Archive for the ‘Cantabrian mountains’ Category
Monday, June 16th, 2008
A new draft of the Plan for the Recuperation of the Cantabrian brown bear (Plan para la Recuperación del Oso pardo Cantabrico) has been sent by the Castilla y León Environment Ministry to all the townhalls covering the affected areas within both the National and Regional Parks of the Picos de Europa, the Natural Park of Fuentes Carrionas y Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palentina as well as in all the areas which have been proven to be of vital importance for the bears such as the valleys Naranco and Lechada. Incorporated in the plan will be the monitoring of any possible communication corridors in order to join the two split bear populations and avoid the fragmentation of habitat. Any recreational activity within the protected area will be prohibited and forestry and agricultural use will be controlled. Hunting will be strictly monitored, being banned completely during critical feeding times (autumn) and in areas where bears are spotted by patrols. These new protection laws will be followed until said controlled areas come up with their own environmental management plans. All of which should effectively ensure the future survival of the Cantabrian brown bear and sound the death knell for the San Glorio ski resort project.
News from El Diario de León.
Read all about the San Glorio bears on the forum.
Watch a video of two young Cantabrian brown bears on elmundo.es.
Tags: laws, new, Plan para la Recuperación del Oso pardo Cantabrico, protection, San Glorio
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabrian mountains, Castilla y León, Conservation, Mammals, Picos de Europa | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
A bear cub was found dead on Sunday (8th of June) in the area of La Pernía, Palencia making it the first case of infanticide by a male Cantabrian brown bear to be registered in the eastern population of the Cantabrian mountains. Having been alerted to the incident by a private individual, the area was combed by members of the environmental services along with a patrol of the Fundación Oso Pardo (Brown bear foundation). Signs such as dens, droppings and tracks belonging to a female and her two cubs had previously been detected in the same area as have tracks of a large male with indications of intense activity which point to a fight. Infanticide is fairly common, natural behaviour among male bears in late spring/early summer as it can provoke sexual receptivity of a female thus allowing the male to dominate a territory through his genes, although the female will be fiercely protective of her cubs and will fight to save them. Evidence of the practice had previously only been found in the larger western population of Asturias, León and Galicia.
The partially eaten corpse has been taken to an animal recuperation centre in Burgos for an autopsy. It is hoped that the second cub survived the attack.
From terra.es
Discussion on the Cantabrian brown bears at Iberianature forum.
Tags: bear infanticide, Fundación Oso Pardo, Palencia
Posted in bears, Cantabrian mountains, Castilla y León | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Judge halts windpark in capercaillie territory
The Regional Government of Castilla y León ordered to explain why they authorised the works
The San Feliz windpark will have to wait. The heavy machinery belonging to the company Producciones Energéticas del Bierzo entered the León side of the Cantabrian Mountains in order to “pave the way” for the wind turbines. They don’t care that the area is one of the few remaining in which the Capercaillie still breeds. The alarm raised by the researchers specialising in this endangered species – there’s even a ringed female that they are monitoring on a daily basis – led the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO) to request the courts to halt the works as an emergency measure. And even though judges are reluctant to take such steps, León’s Court No. 1 for Contentious Administrative Proceedings ruled that the works were to be halted. In his ruling, the judge stated that “the required urgency is crystal-clear”.
News originally found in El País and translated by Technopat on Iberianature forum.
Tags: Cantabrian capercaillie, Capercaillie, Producciones Energéticas del Bierzo, San Feliz windpark, SEO, wind farm
Posted in birds, Cantabrian mountains, León, On Spain, Renewable energy in Spain, wind energy | No Comments »
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
According to Fapas, the Trubia valley in Asturias is seeing a slow but sure increase of reproductive female Cantabrian brown bears, the species having almost disappeared completely from this area. In 2004 one female of breeding age was detected. Of the sixteen individual bears identified here in 2007, two were females with cubs. In the next few months it is hoped to confirm the existence of either two or three females that could have produced cubs this year, the first having been photographed this spring by Fapas with her one cub. If their expansion continues at this rate, it is hoped that by 2010 the optimum number of ten breeding females will have been reached leading Fapas to comment that the name of the Trubia valley should be given plural status, Valle de los Osos. The conservation organisation sees this as the first important step towards the subsequent joining together of the two separate Cantabrian brown bear populations, dispersal among Brown bears as a species being a slow process due to the philopatry exhibited by female cubs who choose territory close to their mother’s when they reach reproductive age themselves.
