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• Birding on disused railway tracks - Spain's "greenways", old disused railway lines that have been recovered and reconditioned for use by walkers and cyclists, are to be promoted also to encourage bird-watching and bird conservation, according to a recent agreement between the Spanish Train Foundation (FEE) and the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/Birdlife). Follow link for online guide in English to Spain's Greenways.
Date: June 16, 2009 Source: Greenways
• The village that doesn't want Imperial eagles - The village of San Román de los Montes, in the Sierra de San Vicente area of Toledo, achieved some notoriety when a national newspaper announced that it was the one village which had so far refused to join the Imperial eagle "stewardship" network. The programme, implemented by SEO/Birdlife and backed by the Ministry of Environment, has so far been joined by 57 councils specially selected because of the presence of endangered Imperial eagles in the vicinity. Selected councils are invited to join the network and to take into consideration the presence of Imperial eagles in policy decisions, including education and urban development. There are an estimated 250 pairs of Imperial eagle in Spain, the total world population.
Date: June 16, 2009 Source: Público
• Ospreys nest once more in mainland Spain - Ospreys have nested successfully in mainland Spain for the first time in 70 years. Two pairs originally released as youngsters in Andalucía have spent two years maturing in Mali and Senegal before flying back across the Sahara to breed in Spain this spring. One pair nested in the Odiel marshes of Huelva and the other next to a reservoir in Cadiz. Between them they raised five chicks. This is hailed as a breakthrough for the research team lead by Miguel Ferrer which has so far released 108 young ospreys from northern Europe in Cadiz and Huelva.
Date: June 16, 2009 Source: El País
• Return of the otter - Otters (Lutra lutra) are no longer threatened in Spain, according to a report published by the Ministry of Environment and compiled by 250 researchers led by José Mª López Martín and Juan Jiménez Pérez. The report reviews the evolution of the otter population in Spain over the last 20 years and concludes the species is making a comeback, both in rivers and on the coastlines. In a 2006 census otters were found in nearly 70% of sampling stations. Improved water quality, less poaching and the higher presence of crayfish (mainly introduced) are thought to be the main reasons for the recovery. Date: June 16, 2009 Source: El Mundo
• Spain and Portugal to rally for Tagus in Talavera - A demonstration is planned in Talavera de la Reina to campaign for the recovery of Iberia's longest river, the Tagus. The rally, planned for 20th June, seeks to bring attention to the fact that 80% of the Tagus is siphoned off to fuel industrial agriculture and urban development in the Spanish Mediterranean regions of Murcia, Alicante and Almería (fruit and veg for export, golf courses for ex-pats and tourists) and that the small portion which finally flows into Portugal is heavily polluted with effluent from Madrid. The event is expected to be well-attended by environmental groups, regional politicians, farmers, cultural organisations, kayakers, and many concerned citizens from both Spain and Portugal. Follow link for full text, in English.
Date: June 15, 2009 Source: Tagus Network (Red del Tajo)
• Another success for Madrid's urban Peregrines - For the third year running Peregrine falcons have bred successfully in a nesting box set up by SEO/Birdlife on the roof of Madrid's Museo de América building. The pair, one of three currently nesting in the city of Madrid, is raising three chicks, seemingly oblivious to the traffic on the A-6 motorway below. Spain has a total population of 2400-2700 pairs of Peregrines which suffer from low reproductive success due to pesticides and, more recently, from increased predation from increasingly common Eagle owls. Date: May 12, 2009 Source: SEO/Birdlife
• Portuguese Men o'War spotted in Spanish Med - Portuguese Man O' War, Physalia physalis, one of the world's most poisonous jellyfish, has been spotted off Spanish beaches in Murcia for the first time in ten years. Scientists have warned the creatures, which are not strictly jellyfish but floating colonies of microscopic hydrozoans, could soon arrive in waters around the Balearic Islands and the Catalan coast after having been swept by westerly winds through the Gibraltar Strait. With a sting 10 times stronger than an ordinary jellyfish, they present a more dangerous threat than the annual jellyfish invasion of beaches in Spain, France, Italy and North Africa. "Climate change is changing the migration patterns of many creatures. If they establish themselves it would be very worrying because they really are very dangerous," said Xavier Pastor, the European director of the Oceana ecological campaigning group.
