Charming three-minute video from a tower block in Vall Hebrón in Barcelona of kestrels being raised in a window box for flowers . The pair of kestrels have been raising chicks for the last seven years in the same place.  The kestrels have chosen a good home and the flat owner has even dedicated a poem to them. My friend Sergi Garcia explains why tower blocks are such a good environment for kestrels.

• El País
• BBC
• More on the history of earthquakes in Spain

Spain will be one of the areas most affected by climate change,” he said, adding that a one-degree temperature change pushes the boundaries of winemaking as much as 100 kilometers north – the fact that Britain now has 1,000 hectares of winemaking land would have been unthinkable just 150 years ago. Spain, by comparison, has 2.9 million acres of land planted with wine-producing vines.

More than 200 puffins have been found dead along the coasts of Asturias and Cantabria in the last six weeks. SEO/Birdlife, who are unsure as to the cause, suspect the real figure could be in the thousands.  More here

The expansion of eucalyptus farming in the Iberian Peninsula began some 40 years ago, sold as a profitable panacea, a fast- growing tree species producing abundant pulp in comparison with slow-growing oaks.  Today there are more than 760,000 hectares of the tree planted in Spain and 646,000 in Portugal.  Don’t be fooled by the fires that rage each year in the their plantations. They are not forests, but rather green deserts with a huge environmental and landscape cost. Every years hundreds of thousands of new trees are planted: some 30 million will be planted in Galicia alone. Crónica Verde More stats from El País

I wrote this on iberianature a couple of years back in relation to a bout of eucalyptus fires:

Yes, this is bad news for the owners and the people who live in the area. One might call it an industrial disaster, but hardly bad news ecologically. If there was anything more than token policy for reintroducing autochthonous species, one might even say it was a good thing, but as it is, reforestation in this damp corner of Spain will be swift. Eucalyptus is highly combustible but also regenerates incredibly quickly afterwards. There are hundreds of fires along Galicia ‘s coast of year, yet all along the Rias Bajas and Altas there is an almost continuous mono-crop swathe of these Australian trees. This birdless green desert is the true disaster of Galicia ‘s coast.

The wolf appears to have firmly returned to Catalonia after an absence of more than 70 years. In the last few years a dozen  or so animals have been gradually arriving from France (see below) and settled in the Pyrenees, and have even reached as far south as the Vallés Oriental. The news  was released in the latest issue of the Spanish wildlife journal Quercus which reports the presence of up to 13 different individuals, some identified only once and others that appear and disappear depending on the  year.  However, so far all animals have been males, except for a female detected in 2008. This  is a common pattern, as young males tend to be the first to disperse, which explains in part why so far there is no evidence of breeding in Catalonia.The wolves have been detected in across an area of some 1,400 square kilometers in the Cadi mountains and other surrounding mountain ranges in Alt Urgell, Cerdanya, Alt Solsonès, and Berguedà. Unsurprisingly, the animal’s return has revived the traditional conflict with farmers and in the early years there was an average annual loss of about 80 head of livestock, although in some years more than 200 were lost. These attacks on livestock, for which farmers are compensated, have declined dramatically following various protective measures: just 3 sheep were lost in 2009 and 10 in 2010. ABC + Photo from here

How long before they reach Barcelona’s Collserola I wonder.

I wrote this last year

Tests have shown that this new influx of wolves in Catalonia is genetically Italian in origin, forming part of an expansion over a number generations out from the Apennines. The Apennine population began to expand in several directions from the early 1990’s. It moved north into the Italian and Swiss Alps; north-east into the French Alps and Lyon, and east towards the Pyrenees, reaching the Maritime Alps near Nice by 1996, Saboya by 1998. An individual was detected between Areja and French Cerdenya by August 1998 in the Madres Massif, just to the north of Canigó, and finally by 2004 into the Cadí range. The last Catalan wolf was shot in Horta de Sant Joan, in Tarragona in 1929, though the animal is thought to have disappeared from the Sierra de Cadí more than 100 years ago

Vultures in Catalonia are being increasingly spotted on the roads in search of roadkill, because of the paucity of their traditional sources of dead livestock: The EU prohibuts abandoning animal cacrasses because of mad cow’s disease. The above photo from La Vanguardia is along the N-230 between Lleida and Val d’Aran.

