Archive for the ‘Barcelona’ Category
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Sad news. A group of vandals have disturbed one of the four “nests” of peregrine falcons in Barcelona. They climbed up one the chimney stacks in Poble Nou where the pair where raising three chicks, and in their panic the chicks flew before they were fully fledged. Two have been rescued but one was found dead in the street. The two rescued chicks are to taken to a nest on Montjuic and introduced to the pair there through hacking. May the full force of the law fall on these idiots. El Periódico
See also Peregrines of the Sagrada Familia
Tags: Montjuic, peregrine falcon, Poble Nou
Posted in Barcelona, birds, On Spain, urban wildlife in Spain | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Eduard Durany, of the Barcelona Peregrine Falcon Reintroduction Project, a scheme close to my heart, has sent me this photo of chicks in Guadi’s Sagrada Famila. Eduard notes that this year four chicks have hatched in the nestbox, a record for the site. In 2005, 2 chicks were hatched, in 2006, there were another 2, and in 2007 just 1 females. The father was released in Barcelona port in 2001 and the female was born on the Montjuïc cliffs in 2006. Photos here another BCN pair. + More info on Barna’s peregrines.
Thalassia and Galanthus are also organising a Peregrine Watching Day on 10th May from the Plaça del Sagrada Família, which is right in front of the nest. Telescopes will be available. I’m going. The activity starts at 10:00am.
Tags: peregrine falcon, Sagrada Famila
Posted in Barcelona, birds, Catalonia, urban wildlife in Spain | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
The number of boars in Collserola has doubled in the last three years to some 65o individuals, which are increasingly moving into the city’s outskirts to feed. (El Periodico) Here below a group of 30 boars feeding next to the excellent Vall de Hebron Hospital, where I had my kidney stone removed. Thanks to Lucy on the forum for flagging this. Overfamiliarisation can bring humans dangeously close to what is a wild animal, particularly when this is a sow with young. Wild boar numbers are increasing throughout Catalonia mainly due to the recovery of forests to the detriment of farmland, but also due to proliferation of corn crops. See wild boar in Spain
Posted in Barcelona, Catalonia, Mammals, urban wildlife in Spain | No Comments »
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
I’m re-reading Robert Hughes’ Barcelona, a fascinating history of the city from its foundation to the early 20th century. There’s a very interesting section on the Barcelonan and Catalan seafaring tradition in which he mentions the importance of ship’s cats – the bigger and blacker the better – and the custom of Shanghaiing them by tempting them on board with a bit of fish. Under 14th-century Catalan maritime law (Les Bones Costumes de la Mar), ship’s owners were penalised of they failed to provide a cat and rats infested the ship. Here’s the full quote from the law I managed to find:
If good be damaged by rats, and there is no cat on board the ship, the managing owner of the ship ought to make compensation; but it has not been declared in the case where a ship has had cats on board in the place where she was laden, and after she has sailed away the said cats have died and the rats have damaged the goods before the ship has arrived at a place where they could procure cats; if the managing owner of the ship shall buy cats and put them on board as soon as they arrive at a place, where they can find them for sale or as a gift or can get them on board in any manner, he is not bound to make good the said losses, for they have no happened through his default.
from “Les Bones Costumes de la Mar” (14th-15th c. Catalan text) from Twiss, Sir Travers, ed. Monumenta Juridica, The Black Book of the Admiralty
Get Robert Hughes’ Barcelona from Iberianature/Amazon
Posted in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spanish sea tales, Spanish seas | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007
I came across this remarkable event while reading about Barcelona in the Civil War
The “aurora borealis” is a luminescent meteor, a phenomenon that frequently happens in areas close to the North Pole and which can also be seen in rather exceptional circumstances in regions of Central Europe. So the aurora borealis that could quite clearly be seen from the Pyrenees, and even from the top of the Tibidabo hill in Barcelona, on the 25th of January 1938, was an absolutely unusual occurrence. It was in fact a unique experience. There are no known accounts of any other event of that kind at such meridional latitudes. Furthermore, the phenomenon took place in the midst of war, thus causing terrible confusion and shock among the soldiers who were fighting on the Aragonese front.
From THE REPUBLICAN YEARS (www.bcn.es) by J. Fabre, J.M. Huertas and. Pradas
Tags: 1938 aurora borealis in Europe
Posted in Barcelona, Catalonia, Climate, Extreme weather Spain, Historical accounts about Spain, history | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
A young alligator (70 cm) was caught in Barcelona in the River Besòs yesterday. The reptile was spotted by a local naturalist doing a study on birds. Experts believe the mild temperatures on the Catalan coast and the abundant presence of swamp crayfish may allow alligators to survive the winter here. This is the second alligator to be caught in just over a year near Barcelona, after the larger alligator caught in a pool in Collserola. (El Pais)
Posted in Barcelona, Catalonia, invasive species, reptiles & amphibians | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 4th, 2007
Henri Cartier-Bresson in Barcelona. Barrio Chino. 1933. He wrote “The narrow street of Barcelona’s roughest quarter is the home of prostitutes, petty thieves and dope peddlers. But I saw a fruit vendor sleeping against a wall and was struck by the surprisingly gentle and articulate drawing scrawled there”
Posted in Barcelona, Historical accounts about Spain, history, photography | No Comments »
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007
I received this email this morning. It’s based on this article http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/260758/0/autorizan/caza/cotorras/ . Although I have grown to love this pesky fellows I myself have no intention of signing this petition as potentially monk parakeets could cause big problems in the surrounding countryside to farming and wildlife. I hope they are only going to reduce numbers. If you don’t agree with me, please sign their petition. More on monks here: http://www.iberianature.com/material/barcelona_birds.html
“Dear Mr Lloyd,
A contact e-mailed me yesterday about the planned wild parrot hunt in Barcelona. I am based in Brooklyn and the monk parakeets live here peacefully with other wildlife. I am shocked and discouraged by this planned action and am organizing a protest. But there is not much I can do on this side of the Atlantic. What’s needed are voices in Spain that are against it.I have written about this issue and have an online petition. If you could spread the word in Europe, I’d be grateful”
Full story here:
http://www.brooklynparrots.com/2007/07/very-bad-news-from-spain.html
Thanks,
Steve Baldwin
The Brooklyn Parrot Society
Posted in Barcelona, birds, invasive species | No Comments »