See the Cantabrian brown bear topic at Iberianature forum.
Tags: cubs, expansion, Fapas, female bears, Trubia
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabrian mountains | No Comments »
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Following the news of the creation of a third patrol for the Fundación Oso Pardo which will be financed by the Obra Social Caja Madrid to further and coordinate the work of the existing two, today comes news of a new investigation into the conservation management of the Cantabrian brown bear. The project will be headed by the environmental department of the Asturian government and the Doñana Research Centre of the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas). Yesterday, no lesser personages than Miguel Delibes de Castro, respected Spanish biologist and mammal expert, and one of the leading European brown bear experts, Jon Swenson, met in Asturias for a working meeting to oversee the start of the investigation which consists of three phases. First is a study of the demographic evolution of the Cantabrian bears in order to diagnose their current conservation status, followed by the identification of possible communication corridors and the analysis of damages to agriculture and livestock. Delibes and Swenson finished their meeting with José Félix García Gaona, head of the Asturian Biodiversity and Countryside Department (Biodiversidad y Paisaje) with a visit to Proaza from where the Asturian Bear Foundation (Fundación Oso Asturias) is sponsoring a doctoral thesis by Andrés Ordiz Fernández, titled “Análisis de patrones de movimiento y actividad del oso pardo en Europa. Aplicación a la conservación de pequeñas poblaciones amenazadas. El caso de la Cordillera Cantábrica.” (Analysis of patterns of movement and activity of the brown bear in Europe. Application of the conservation of small, endangered populations. The case of the Cantabrian mountains.)
Doubtless, they also visited Paca and Tola with their new, hopeful mate Furaco.
News from lne.es
Follow the Cantabrian brown bear on IberiaNature forum
Tags: Asturian Biodiversity and Countryside Department, CSIC, Fundación Oso Pardo, investigation, Jon Swenson, Miguel Delibes, Paca and Tola
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabrian mountains, Conservation | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
A male Capercaillie (in Spanish, urogallo), named Manso by villagers in Asturias, has returned to the area where last year he was desparately looking for females of his own species. Having travelled to the mountains around the village of Lillo in León, he’s back equipped with a radio collar. His progress is being monitored and if relocating him to a more suitable area doesn’t work, then he’ll be moved the a new breeding centre not far away in Sobrescobio. Biologists say his behaviour is typical of a species heading towards extinction. From elcomerciodigital.com
Photo from lavanguardia.es
Read more on Capercaillie in Spain on the forum.
Tags: Asturias, Cantabrian capercaillie, extinction, urogallo
Posted in Cantabrian mountains, Conservation, On Spain | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
The Fundación para la Conservación del Quebrantahuesos is organising a work camp in July with volunteers in the village of Bejes, Cantabria. The camp is centred on helping the maintenance of traditional livestock farming in the Picos de Europa as an essential element in the conservation of the biodiversity and the recovery of the lammergeyer in the Cantabrian Mountains. Volunteers will help in sheering the sheep which are taken up to the high pastures in the summer. The camp involves three days working with the shepherds, two days learning about the fauna and flora of the Picos and one day’s rest. Knowledge of some Spanish is highly recommendable. More information from FCQ.