Date: May 12, 2009 Source: Daily Telegraph and others
• Spain worst hit by climate change - Spain is one of the EU countries most vulnerable to climate change, states Greepeace in a new 76 page report. The situation, according to current scientific evidence, is even worse that previously estimated, says Greenpeace: The 1.5ºC temperature increase in Spain during the last century is double the world average (0.74ºC). Sea-levels have increased 2-3mm per year in northern Spain during the second half of the 20th century. Spain's glaciers have been reduced by 80% in the last few years. Vineyards and other crops are suffering losses due to the "Mediterranisation" of the north and the "Africanisation" of the south. Tourism is being hit by lack of water in the coasts and ski resorts are closing due to insufficient snow. Fires, heatwaves and other consequences of extreme meteorology are becoming more common.
Date: May 12, 2009 Source: Greenpeace
• Carrion ban lifted to benefit vultures - Farmers are to be allowed once more to leave dead livestock in their fields - to help starving vultures. Many vultures have been starving to death since a European law passed in 2002 and aimed at tackling mad cow disease forced all dead livestock to be cleared away. According to Birdlife International, Griffon vultures in Spain suffered particularly. Vultures have been seen flying hundred of kilometres searching for food, showing up in Germany and Belgium. MEPs voted for a change in the law which will now allow farmers to leave dead livestock in their fields - providing it is deemed safe and hygienic.
Date: May 12, 2009 Source: BBC and others
• Imperial Eagle webcam up again - Nesting Spanish Imperial Eagles in Cabañeros National Park can once again be followed online, in real time, thanks to a webcam set up by SEO/Birldlife as part of it's long-term education effort. There are currently only 253 pairs of breeding Imperial Eagles in Spain and, thanks to conservation efforts, numbers are slowly increasing. SEO is also trying to boost eagle numbers by helping landowners to increase rabbit populations on their estates. Finally SEO is also setting up a Custody Network of over a thousand municipalities across Spain. The network should help protect the eagles from poisoned baits, high tension cables, illegal hunting and aggressive urban developments. To view the webcam paste the following address into your browser [mms://213.192.239.249/alzandoelvuelo ].
Date: April 03, 2009 Source: El Mundo
• Gredos poaching ring busted - 48 people have been arrested for alleged involvement with a poaching network in the Gredos mountains of central Spain. The group provided a "poaching safari service", leading customers to shoot big game in the National Park and other protected areas in Spain. Customers would pay up to 5,000 euros to kill an animal, under the cover of darkness, and later receive the stuffed trophy. Police also confiscated a number of firearms, high-tech surveillance equipment and over 350 trophies, including ibex, roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, chamois, wild boar and wolves.
Date: March 31, 2009 Source: Norte de Castilla
• "Save Extremadura Now" petition - Spain's Ornithological Society SEO has launched an online petition against projects which it considers will have negative effects on the wildlife of Extremadura, a region widely considered to be one the best-conserved in Europe. The petition criticises plans for an oil refinery in Tierra de Barros, combined-cycle power stations, illegally-approved windfarms, thermosolar plants in Casas de Hito (in the heart of the main overwintering area for cranes and waterbirds in Extremadura), and roads and motorways with a serious environmental impact, together with the spread of illegal urban development in protected areas. Follow link to sign the petition, in English. Date: March 11, 2009 Source: SEO/Birdlife
• Plight of the Reed Bunting - The Reed Bunting has been named Bird of the Year by SEO/Birdlife to help highlight the plight of the only two subspecies of this bird nesting in Spain and which could soon become extinct. Whilst the wintering population of the subspecies of Reed Bunting from Europe is deemed healthy, the two resident subspecies may only number 400 pairs spread across many small fragmented sites. In Catalonia and the Balearics the nesting population of Reed Buntings has fallen by 80% in the last decade, and it has disappeared from Asturias, Castilla y Leon, Comunidad Valenciana, Murcia and Andalucía. The extensive use of agrochemicals on crops next to reed beds is thought to be a major contributing factor to the decline. Date: March 11, 2009 Source: SEO/Birdlife
• Spain lists valuable "geosites" - 144 world-class Spanish geology and palaeontology sites - geosites - are to be in included in the first national catalogue of it's type. The list is considered a necessary first step to provide legal protection for many of these unique sites, some of them over 600 million years old. Outstanding examples of sites of special interest are Abella, Isona and Camarasa, in Lérida, Punta Aitzgorri in Zumaia (Guipúzcoa), the Sorbas reefs (Almería), the amber deposits of Peñacerrada (Álava and Burgos) or El Soplao (Cantabria), the carboniferous forest of Verdeña (Palencia), dinosaur footprints in many regions, volcanoes of Canaries and many mines and caves. Follow link for list of geosites, in Spanish.
