Archive for the ‘Catalonia’ Category
Climate change in Catalonia
Friday, December 4th, 2009
ICO, the Catalan Ornithological Institute, have published a study on changes in the bird population in Catalonia. The climate of Barcelona is now similar to Castellon a hundred years ago, while Montpellier up in France is now like Barcelona used to be. This shift has meant birds such as hoopoes no longer leave Catalonia for the winter. Cetti’s warblers and Bee-eaters have been doing remarkably well, growing by 71% and 98%, respectively. Earlier springs and extended summers mean they have a longer breeding season. Butterflies, like the Monarch are now spotted as far north as the Delta del Ebro. A bird running out of cooler habitats in Catalunya is the Alpine Chough.The study also points out that birds are adapting to climate change by moving northwards and upwards, but at a slower rate than the actual changes taking place.
Adapted from Lucy’s post on the forum and orginally from El Periodico.
No livestock killed by bears in Catalonia
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
The improved protection for shepherds and herders in Catalonia has meant for the third year running no livestock has been lost to bear attacks. Fapas
The Pyrenees need more bears
Friday, October 30th, 2009Future of Pyrennean bears in doubt
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Without further reintroductions, the low number of bears in the Pyrenees (15-20 odd) make the conservation of the species inviable. For the time being, the French government has no plans to continue its reintroduction plans. Public support for bears in Catalonia is as high as 80%, but strong local opposition particularly in the Vall de Aran prevents any reintroduction programme from this side of the mountain range.
Fapas from La Mañana de Llerida
British isles nature
Saturday, June 27th, 2009Totally unrelated to Spain, but yes with nature and geography, I’ve been busy working on the new britainnature section, a guide to the geography and wildlife of the British Isles.
Shark fishing in Spain
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
The Shark Alliance has denounced the overfishing of sharks for their fins by Spanish ships. 60,000 tons were docked in Spanish ports last year.
“A new TNS Demoscopia poll, commissioned by the Shark Alliance, has revealed that people in Spain are unwittingly eating shark meat. Although 96% of those polled said that they did not eat shark, 76.4% were not aware that “cazón” and “marrajo” are sharks and nearly 33% said that they consumed these products. The results were released in conjunction with a new report from SUBMON, titled Spain: A driving force in shark fishing around the world, that documents serious fishery problems including mislabelling sharks at market.”
Read Spanish unwittingly eat shark (Shark Alliance)
For more than a decade, Spain has been one of the top five world powers with respect to the fishing and marketing of sharks. Spain’s fishing fleets, employing various gears, span the globe, taking sharks as targeted and incidental catch. Approximately 50% of the EU catch of “sharks” (all cartilaginous fishes: sharks, rays and chimaeras) is taken by Spain.
Bears attracting tourists to Vall d’Aran
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Despite all the overblown furore over the bear hunter attack in the Vall d’Aran, the occassional presence of bears is attracting increasing numbers of tourists to the valley.
Read (La Mañana)
Hvala the bear
And according to Fundación Oso Pardo president Guillermo Palomero bears are no more aggressive than wild boars.
Read (also La Mañana)
Tiger mosquito continues to spread
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
The tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is continuing its seemingly unstoppable march across Catalonia and is now present in 87 municipalities. The insect was first detected in the Iberian Peninsula in Sant Cugat del Vallès in 2004.
Pyrenean bear with cubs
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
Hvala, the bear at the centre of the furore last autumn after biting a hunter, has been photographed with two cubs by wardens from the Vall d’Aran. Another bear, Sarousse, which was also released in 2006, may also have cubs, and if so could spell the beginning of a rise in the Pyrenean population.
Pireneodigital
Barcelona blog
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
The new iberianature Barcelona blog is starting to take shape…More on our walking tours shortly.
Barcelona blog
Hvala awakes
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
Hvala, the bear who bit a hunter last year in the Vall d’Arán, has woken from her winter slumber. She was probably pregnant when she went into hibernation and the biologists monitoring her suspect she may have a cub or two, as she is staying in the same area (Bossòst, Vall d’Arán). Let us hope she is left in peace to raise them.
El Periodico
Otter watching in the Catalan Pyrenees
Monday, February 9th, 2009
Simon chanced upon this beautiful otter in the Catalan Pyrenees.
There could hardly seem a less promising place to go naturalising than the stretch of the Noguera Pallaresa just downstream from Tremp, ‘capital’ of the Pallars Jussà comarca in the Catalan pre-Pyrenees.
Pelican in Spain
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Most unusually, a wild pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) has turned up with a group of storks in Lerida. It probably breeds in Eastern Europe and usually migrates to Africa through Turkey and Egypt, but somehow has strayed too far to the west, and joined up with these storks who have come from Germany and Switzerland. I believe there are around half a dozen sightings of pelicans in Spain a decade. Photo from flickr, taken in Lleida on December 31st (by eb3alfmiguel)
Read about this story on the forum
Read in El Periódico
Red squirrels in the park
Friday, November 14th, 2008
Another lovely post from Lucy on the squirrels in her local Barcelona park.
Read
Freedom for Hvala!
Monday, November 3rd, 2008If you’d like to show your support for the bear, Hvala, currently being persecuted in the Pyrenees (see previous post), there is now a petition in Catalan that can be signed. Click on “Signas per l’ossa” (nom = first name, cognom = surname).
