The Sampolo Reservoir (french: Réservoir de Sampolo, co, Lavu di Sampolu) is a reservoir in the
Haute-Corse
Haute-Corse (; co, Corsica suprana , or ; en, Upper Corsica) is (as of 2022) an administrative department of France, consisting of the northern part of the island of Corsica. The corresponding departmental territorial collectivity merged w ...
department of Corsica, France.
It is formed by damming the
Fiumorbo (or Fium'Orbu) river by the Barrage du Sampolo.
The reservoir provides hydroelectricity and water for irrigation.
The gallery of the dam is home to important bat colonies.
Location
The Lac de Sampolo, or Réservoir de Sampolo, is formed by the Barrage du Sampolo, which dams the Fiumorbo river below the village of Sampolo.
The dam and east end of the reservoir are in the commune of
Lugo-di-Nazza.
The remainder of the reservoir is in the commune of
Ghisoni
Ghisoni () is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas ...
.
The D344 road from
Ghisonaccia to Ghisoni runs along the north shore.
The dam is just above the gorge named the Défilé de l’Inzecca, a
Natura 2000 site.
Below the site is another dam, the
Barrage de Trévadine, where the river emerges onto the coastal plain.
Hydrology
The dam was built between 1987 and 1991 and went into service in 1992.
The concrete
gravity dam is owned by
Électricité de France (EDF) and is used for hydroelectricity and irrigation.
It is high and long, with a crest elevation of above sea level.
The dam holds of water.
It has a surface area of and a catchment area of .
The dam is checked regularly to confirm safety.
Variations in the flow of the river downstream of the dams are controlled.
Fish
As of 2010 a fishing lodge was planned in the village of Sampolo.
The reservoir can be fished for
trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...
,
eel
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...
and
common barbel
The common barbel, ''Barbus barbus'', is a species of freshwater fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. It shares the common name 'barbel' with its many relatives in the genus ''Barbus'', of which it is the type species. In Great Britain it is ...
.
Bats
As of 2010 the dam cornice was home to a colony of 50
common pipistrelle
The common pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus pipistrellus'') is a small pipistrelle microbat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, South Asia, and may extend into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the Brit ...
(''Pipistrellus pipistrellus'') bats.
The technical gallery of the dam is one of Corsica's major bat lodges, frequented by five species that number more than 3,000 individuals.
These include about 100
long-fingered bat
The long-fingered bat (''Myotis capaccinii'') is a carnivorous species of vesper bat. It is native to coastal areas around the Mediterranean Sea, as well as a few patches of land in western Iran. Due to the fact that its population is in decline ...
s (''Myotis capaccinii'').
Common bent-wing bat
The common bent-wing bat (''Miniopterus schreibersii''), also known as the Schreibers's long-fingered bat or Schreibers's bat, is a species of insectivorous bat. They appear to have dispersed from a subtropical origin and distributed throughout ...
s (''Miniopterus schreibersi'') are present in large numbers in the gallery, and
greater noctule bat
The greater noctule bat (''Nyctalus lasiopterus'') is a rare carnivorous bat found in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa. It is the largest and least studied bat in Europe with a wingspan of up to and is one of the few bat species to feed on p ...
s (''Nyctalus lasiopterus'') are also present.
The bats fly down the gorge to their nocturnal hunting sites in the coastal lagoons, wetlands and forests.
As of 2010 the bats were vulnerable to accidental or deliberate changes to their lodging place.
Notes
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampolo, Lac de
Reservoirs of Haute-Corse