The salt marshes north of Ars-en-Ré are among the most extensive on the Île de Ré, a landscape of shallow pans, channels, and dikes managed by paludiers — traditional salt farmers — who harvest fleur de sel and grey salt by hand using the same techniques used for centuries. The marshes are habitat for a remarkable variety of wading birds, and in spring and autumn the migration brings avocets, godwits, egrets, and dunlins through in large numbers.
Walking or cycling through the marshes is a different experience from the beaches on the south side of the island. The light is particular here — flat, silver, with a quality that changes completely between morning and evening — and the silence is profound when the wind drops. The cycle path that loops from Ars around the northern tip of the island passes through the heart of the marshes and is one of the better rides on the Île de Ré.