Date: March 11, 2009 Source: El País
• Photos of wild Spain, month by month - Photographer Antoni Candela and bank Caja Madrid have teamed up to produce a new website to showcase Spain's flora, fauna, landscapes and climate. The site, in Spanish, has photo presentations for every month of the year. Images are downloadable as screensavers. Follow link to view. Date: February 16, 2009 Source: Naturax12
• Birding tours in Madrid's parks - Free birdwatching tours of Madrid's urban and suburban parks are available
during February and March. The tours are organised by Madrid's city council
and Spain's ornithological society, SEO/Birdlife, and include visits to the
Casa de Campo, Dehesa de la Villa, Parque del Oeste, Parque Sur and the
public portion of El Pardo reserve. Follow link for dates, details and
sign-up forms (in Spanish) or contact tel. 914340910 or e-mail
educacion@seo.org
Date: February 13, 2009 Source: SEO/Birdlife
• Iberian lynx's sex drive goes on record - Lynx in El Acebuche captive-breeding programme in Doñana National Park
recently came into heat and biologists were able to record the
short but intense mating behaviour. Females are receptive for one week only
between January and February and copulate up to 80 times in 48 hours, thus
almost guaranteeing pregnancy. Sex-drive hormone levels are 35 times higher
in Iberian lynx than in other wild cats for reasons that are unclear,
although it is thought that it may be a response to low genetic variability in a shrinking population. Follow link for video-clip.
Date: February 13, 2009 Source: El Mundo
• Zamora wolf-watching centre to go ahead - Plans are advanced for the construction of a wolf interpretation centre in
the hamlet of Robledo, in Zamora's Sierra de la Culebra. The project
promoted by the council of Puebla de Sanabria is being hailed as a
first-of-it's-kind in Europe. The 20 hectare complex has a budget of 4.5M
euro, mostly from rural development aid, and will include a pack of
captive-bred Iberian wolves in a large natural enclosure as well as several
educational and research facilities.
Date: February 13, 2009 Source: Norte de Castilla
• Fractal marshes of Andalucía - An unusual exhibition of aerial photographs of the wetlands of Andalucia´s south coast is currently showing in Sevilla. The pictures, by Héctor Garrido, concentrate on the shapes and forms brought about by mud, water and time as seen from above and their relationship with fractal geometry. "Fractal Harmony of Doñana" can be visited in Casa de la Ciencia until 10th February. The images can also be seen online - follow link.
