Archive for March, 2010
Spain geography game
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
This map game for learning the moutain ranges and basic geographical units of Spain is good fun. Only takes a couple of minuntes.
More Spain map games here, including this fiendish river quiz.
Iberian lynx distribution map
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
TVE have put together this map of the distribition of the Iberian lynx: (more…)
Serious blow to lynx breeding project
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010The captive Iberian lynx breeding project has been dealt a serious blow with the expected death in the next year of ten Iberian lynxes from renal disease. Four animals have already died, and 40% of the captive population of 70 have the disease, which has no cure. Breeding pairs have been reduced from 27 to just 9, and so far only 2 cubs have been born, with only ten forecast for the season. Project head Astrid Vargas has affirmed that the deaths will not put a stop to the programme.
Donkeys to help schizophrenia and epilepsy patients
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Donkeys are being used for the first time in Spain in a centre in Galicia to help schizophrenia and epilepsy patients. El País Deep-water Cantabrian sharks are opportunist hunters
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Spanish researchers have studied the diet of three species of sharks which live in the deep waters of El Cachucho, the first Protected Marine Area in Spain, off the coast of Llanes, Asturias. The blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus), the velvet belly lantern shark (Etmopterus spinax), and the birdbeak dogshark (Deania calcea) feed on the resources available in their environment, according to changes taking place in the ocean depths. Their diet is opportunist, because they feed off whatever resources are available, in this case small euphausiid crustaceans, benthopelagic prawns and fish. More here
Lizard impaled by shrike
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Spectacular image of a lizard impaled on a branch by a Great Southern Shrike (Lanius meridionalis Alcaudón Real in Spanish), in the La Geria region of Lanzarote. Lizards and small mammals are occassionally impaled by shrikes, though invertebrates are much more frequent victims. Photo by Yummifruitbat on Wikipedia.
Distribution in Spain “Reproductora en la mayor parte de la Península, pero
con distribución más laxa en las regiones de influencia atlántica y
cantábrica.” More here
Black vulture: SEO’s bird of the year
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
SEO has named the black vulture (Aegypius monachus), as its bird of the year for 2010. Unlike previous spceies the black or monk vulture is not endangered, although it is certainly threatened. Rather it has been selected to highlight the fragile balance of this flagship species in sites such as Monfrague (Cáceres) and Peñalara (Madrid). There are some 2,000 breeding pairs of the species in Spain, up from just 200 in the 1960s. This said, the blight of poison is still responsible for many deaths. Crónica Verde
The genus name Aegypius is a Greek word for ‘vulture’, or a bird not unlike one; Aelian describes the aegypius as “halfway between a vulture (gyps) and an eagle”. Some authorities think this a good description of a lammergeier; others do not. Aegypius is the eponym of the species, whatever it was.[5] The English name ‘Black Vulture’ refers to the plumage colour, while ‘Monk Vulture’, a direct translation of its German name Mönchsgeier, refers to the bald head and ruff of neck feathers like a monk’s cowl. More from Wikipedia
Spring in Spain
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Absolutely gorgeous weather the last few days. A baby Blackbird fully fledged but with its yellow gape visible, feeding on the riverbank. The Black redstarts singing from the rooftops. A baby Sparrow being fed on the terrace. The rooks in the various colonies busily repairing their nests. A trip to get some soil for the pots, along with fertilizer for the roses and shrubs. Two mornings spent clearing up the terrace of plants that did not survive the winter. The roses pruned and showing their new shoots. Daffodils and Crocus in flower. Oh yes spring has arrived in León
- La Crónica Verde gives a short round-up of what to expect this spring.
Monk seal record
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
The largest surviving monk seal population in the world, at Cabo Blanco (between Western Sahara and Mauritania), has broken its modern record with 51 pups born in 2009. The breeding season began in May and the maximum number of births took place in August and September with 13 births each. Also, a new group of young females were identified this year as reproductive individuals, increasing the reproductive potential of the colony. Crónica Verde Blog
The conservation project is led by Spanish scientists. Spain sees the conservation of Cabo Blanco colony of monk seals a priority as the species was once common off its coasts. A small group of monk seals survived in Cabo de Gata, Almeria until the 1960s. In 2009, for the time in 50 years a Monk seal was spotted off coast of Mallorca.
The Cabo Blanco colony saw the birth in 2008 of 46 pups, practically the same as in 2006, and doubling those of previous years. The colony is now made up of 180? individuals of which some 50 are breeding females, demonstrating that it is finally beginning to recover from the mass epidemic caused by a toxic seaweed of the late 1990s which killed off 75% of the colony.
Distribution of monk seals. From The Monachus Guardian.