Tags: Bejes, Sheep in Spain, shepherds in Spain
Posted in Cantabria, Cantabrian mountains, Farming, lammergeyer, Livestock breeds In Spain, Picos de Europa, voluntary conservation work in Spain | No Comments »
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Following a rather sensational article in El Pais, an interesting polemical discussion is currently going on in the Spanish press. The original article centres on the dangers of bears becoming accustomed to human presence and approaching villages and their food sources, such as beehives, with the ensuing possibility of attacks on humans that this could incur. It refrains from mentioning that, in the north of Spain, bears and humans have lived side by side for hundreds of years resulting in no, or very little, danger on the part of the humans. In fact there exists a certain admiration and respect among the people of the Cantabrian mountains for their Ursine neighbours. The article also omits the very important factor of the lack of carrion around (an important part of the bear’s diet) due to the BSE laws enforcing the removal of carcasses from the countryside. Another concern raised is that foreign tour companies, in particular the British wildlife tour company Naturetrek, are endangering the future of the bears by disturbing them in their natural habitat.
Naturetrek deny they cause the bears any disturbance, a spokesman stating that their tours look for bears at a distance using public footpaths, though they don’t guarantee sightings. The Asturian tourist board and ecologist groups are of the opinion that this kind of tourism is endangering the growth and survival of the precarious Cantabrian brown bear population. However, bear specialist organisations and the mayor of Somiedo all envisage a future of guided and regulated wildlife-watching tours contributing to the local economy without disturbing the bears. A delicate balance.
lne.es
Tags: eco-tourism, Naturetrek, Somiedo
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabrian mountains, Rural tourism | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
But great news for the Cantabrian mountains and their wildlife;
The Castilla and León law courts have vetoed the project put forward by Tres Provincias S.A. for a ski resort in the San Glorio region of the Cantabrian mountains in the north of Spain, citing climate change as the main reason for its very doubtful economic viability. This makes it the first plan to have been denied on the grounds of climate change. The judgement points out that when, in 2006, the regional government of Castilla and León modified the laws protecting the Natural Park of Fuentes Carrionas and Fuente Cobre-Montaña Palentina (land included in much of the project) to enable the building of a ski resort, no scientific study was included to take into account the effects of climate change.
The threats to the environment and the future of the Cantabrian brown bear made by the project have led to huge opposition from conservationists, who have provided many environmental impact reports. The court also recognises that this project would be incompatible with the survival of many species of flora and fauna of the area, including the bears whose Eastern population would be severely affected.
News from El País
Read all about the subject on Iberianature forum
Tags: Cantabrian brown bear, Fuentes Carrionas, rejected, San Glorio, ski resort
Posted in bears, Cantabrian mountains, Castilla y León, climate change, Conservation, Iberianature news | No Comments »
Friday, November 23rd, 2007
Paca and Tola are two female bears which were orphaned 1989, at the age of four months when a hunter killed their mother and took the two cubs. The cubs were rescued by Fapas and Seprona after a tip-off and now live in semi-captivity in a large mountainside enclosure. Now they are to be mothers.
Photo of Tola and additional research by Lisa of picos-accommodation
The Fundación Oso de Asturias plan to mate them with a another male bear used to captivity in spring 2008, when they come into heat after hibernation. (LNE) The problem is that there is currently no captive male Cantabrian bear, so a bear from another “group” is probably to be used. I use the term “group” as the extistence of Ursus arctos Cantabricus as a separate sub-species is under debate.
The two bears live in a 5000m2 mountainside enclosure and have become a popular tourist attraction and have played a very important role in raising environmental awareness about bears in Asturias. Watch them here . There are references to bears almost every week in the local press and people love talking about them. One has the impression that bears in general and Paca and Tola specifically are quasi-nationalist symbols in Asturias, and much loved…unlike wolves.
