As the Tablas de Daimiel struggle desperately to survive the underground peat fires and dessication, and with just 1% remaining of this once world-class wetland, I thought it was worth remembering how they were seen one hundred years ago by Chapman and Buck in their classic hunting travelogue Unexplored Spain.

Isolated thus, a mere speck of water in the midst of the arid table-lands of central Spain, yet these lagoons of Daimiel constitute not only one of the chief wildfowl resorts of Spain, but possibly of all Europe. Upon these waters there occur from time to time every species of aquatic game that is known in this Peninsula, while in autumn the duck-tribe in countless hosts congregate in nearly all their European varieties. Read Complete text of Chapman and Buck –  Unexplored Spain 1910

Listen also to Érase un vez – a soundscape of Daimiel. Photo by Greenpeace.

According SEO/BirdLife, the wetlands and freshwater lakes of Spain are being destroyed at a critical rate, putting wildlife and habitats under extreme pressure. In a statement released to mark International Wetlands Day, SEO has condemned the loss of 68 percent of Spain’s freshwater lakes and 58 percent of the country’s coastal wetlands (over the last??). They state that these key conservation areas “are a mere testimony to what they were in the past.” In a similar line, Ecologists in Action blamed “industrial contamination, development, and waste dumping” for the loss of this essential habitat.

• Read in El País

Greater Flamingo first colonised Fuente de Piedra back in 1963 and has since made the area a star attraction for many visitors. With a maximum count of some 34,000 birds being present in the past then it is not surprising why many people want to make this area a ‘must see’ site during their stay in Andalusia….

It is sad to report that the numbers of Flamingos present at Fuente de Piedra are now down to 4 individuals and that non-breeding has been drastically affected by abuses of self interest and the lack of managed water resources…. Read the full post on the forum

Photo from Lynx Recovery Programme

from which I have snatched:

“Dr Astrid Vargas, famous for her work to save the lynx in Spain, shows me the control centre where they are monitored.

The lynx is like a domestic cat… with the hint of a tiger

To my disappointment, I am not allowed to see the animals in the flesh: there is the risk of them catching diseases and becoming unsettled if there’s a stream of visitors.

But it’s entrancing enough watching them on the monitors, as Astrid tries to find the cubs by panning cameras and switching between angles.

Two cubs are out for a morning walk but eventually join their brother in their den. They cuff each other, bite and play.

A three-year-old is about the size of a cocker spaniel, and they have wonderful faces, a little like a domestic cat, but then the hint of tiger flashes through. There is something both fey and ancient about their faces, it’s probably the tufted ears and pointed beard that does it.

They are at risk partly because disease has killed their main prey, rabbits. But environmentalists say what really threatens them is that the wetlands of this national park are drying out.

“Encroachment by humans has been brutal. If we do not protect the lynx’s habitat, there’s no point in having them in captivity – the purpose of this programme is to re-introduce them into the wild,” Astrid says.

“The reason the lynx is going extinct is because of our pressure. The Mediterranean maquis is shrinking fast, the natural vegetation is slowly but surely being changed.”