> The history of the Beaumont lake
	At the beginning of the 20th Century, the lake was part of the Villemorant estate, which stretched over 4 parishes, more than 200 hectares of woodland, lakes, farmland and buildings. The estate was broken up in about 1950. In 1978, the Beaumont lake, with some woodland and farmland (including the Point du Jour and Ragot farms), became the property of the Beaumont/Prudhomme families, then Mr Chinouilh in 1984. In 1996, given that the latter then no longer wanted to keep the estate, the perfect opportunity arose for the Conservatoire to preserve a Sologne lake of incredible value, thanks to the involvement of the nature-lovers of the Sologne Nature Environnement Association, the SAFER (Société d’Aménagement Foncier et d’Etablissement Rural du Centre), and with the financial support of the Agence de l’Eau Loire-Bretagne and the Conseil Régional du Centre) Regional Council.
	> An observatory to discover fauna and flora:
	The diversity of the natural environment corresponds to the variety of animal species. Firstly, the insects, amongst which several species have amphibious larva, such as dragonflies. In the fields are grasshoppers and locusts, including some remarkable species; butterflies too. Equally to be found in large numbers are amphibians (newts, salamanders) and batrachians (toads and frogs). Yet the greatest attraction of the Etang de Beaumont is the birds. The ducks which are part of the Sologne: mallard, shoveller, gadwall, pochard, tufted, teal and, less often, garganey; in cold weather, the baldpate and pintail duck are sometimes joined by greylag geese.
	Informations :  Conservatoire du patrimoine naturel de la région centre 30, rue de la Bretonnerie 45000 Orléans 02.38.77.02.22