Most of the time you can’t see them as their hidden in the rocks, scrub and trees, but they come down at 12:00 am every day to eat. I saw both Paca and Tola taking a bath this August as we all watched on, sweltering outside their enclosuse. The enclosure is in the beautiful Concejo de Trubia. Paca at the end of an excellent cycle path which runs along an old mining railtrack, known as La Senda del Oso. The path (or rather network of paths) runs through tunnels, across bridges and through a spectacular gorge. Reasonably-priced cycle hire is available at each end. They’ve also got cycle with back seats for little kids which is what we used. More here
Read the forum thread on Paca and Tola here
Tags: Fapas, Fundación Oso de Asturias, La Senda del Oso, Paca and Tola, Trubia
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabrian mountains | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
Lisa of the iberianature forum has written this excellent piece on the Cantabrian brown bear for the Olive Press with which she begins:
“CANTABRIAN brown bears have developed a slightly different genetic identity to other brown bears, including the European. This is due to the geography of the Iberian peninsula effectively cutting them off from other populations to the North. However, they have not been recognised by the scientific community as a distinct subspecies, being referred to as simply Ursus arctos. Read
Lisa runs this rather nice guesthouse in the Picos. Go there and discuss bears over breakast with her. Photo of Cantabrian bear nabbed from here site.
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabrian mountains, Mammals | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
As previously reported on Iberianature, bears, wolves and other wildlife in Spain are seriously threatened by the EU dead livestock ban arising from the BSE outbreak. 8-10 bear cubs are estimated to have died in 2006 because of the ban. Just in Asturias, 210,300 kg of dead meat are now removed every year which before was an essential food source for many animals, despite the fact that not a single case of BSE has been detected in the region. (El Mundo). The issue is currently being taken up by Spanish MEPS in the EU (Fapas)
Bear eating carrion in Asturias (FAPAS) See also Good news for carrion birds + spainbearnews
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabrian mountains, Mad Cow’s disease in Spain, Mammals, Wolves | No Comments »
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007
I recently received this mail which provoked the following debate on the forum here.
I was interested to read your article on http://www.iberianature.com/material/wolf.html.
“On the 4th of July at about 10 am I was leading a group of 7 trekkers from the UK down a mountain path in the Picos de Europa. We went from Refugio J D Ubeda to Sortes (I think this is just inside Austurias). At about 1000m altitude on a bend in the path we stopped for a break and quickly noted all the goats on the nearby hillside were all looking at another single animal higher up on the slope.
Getting my monocular focused it clearly was a large carnivore (bigger than a adult goat) which appeared to be trying to stalk the goats and some nearby sheep. There were no other humans visible in the area. It’s muscles in the shoulders were visible as it walked like a big cat. My immediate thought was that it looked like a Puma but the distance and background made the shape of its head difficult to see. It was being harassed by a couple of diving choughs or ravens, the spooked goats kept moving away from it, so in the end it just sat up on it’s haunches and looked at us.
Could this have been a Wolf ?
I attach some of my long range grainy photos that could be anything from a Big Foot to a Martian but I suspect it was a Wolf.
My apologies if you get lots of stupid questions like this all the
time but this ‘Beast of the Picos’ is bugging us.
Yours,
IO1 Steve Houghton
Posted in Asturias, Cantabrian mountains, Mammals, Picos de Europa, Wolves | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
26/11/2006 More bears in the Cordillera Cantábrica.
This year’s bear cub census by the Fundación Oso Pardo “seems to indicate that the bear is moving back towards viability in the Cordillera Cantábrica”. Between 24 and 26 bears were born in the western sector and five in the eastern sector, totalling 31, one more than than 30 born last year. Four more bear cubs are to be confirmed, giving a total of 35. At least three cubs were killed by their mothers. There has also been a huge decline in illegal wild boar snares found in the area (189 in 2004, 32 so far this year). Not all good news though, some bears are still being injured by snares and a bear was also found poisoned this year in Somiedo, The quality of the above graphic of cubs raised (1989-2006) is not very clear but you’ll get the idea of the rise. The estimated population is now some 160 individuals. (LNE) More on bears
Posted in Asturias, bears, Cantabria, Cantabrian mountains, Castilla y León, Mammals | No Comments »