Nice, short video of a lammergeyer (bearded vulture – Gypaetus barbatus) swallowing a bone.  The images were  recorded in Tremp, in the Pyrenees at  “La Terret” observatory. Sent to me by recercaenaccio.cat.

The Missing Lynx (The Guardian) Good article. “Ten years ago, there were barely 100 Iberian lynx left. But an innovative Spanish conservation programme is rescuing them from the edge of extinction”

And this story about ancient giant bunnies from Menorca reported in The Scientist

The skeletal remains of a 26-pound rabbit was found on an island off the coast of Spain. Dubbed the Minorcan King of the Rabbits, this ancient rabbit lived approximately three to five million years ago and now adds evidence to a curious rule concerning the evolution of animals in islands. The so-called “island rule” states that big animals will get smaller and small animals (such as rabbits) will get bigger when the population is isolated on an island, perhaps due to the lack of mainland predators. In this case, the King is a whopping six-times larger than living European rabbits, but due to a rigid spine and short legs, it was also unable to hop.

Rather wonderful cave painting from Ekain in the Basque County of two bears. They apparantly represent brown not cave bears. They date from 14,500-10,000 years ago.

More in English and how to visit a nearby replica here. Pictures from here.

Fascinating article in BMC Evolutionary Biology on the role of humans in helping the expansion of the Egyptian Vulture (Alimoche in Spanish, guirre in the Canaries) and its remarkably fast evolution into a sub-species (Neophron percnopterus majorensis).

Archaeological remains show that first colonizers were Berber people from northern Africa who imported goats. This new and abundant food source could have allowed vultures to colonize, expand and adapt to the island environment. Our results suggest that anthropogenic environmental change can induce diversification and that this process may take place on an ecological time scale (less than 200 generations), even in the case of a long-lived species. Full article here

Found on Crónica Verde: Los buitres llegaron a Canarias siguiendo a los hombres y sus cabras

Wikipedia on the Canarian vulture (above photo not the Canarian sub-species)

• N. p. majorensis, the Canarian Egyptian Vulture, the largest subspecies with by far the smallest and most restricted population, is found only in the eastern Canary Islands where they are known by the name of guirre. Described as a new subspecies only in 2002, studies suggest that it is more genetically distant from N. p. percnopterus than N. p. ginginianus is. Unlike neighbouring populations in Africa and southern Europe, they are not migratory and are consistently larger in size. The name majorensis is derived from “Majorata”, the ancient name for the island of Fuerteventura. The island was named by Spanish conquerors in the 15th century after the “Majos”, the main native Guanche tribe there^. A study suggests that the species colonized the island around 2500 years ago and the establishment of the population may have been aided by human colonization.
• The population in the Canary Islands have been isolated from populations in Europe and Africa for a significant period of time and have declined greatly and are of particular concern due to their genetic distinctiveness. The Canarian Egyptian Vulture was historically common, occurring on the islands of La Gomera, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. It is now restricted to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, the two easternmost islands. The total population in 2000 was estimated at about 130 individuals, including 25–30 breeding pairs^. The island birds appear to be more susceptible to infections^. Island birds appear to accumulate significant amounts of lead from scavenging on hunted animal carcasses and the long-term effect of this poison at a sublethal level is not known although it alters the mineralization of their bones^. In order to provide safe and uncontaminated food for nesting birds, attempts have been made to create “vulture restaurants” where carcasses are made available. These interventions however may also encourage opportunist predators and scavengers to concentrate at the site and pose a threat to nesting birds in the vicinity

My friend Lisa has posted this excellent wildlife watching report to Extremadura. I love reports like this that don’t just focus on the birds. Lots of interesting stuff on insects, amphibians and as you can see, she chanced upon these otters at a “a small, reed-fringed reservoir” somewhere near Torrejon el Rubio. “Gambolling along the spit they chased away a competing Little egret before returning to the water and swimming towards the main body of the reservoir, followed by a very excited otter-watcher.”   Read more here

