A hibernation site for bats

In an underground tunnel dug into the hillside by the Germans during the Second World War, the wooded area on your right houses a wintering site for bats. Two species of bat, the horseshoe bat and the greater mouse-eared bat, hibernate there every year.

These species, which are now protected, have declined since the 1960s due to the destruction of hedges, the use of pesticides, roof treatments and disturbance caused near resting sites. Considered as one of the most interesting sites in the Lorient area, the Kerio site has a grid to prevent access while leaving a passage for these flying mammals.

A Breton legend tells of a swallow who was in love with a mouse and entrusted it with her eggs. From this brood was born a bat with the body and head of a mouse, the wings of a swallow and big ears like those of the devil. Thus appeared al logod-penn-dall, the “mouse with a blind head” in Breton, whose descendants were condemned never to see the sun and to live by night.