On the His

The site "On the His" extends in Famenne, between Hotton and the small village of Ny, north of the N807 road. It is a forested area covering the left slope of the Ry de Nève valley, facing northwest, stretching nearly 2.5 km and crossed from east to west by the trench of an old local road now transformed into a slow lane (line 620 of the RAVeL network). Resting on Givetian limestones, the predominant vegetation consists of a neutral or calciphile oak-hornbeam forest depending on the locations. Among the remarkable plant species are the wood bedstraw (Galium sylvaticum), particularly rare and localized outside Lorraine, and the neglected helleborine (Epipactis leptochila subsp. neglecta), an orchid with a taxonomic status still under discussion, which is very rare in the Walloon Region where it is also listed as a threatened species on the red list. The fauna, on the other hand, is still poorly documented. The presence of the elm hairstreak (Satyrium w-album), a legally protected day butterfly at the regional level, has been reported. The entire forest slope is included in the Natura 2000 network within the site BE34011 "La Calestienne between Hotton and Oppagne."

Type: Site of Great Biological Interest (SGIB)

La biodiversité en Wallonie