Date: January 13, 2009 Source: Armonía Fractal
• Online guide to walking in La Palma - The island of La Palma, in the Canaries, will host the 40th Conference of the European Rambler's Association in April this year. The island has also launched an online guide in English to it's excellent and well marked footpath network: 2 GRs, 38 PRs and 24 SLs - a total of 1,000 kilometres of marked and signposted hiking paths, from the warm coastal areas up to altitudes of 2,000m. Follow link for maps and further info. Date: January 13, 2009 Source: Senderos de la Palma
• Otters return to Guadiana - A recent report from the Guadiana water board confirms this river as one of the best refuges for Spain's otters.There is anecdotal evidence for the return of the otter to many of Spain's waterways, although this is the first major study published since a national review of the species in 1990. Riverside vegetation cover and reasonable water quality seem to be prime considerations for otter habitats. Date: December 10, 2008 Source: La Opinión Coruña
• New hope for Iberian lynx - There was a sense of cautious optimism at the seminar on Iberian lynx
conservation held last week in Huelva: Both the wild and captive populations
of Iberian lynx continue to grow and new territories have been earmarked for
reintroductions. Ten years ago there were an estimated 100 adults of this
species left in the world and extinction seemed close. Now the the Doñana
(Huelva) population remains stable and the Andujar (Jaén) population has
doubled. There are plans to reintroduce wild lynx from Andujar to private
estates in the neighbouring area of Guadalmellato (Córdoba). The Andalusian
captive- breeding programme is reportedly doing well also: 50 lynx spread
between three centres produced a record 13 cubs in 2008.
Date: December 04, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• Lynx population confirmed in Castilla-La Mancha. - A new breeding population of at least 15 Iberian lynx is confirmed for a
secret location in the Montes de Toledo in central Spain. The Autonomous
Community of Castilla La Mancha has released phototrap images obtained in
2007. This nucleus could be specially valuable if it turns out to be a
different genetic stock as it could add "new blood" to the main Andalusian
population.
Date: December 04, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• Doñana webcams - The Doñana Biological Station (EBD) has set up public webcams in selected
areas of the National Park, including some of the lynx captive-breeding
pens. Follow link and click on icons in the "Stream" column for real-time
viewing.
Date: December 04, 2008 Source: Estación Biológica de Doñana
• Road-killed bear in León - Spain's first confirmed road-killed bear was found this week on the A-6 motorway near Villafranca del Bierzo, north-western Spain. The bear, a young male, probably belonged to the Alto Sil nucleus in León and was accidentally run-over whilst searching for a new territory, said Guillermo Palomero of the Brown Bear Foundation. There is thought to be a reasonably healthy population of about 100 bears in a 2,600 km2 area between León's Alto Sil, eastern Lugo and south-western Asturias.
Date: October 29, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• 6,000 year-old nomadic cattle tradition endangered - Spain's 6,000 year-old tradition of moving cattle between winter and summer pastures, along with it's many environmental and social benefits, could soon be over, warns Adena/WWF. There are now 300,000 heads of transhumant cattle in Spain, compared to 5 million a century ago. Transhumant cattle spreads manure (soil fertility), eats brushwood (reduces fire-hazards), disperses plant seeds (5,000 seeds per day per sheep), recycles post-harvest crop waste (cereal stubble, vineyard leaves), avoids use of fossil-fuel (travels by hoof), adapts to climate change (goes where the grass is greener), creates wildlife habitats (patchwork of grazed open areas), conserves ancient breeds (merino sheep, tudanca cows), produces high quality products (organic meat, specialty cheeses) and employs 10,000 families in Spain. However, says Adena, Spain's modern drovers have problems obtaining state benefits and face unnecessary red-tape when travelling between autonomous communities.
Date: October 27, 2008 Source: WWF/Adena
• 11,000 wintering cranes threatened by solar power plant - One of Spain's main roosting sites for wintering cranes is threatened by plans to build a solar power plant. The project, with associated gas combustion units, electric substations and power lines, would be located near the Sierra Brava reservoir and Casas de Hitos estate in Extremadura, a site famous to birdwatchers from around the world. Over 11,000 cranes would be disturbed, as well as many species of aquatic and steppe birds. SEO, Spain's national ornithological association, says the plant can be built somewhere less sensitive to wildlife and requests international support to protect the site. Follow link for info in English and drafts of protest letters.