It appears that Camille, the last autochthonous Pyrenean bear, may have died, after 9 months without any sign of him. His death at the age of 20 comes as no surprise but is a sad symbol of the disappearance of bears in the range.  Now the hope lies in the 20 or so bears which have introduced (or born of introduced animals) in the Pyrenees by the French government from Slovenia. In the photo Camille sits next to the tasty feast of a dead wild boar, somewhere in the Navarran Pyrenees. 20 minutos

This article from Wildlife Extra is also interesting. New research suggests Cantabrian female brown bears do not hibernate while cubs are still young proves anecdotal evidence first recorded many centuries ago.

One of the weirdest trees growing naturally in Spain is the Dracaena draco, the Canary Islands Dragon Tree (Drago in Spanish). Reports of one thousand-year old specimens are somewhat exagerrated. The tree, shown above at Icod de los Vino, is thought to be the oldest in the islands at a sprightly 650 years.

The tree ‘s name has mythical origins: for his 11th labour, Hercules had to bring back three golden apples from the garden of the Hespérides, which is guarded by Landon, the hundred-headed dragon. Hercules killed Landon and his blood flowed out over the land, which began to sprout ‘dragon’ trees. Arkive. The origin of this tale lies in the tree’s resin: When the bark or leaves are cut they secrete a reddish resin, one of the sources of the substance known as Dragon’s blood.

A new Spanish study has highlighted the role played by vultures in reducing energy consumption in Spain, saving the annual energy use of an estimated 9,000 homes and preventing 193,000 tons of CO2 from being released in the atmosphere. Spanish livestock farmers produces 380,000 tons of carrion, whose incineration involves a high energy cost. An adult vulture consumes some three kilos of meat a week, with all vultures in Spain consuming some 10,000 tonnes a year. Unfortunately the strict EU rules, as a result of mad cow’s disease, force many farmers to incinerate dead animals in official centres at a high cost to both them and in terms of CO2 production. I’d be interested in knowing how much CO2 the vultures would save if and when the EU rules are eventually relaxed.

More from 20 Minutos

Satellite image of the Strait of Gibraltar from NASA found on Wikipedia.

Algeciras Harbor is the prominent notch cut out of the eastern end of the north shore of the Strait; the Rock of Gibraltar is the tiny arrowhead that separates the notch from the Alboran Sea. The Sierra Nevada, farther away down the Spanish coast, lives up to its name in this April scene. The difference in elevation between the Sierra Morena and the Guadalquivir River valley is highlighted nicely by cumulus clouds. Tangier, Morocco can be seen as a light-toned spot on the southern shore of the Strait, near the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean.

It lived on the carcasses of dead animals that are in the advanced stages of decay, whereas most carrion flies prefer less rotten flesh.

The fly was also said to have had an orange head that would glow in the dark, with some 19th Century scientists writing about how it could be found at night due to its luminous shine.

And 50 years after being described, the fly suddenly disappeared, supposedly for good, with the last sighting in 1849.

I found its possible ecological relationship with wolves fascinating:

Many aspects of its biology remained unknown, but the fly’s niche lifestyle was thought to have contributed to its extinction, as some experts speculated that it had a preference for crushed bones, in which it would lay eggs that turned into maggots.

Changes in livestock management in central Europe, improved carrion disposal following the Industrial Revolution, as well as the eradication of wolves and other big bone-crushing carnivores could have helped eliminate the fly.

