British isles nature
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.
Tag:
Articles in ‘On Spain’
14 killer whales spotted in the Canaries
June 24th, 2009
14 killer whales were observed yesterday for almost eight hours by scientists in the Canaries off Tenerife.
El Pais
Rufous Bush Robin display
June 18th, 2009
I very much enjoyed these photos by Mark of a male Rufous Bush Robin (Cercotrichas galactotes) showing off to a female by Mark on the forum.
Read forum post
See all photos on his site
Los Llanos de Libar
June 15th, 2009Steve has this very nice post on his Cornish Nature web with some lovely photos of a field trip to Los Llanos de Libar on the edge of the Sierra de Grazalema. Check out his embedded recording of Perezi’s frog calls.
Los Llanos de Libar – A Land of Reptiles, Amphibians & Mole Crickets
Shark fishing in Spain
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.
Iberian lynxes for Portugal
June 7th, 2009The Spanish government has agreed to “cede” (what a horrible word!) several lynxes to Portugal as part of the reintroduction programme. More, no doubt, on this soon.
EuropaPressAnd also in the areas earmarked for lynx reintroduction (Hornachuelos and Guadalmellato (Córdoba) and Guarrizas) Jaen), a questionnaire has found 68% of persons believe that the presence of the lynx in their counties will boost tourism.
Diario de Córdoba
Dutch elm disease in Spain
June 7th, 2009
Dutch elm disease (grafiosis in Spanish) arrived relatively late to Spain. It was first detected in the 1980s, though it may well have reached the country a decade before, and has decimated 80-90% of common elms (Ulmus minor) in Iberia. One of the very few elm stands to have survived in Spain is in Rivas Vaciamadrid, near Madrid, as it is isolated from other trees. Efforts are being made here to conserve the trees here and ensure a genetic bank from which one day to replant elms across the country.
Wikipedia (Spanish)
Bears attracting tourists to Vall d’Aran
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)
Is the future concentrated solar power?
May 28th, 2009
The Guardian claims that concentrated solar power, a field in which Spain leads the way, could generate “quarter of world’s energy”.
“Spain is leading the field on CSP: more than 50 solar projects in the country have been approved for construction by the government and, by 2015, it will generate more than 2GW of power from CSP, comfortably exceeding current national targets. Spanish companies are also exporting their technology around the world.”
New biosphere reserves for Spain
May 26th, 2009
Spain has been awarded with two new Biosphere Reserves: the island of Fuerteventura and its surrounding waters and Gerês-Xures, a natural area straddling Portugal and Orense, Spain. Spain now has 40 such reserves. In the photo, Dunas de Corrajeo, in northern Fuerteventura.
Bearded vultures in Cazorla
May 26th, 2009
The programme to reintrodce the lammergeyer (bearded vulture) in the Sierra de Cazorla is continuing with the release last week of three more females. 12 birds have now been released through the technique of hacking in the range since 2006. Five chicks were also born in captivity in Cazorla this February.
Tiger mosquito continues to spread
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
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
Monegros thoughts
April 29th, 2009
Simon has this interesting post with photos of Los Monegros. “It’s been over twenty years since I was last here, and lately I just seem to view Los Monegros from the luxury of the High Speed Trains that wizz through the region at over 300 kilometres per hour. What I see is that the term ‘desert’, often used by protagonists on both sides of the debate, is far from the truth; the region is farmland, although the living there is clearly very hard.”
Read on Simonblog
Note: I wrote this on the high-speed view of the Monegros a couple of years back.
Read
Barcelona blog
April 29th, 2009
The new iberianature Barcelona blog is starting to take shape…More on our walking tours shortly.
Barcelona blog
The rainfall records for Spain keep tumbling. According to the latest provisional figures 
I’ve just come across 
Three Iberian lynxes of the captive breeding programme have died in recent weeks from a renal disease. Lynxes in the wild are thought not to suffer from this disease.