Vallée de l'Orne et ses affluents

The area is focused on Orne and 3 of its main tributaries, the laize, the Noireau and the Rouvre, as they flow through the different landscapes of Norman Switzerland.^[2] These landscapes range from deep gorges, torrential or slow-flowing rivers, wet meadows, alluvial forests, escarpments, scree slopes, siliceous ledges, enclosed woods and hedgerows.^[3]

It is spread across 21 different communes all within the departments of Orne and calvados;^[2]

The conservation area has seventeen species listed in Annex 2 of the Habitats Directive;^[4]

In addition the Natura 2000 site has eighteen habitats protected under the Habitats Directive.^[4]