With its steelworks and sprawling shopping centre, the town of Grande-Synthe on the outskirts of Dunkirk does not count among France’s foremost tourist attractions.
But it does have Le Puythouck, a nature reserve which boasts woods, marshlands and a lake, and which is home to birds such as kestrels and little egrets, 30 different species of butterfly and five types of amphibians, including rare natterjack toads.
For the past couple of years, Le Puythouck has also been home to groups of migrants, mostly Kurds from Iran and Iraq. The number varies depending upon how many arrive and stay, and how many make it across the Channel. At the moment, it is about 300.
Their presence in these woods results in part from the strategy