‘Mythical’ extinct fly rediscovered after 160 years (BBC)

The bumps could be analagous to the parts of modern birds’ skeletons that anchor the flight feathers. Since the knobs are unlikely to be representative of feathers on Concavenator, the researchers propose instead that they are “non-scale skin appendages”, such as tubular filaments, present in modern-day poultry. The Guardian

Two pairs of ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) have reproduced in Andalucía (Cádiz and Huelva) for the second year running, thus confirming the recolonization of the species, some fifty years after disappearing from the Peninsula as a nesting bird (and eighty from Spain). It is claimed that the osprey is the first vertebrate top achieve this in centuries but it should be said that they have been helped by a reintroduction scheme involving the release of more than 100 chicks in the last seven years, until finally a released bird joined up with wild bird. The second pair is formed by two wild ospreys of unknown origin. Between the two pairs, four chicks have been raised this year (five were fledged last year) so a round of applause to them and the people involved in the project. Crónica Verde

• See also last year’s news on this Osprey breeds in Spain

Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) an endangered seabird, is under threat in Lanzarote, a World Biosphere Reserve, from unscrupulous restaurant-owning rogues selling them as “special chicken”. Thousands of shearwater chicks are being taken in Lanzarote and to a lesser extent Fuerteventura. The chicks are then being sold for as much 100 euros a go to punters wanting to try their “exotic” flesh”. Lanzarote is home to the second largest colony of Cory’s shearwaters in the world, and despite being a natural park, there is a woeful lack of suverlance, allowing the bird thieves to take their fill. Crónica Verde

Bears in the Pyrenees have had their best breeding year for decades this year with two females raisning two cubs each, in territories between Vall d’Aran and y los departamentos franceses de Ariège y Alto Garona. El Periódico

Pottok horses on Bianditz mountain, in Navarra. Behind lie the Aiako mountains. The Pottok (Wikipedia) is an endangered, semi-feral breed of pony native to the Pyrenees of the Basque Country, Pottoka being the Basque language name for this horse, both north and south of the mountains. This image by Mikel Ortega won an award on Wikipedia here

Books about the Basque Country I have read

The Basque Country: A Cultural History by Paddy Woodworth: Full of fascinating facts. An excellent balanced account.

The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky. Interesting in places but wildly opinionated.

Basque Country: Of Spain and France

This little guide book has some lovely coastal and mountain nature walks and drives. Fold-out touring map, large-scale (1:50,000) topo walking maps.

Coquineros en las playas de Doñana

Apologies to regular readers. I’ve been neglecting this blog recently as I’ve been working feverously on the wildworld project. Here are a few news items I’ve missed:

Project to save the capercaillie in Asturias and Cantabria (RTVE) Only 500 birds are left in the entire Cantabrian mountains (above photo)

80 loggerhead turtles released in Cabo de Gata A total of 376 are to be set free

Lammergeyer return to the Picos de Europa Historic release of two females in the Picos de Europa, the first for 70 years. See also Lisa’s description of the release here.

Female lynx found dead in Sierra Morena

• See also FRANCISCO DE GOYA, The Meadow of San Isidro on the Feast Day

There are few known coastal breeding sites for the  in Spain and France, apart from their core breeding areas in the Balearics and central Mediterranean. After carrying out some years of a ringing program in the Costa Brava area, Catalonia, some potential breeding areas for the Mediterranean Storm-Petrel (very irregular and endangered breeding species in the area, regularly recorded in Spring and Summer offshore) were identified. From Birds in Spain Blog (lots of photos

The seven Iberian lynxes (four females and three males) released in December 2009 in Guadalmellato, Cordoba are breeding successfully. Three cubs have been born to one mother, and two other females are believed to be pregnant.

The seven animals were the first to be released from the lynx captive breeding programme with the aim of establishing new territories across Spain. In this first case, an area close to the main lynx  stronghold of Andújar was chosen. To make their adaptation easier, supplementary food in the form of penned rabbits has been provided – the lynxes can get in, but the rabbit can’t get out. The animals have also been fitted with radio-trackers.

The biologists in charge of the project are delighted not only with the news of the cubs, but also because no lynxes have so far died – three to four were expected to do so as they succumbed to the ordeal of adapting to their new territory. One animal has also come into contact with lynxes from Andújar which bodes well that this small population can expand.

Photo of one of the Guadalmellato lynxes on its release: El Mundo

The breeding project was dealt a serious blow with the expected death in the next year of twelve lynxes from renal disease. More here Serious blow to lynx breeding project

Bizarre photo of the month goes to the people involved in the bald ibis reintroduction programme, who released six birds this week in the Sierra de Retín (Cádiz), making a total of 24 so far this year, and 215 since the proyecto Eremita began. El País. Note: the hats, in addition to an essential fashion item this summer in Cadiz, are part of the plot to confuse the birds that they have been raised by ibises not humans.