Date: October 27, 2008 Source: SEO/Birdlife
• Wolves howl once more in Madrid's mountains - Wolf sightings are becoming increasingly common in north-western Madrid, in the Somosierra mountains bordering the provinces of Segovia and Guadalajara. Experts agree the species continues to spread from it's stronghold in Zamora and Galicia (1,500 - 2,000 wolves) and is re-colonising more southerly territories, although a breeding population in Madrid is still thought unlikely. If confirmed, the report of a dead wolf on the A1 motorway last year would be the first instance of a wild wolf in Madrid in 40 years.
Date: October 27, 2008 Source: Europa Press
• 100 wolves to die in Castilla y León - Castilla y León plans to cull 100 wolves, a measure opposed by various conservation groups. WWF/Adena says it was not consulted, despite forming part of the regional wolf-management committee. Wiping out over 10% of the wolf population is inadmissible, say environmentalists. Wolves help to limit numbers of red deer and wild boar, species which also come into conflict with humans. According to one report Castilla-León pays a yearly average of 122,177 euros in compensation to farmers for damage caused by deer and boar in Riaño, compared to only 13,801 euros for wolf damage in the same area.
Date: September 26, 2008 Source: Ecodiario
• Pyrenees glaciers melting fast - Spain's remaining active glaciers are in the Pyrenees. Of these 60% have melted due to climate change and the rest (10 on the Spanish side, 11 on the French side) will do so within the next 50 years. This is one of the conclusions published by a team of Spanish scientists in The Holocene journal. "Glacier evolution in response to climate change is one of the most efficient indicators of global warming", said Juan José Gonzalez of the University of Cantabria.
Date: September 26, 2008 Source: The Holocene (and others)
• Unique photo of wild dolphin birth in Tenerife - A Bottlenose dolphin has been photographed giving birth in the Canary Islands. Erik Bos, the guide of a whale-watching boat operating off Tenerife, says he noticed a dolphin arching it's back in a strange manner and then realised it was actually having a baby. His snaps could be world-firsts - the event is rarely observed in the wild. There are 600-700 Bottlenose dolphins in the Canaries, with each island thought to have it's own distinct population.
Date: September 19, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• Why bees are bad for bears - An injured brown bear observed recently dragging a wire snare in Leon has highlighted a new cause of bear mortality in Spain: Illegal retribution by beekeepers. Bear raids on beehives in the Cantabrian mountains have increased tenfold following the European ruling on carrion disposal. Unfortunately hive-raiding bears have a tendency to return to the scene of the crime, thus becoming easy targets for irate beekeepers. The bears are protected thought their range and attacks on hives are compensated, but regional politics is influencing public perception: Sweet-toothed bears in Castilla y León, where compensations can take up to three years, are far less popular than in Asturias where payments are prompt. Date: September 19, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• Sound of the cicada (and other soundscapes) - Wildlife sound-recordist Carlos de Hita has added the latest weekly soundscape - a kind of wildlife sound calendar - to the online collection started by El Mundo newspaper in April 2008. Follow link for archives, 3.5 minutes each, with commentary in Spanish.
Date: August 05, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• 25% of Spanish Imperial eagles are killed by electricity cables - High tension cables are to blame for the deaths of 25% of Imperial eagles and 65% of Bonelli's eagles in Spain, despite new laws which aim to make the cables more bird-friendly. Most birds admitted to the Grefa wildlife hospital and rehabilitation centre have been electrocuted, says it's director Fernando Grefo. According to Spanish Ornithological Association SEO 25,000 birds are electrocuted every year in Spain, half of them protected species.
Date: August 05, 2008 Source: Tele5
• Brown bear cub found in Somiedo recovering well - A brown bear cub found last week in Somiedo (Asturias) is recovering in a clinic in Gijón. The 5 month old cub was discovered wandering along a roadside ditch in a confused state and taken to a local police station by tourists. The bear is said to be in good condition although it has problems in one eye which affect it's sense of balance. In the meantime a team of experts from the Brown Bear Foundation has located the mother with another two cubs in the area and is keeping track of them in the hopes of regrouping the family. If the cub recovers in time a reintroduction could still be possible as "bears have a great maternal instinct" said Guillermo Palomero, the Foundation's director.