Marmots expanding into Catalan Pre-Pyrenees
Monday, March 15th, 2010
The Alpine Marmot is successfully spreading into the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees, and there may now be as many as 10,000 individuals in the region. (more…)
Guide to the Catalan Pyrenees
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Simon Rice who writes an excellent blog here on iberianature has put together this comprehensive and original guide to the Eastern Catalan Pyrenees (and Pre-Pyrenees) which he calls “The Book”.
Scroll down for sub links in to wildlife, history, geography, food and culture.
The region of the Pallars Jussà and Sobirà, that is to say, the valley of the river Noguera Pallaresa, contains an extraordinary variety of environments within a relatively small area, with an abundance of associated wildlife. The fact that the region has until recently been isolated from the built-up areas around Barcelona and Catalonia’s coastal strip means that these environments remained in pristine condition while more accessible areas suffered the depredations of modern times, such as the use of pesticides, forest clearance, etc. Notwithstanding the fact that Catalonia’s star turn, the wonderful Parc Nacional d’Aigüestortes I Estany de Sant Maurici, was founded during this period, in 1955, the region now hosts dozens of large protected areas.
Miguel Delibes dies
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
The great Spanish author Miguel Delibes died on Friday 12 March. His love of the rural life and landscape of Castilla and hunting surfaced repeatedly in his books.
He won the Spanish-speaking world’s top literary award, the Premio Cervantes in 1993, along with the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras, and was a member of the Spanish Royal Academy. The Cervantes Institute said Delibes’ passion for the countryside — and hunting — had given him a true feel for the decline of rural life and the fragility of the environment. “It is not going too far to say that this hunter who writes measures his passions with a shotgun resting on his shoulder, and in this he finds joy, anxieties and even fineness of spirit,” the institute said in a biography of Delibes.
TP notes on the forum
“The recurring theme of his works was social injustice and the contrast between rural life and modernity. His ability to portray the harshness of rural life in Castilla and the language of its people was amazing. Many of his novels deal with hunting – deeply rooted in Castilla – and his famous essay justifying his love of hunting, “La caza: mi punto de vista” , and in which he vehemently criticises the mass slaughter of captive pieces, which will undoubtedly strike a chord among some iberianatureforumers, expresses very well the sentiment of many people, hunters and critics alike.”
Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, (Poza de la Sal, March 14, 1928), the great Spanish naturalist and broadcaster, died 30 years ago today. He was killed in a helicopter accident while filming in Alaska on his birthday March 14, 1980.
He was an expert in falconry and animal behavior and spent many years studying wolves, but above all he was a great communicator who captivated Spain in the 1970′s, doing more than anybody to promote natural history among the general public. He is best known for the highly successful and influential series El Hombre y la Tierra (1975–1980), which you can watch online here. Millions of homes in Spain were captivated by the series, and there are possibly apocryphal tales of the streets being empty when the episodes were broadcast. The series and his other work played no small part in the change in attitude towards wildlife in general and wolves in particular. Rodríquez de la Fuente used wolves he had raised himself from cubs living in a semi-wild fenced estate for the film. They were different times with inferior cameras than today. But, for all its trickery, the episode on el lobo still stand out as superb and beautiful piece of nature documentary and holds a rightful place in contemporary Spanish folk memory. And his work inspired a whole generation of young Spanish naturalists who work in nature conservation today.
- More from Crónica Verde
- Wikipedia
- A certain degree of hagiography surrounds his figure (there are more 60 monuments to him in Spain including schools, plaques, parks and streets).
- Special in El Mundo
The legacy of his work is continued with the Fundación Félix Rodríguez .
Hermann’s tortoises for Valencia
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
More than three hundred Hermann’s tortoises, many previously kept as pets, have been released into the Sierra de Irta (Castellón). They appear to have adapted well to the area and may already be breeding. The aim is to build up a stable population in region. Although the only original population of Hermann’s tortoises in mailand Spain is in Sierra de L’Albera (Girona), other populations in Catalonia have been reintroduced in Delta del Ebro, El Garraf and Sierra del Montsant. There is a also a population on Mallorca and Menorca. (Quercus) Via Wild Spain
Wettest winter for 51 years in Spain
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
The rainfall records for Spain keep tumbling. According to the latest provisional figures from Aemet, this winter has the wettest in Spain for the past 51 years (since 1959), and 43% more than the average for the benchmark period of 1971-2000. Andalucía, Catalonia and Castilla-La Mancha have seen the most precipitation (rain and snow). Reservoirs are now at 72% of capacity, which is 27% more than the average for the last 10 years. And more rain is expected. Público 