The aim is to reintroduce the bird to areas where it has become extinct and to strengthen existing wild populations in North Africa. The last definite reference to the bald ibis breeding in Spain is from a 15th century falcony book.

See also Bald Ibis breed in Spain for first time in 500 years

• Proyecto Ibis Eremita – Zoobotánico de Jerez
• BirdLife Species Factsheet (comprehensive)
  

To the amazement of scientists, a grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) has been spotted off the coast of Barcelona, after being tracked from Palestine/Israel. North Atlantic-Mediterranean populations were understood to have become extinct in the 18th century, and there have no sightings since. The most likely expllanation is that the animal is a Pacific grey whale that has become lost. If it does form part of a new Atlantic population that would indeed be news. El País and BBC

The Black Vulture Aegypius monachus is currently being reintroduced in the Catalan Pyrenees. Some 27 individuals were released between 2007 and 2009 in the Alinyà area. Each bird is being tracked: 15 regularly use the area, 3 are dispersing, 7 have been found dead and 3 are missing. A chick born on 25th April at one of the release sites was was the first to be born in the region since the late 19th century. Black Vultures in the Pyrenees

Note: SEO made the black vulture its Ave del Año for 2010.

BBC documentary of killer whales off the coast of Cadiz attracted by huge tuna captured by the almadraba fishing technique.

From The Natural World – Wild In Spain. Unfortunately it features Micheal Portillo.

The almadraba is an elaborate and age-old Andalusian technique of setting nets in a maze that leads to a central pool called “copo”. The maze uses just two net lines, called “raveras”. One net is connected to the shore and other line is secured in deeper water. Those lines have smaller oblique lines which leads to the central pool. Tunas are not able to see the exit from the central pool and remain inside. This simple maze works because tuna tend to go into the Mediterranean during spring and the beginning of summer. The floor of the central pool is raised in order to catch the tunas and when that floor is up, there is little room for tunas and they are then caught easily and slaughtered. Wikipedia

From Dolphins and whales in the Strait of Gibraltar

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) visit the Strait of Gibraltar during the tuna migration season in July and August. At the same time Spanish and Moroccan fishermen fish for yellowfin tuna, using longline fishing technics, they lower their fishing lines, armed with several hooks, vertically to the sea bottom. This fishing procedure is possible only in a limited area, where the depth of sea is only 100 metres. Killer whales, being intelligent animals, found out that it is much easier to take a tuna already caught on a fisherman’s hook, than to race with a fish in all its strength. Fishermen must often be satisfied with no more than the head of a tuna; orcas never eat the head of the fish as it contains a metal hook. This is the most dolphin safe of all methods of tuna fishery.

The killer whale population of the Strait of Gibraltar is only 12 animals (2006). There is a photo-identification catalogue of them. They are rather difficult to observe: they can only be found easily if tuna fishermen are on the sea, and the orcas hang around them. In any other instances, whale-watchers only can come across them by chance.

Spain has decided to reopen the Altamira cave complex in Cantabria after eight years being closed to visitors, despite scientists warnings’ that heat from human visitors damages the art. Visits are to resume next year on a restricted basis. The main chamber at Altamira features 21 bisons painted in ochre, red and black, which seem to charge against a low, limestone ceiling. The site was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985. The caves were first restricted and then closed after scientists warned that visitors’ body heat and carbon dioxide from breath were damaging the paintings, estimated to be 14,000 to 20,000 years old. El País

On seeing the paintings of bisons, horses, fawns and wild boars, Picasso famously proclaimed, ‘after Altamira, all is decadence’. A long line of great 20th century artists from Henry Moore to Miquel Barceló have been astonished and inspired by them. See also Altmira cave paintings

The caves are inscribed as masterpieces of creative genius and as the humanity’s earliest accomplished art. UNESCO