fed by rainfall and groundwater. It supports a varied flora including several notable species, as well as a diversity of breeding and regionally endangered birds such as the common snipe Gallinago gallinago and the common little bittern Ixobrychus minutus. Wintering and passage waterbirds include cormorants, swans, geese, ducks, shorebirds and terns. The main threats to the ecological character of the Site are posed by intensive agriculture, recreation activities such as moto-cross and hunting, and colonization by invasive species.