Monte-Carlo Golf Club : Fauna and flaura on the green

Updated on September 11, 2024

Discover the Monte-Carlo Golf Club, where prestige meets sustainability. Nestled between the sea and the mountains, this iconic course, renowned for its exceptional panoramic views, is actively committed to protecting its natural surroundings.

Contents

A prestigious course in the heart of nature

Perched at an altitude of 900 metres, the golf course was dug into the rock by the English in 1911, before being transformed over the past 40 years by the Rey family, and the club’s current president Henry Rey. A team of naturalists from the LPO came to the 70-hectare site to carry out an ecological assessment with a view to identifying protected plants, birds, insects and butterflies.

An exceptional place between sky and sea

Charles Houtart adds: “The naturalists told us not to mow these plants, and they came to raise awareness among our gardeners, our young golf players, and their parents. We are carrying out a test to change the lawn to a very fine quackgrass which would help us make a 40% water saving. We use only organic products here, and we regularly allow goats and sheep to graze, because they take great care of our course.”

Preserving nature: concrete action for a sustainable future

“They found protected, threatened or rare heritage species here, such as the European greenfinch, the rufous nightingale, the barn swallow, the European serin and the black flycatcher. These birds are either in transit or live here because they feel comfortable, given that we have wetlands and trees like the cork oak and the Austrian pine. We have installed nesting boxes and piles of wood for insects and created garden walls from the existing drystone constructions,” explains Charles Houtart, the golf club’s director. The site is also home to some beautiful butterflies and moths, as well as interesting plants such as bulbous comfrey and winter snowflake.