Date: July 01, 2008 Source: El Comercio Digital
• Turtles washed up in the UK released in Canary Islands - Two loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) which were washed up on beaches in Devon and Cornwall in the UK have been released back into the sea in the Canary Islands. They are the only survivors of the 23 loggerheads which have been stranded on British and Irish coasts this year, an unprecedented number. The pair have been nursed back to health at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall, and have been returned to the sea off a beach in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. The Canary Islands are the nearest land point to the loggerheads' migration route around the Atlantic. Loggerheads turtles breed on the beaches of the Mediterranean, West Africa, Brazil, and along the south-east coasts of America.
Date: July 01, 2008 Source: Telegraph
• Lammergeyers to be reintroduced to Picos - A programme to reintroduce lammergeyers to their former range in Picos de Europa National Park will start in 2009. It hopes within 8 to 10 years to re-establish a breeding population in Asturias which has been absent for more than half a century. Eggs deemed to have a low chance of survival in wild lammergeyer nests in the Pyrenees will be harvested and hatched in captivity for use in the programme. The system, which involves the use of puppet foster-parents to avoid habituation to humans, has been successfully tested in Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park. Date: July 01, 2008 Source: Terra
• Water issues in Zaragoza Expo - Water and Sustainable Development is the theme of Expo 2008, the international exposition running until 14 September 2008 in Zaragoza. The event aims to set the minds of citizens towards scientific, yet fun reflections about big questions concerning the immediate future of our planet. Some contributions are expected to be rather critical: Sulvain Hubert, director of the EU pavilion, says things will be brought into the light, namely the ‘abuse and the misuse of this precious resource by the built up urban areas, industrial activity and agriculture.’ The site of the exhibition itself - a meander of the river Ebro - has also been questioned by environmental groups who point out that it seems to be against the ethics of the exhibition to construct a built-up area by the river and create an artificial lake 4 kilometres long. The price of a ticket is 35 euros for one day, from 9am until 3 the next morning,
Date: July 01, 2008 Source: Cafebabel
• Recovery of drovers paths continues - A national information centre on Spain's drover's paths is to be set up in Malpartida de Cáceres, in Extremadura. The project has a 760,000 euro budget, supplied by government-sponsored Fundación Biodiversidad. Spain's 125,000 km of drover's paths, linking valleys and mountains and the cool north with the warmer south, occupy a total of 400,000 hectares. The ancient paths, many of which have been cut off by fences or taken over by urban development in recent years, are protected by law since 1995 and slowly being recovered by the different autonomic regions. Most advanced is Andalucia where by the end of this year all towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants aim to have a footpath leading out into the neighbouring countryside.
Date: June 05, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• Imperial Eagle webcam in Cabañeros - A 24h live webcam is in operation on a Spanish Imperial eagle nest in Cabañeros National Park. The cam has been set up by the Spanish Ornithological Society, SEO, in collaboration with the park authorities. To view follow the SEO/Birdlife link and click on the "Imágenes en Directo" photo of the eagle's head. Alternatively copy and paste the following address in your browser: aguilaimperial.org Date: May 07, 2008 Source: SEO/Birdlife
• Climate change in Spain - Celsias report - Spain is currently experiencing the worst drought in 60 years, reports Climate change website Celsias. The amount of rain over the past six months is only 56 percent of typical rainfalls and reservoirs are at 50 percent of capacity, threatening agriculture, tourism and drinking water supplies. Temperatures have already increased 1.5 degrees over the last century. In addition, spring is now coming two weeks earlier in Spain, causing 23 more hot days than 30 years ago. This has an impact on the agricultural cycle, as well as the wildlife. Bears have stopped hibernating and Dung beetles in northern Spain have shifted habitat. Some predictions point to 2.5 degree Celsius increases by 2020 and 5 degree Celsius increases by 2050. At that point, rainfall may have been reduced by as much as 75 percent with Southern Spain essentially becoming a dust bowl.
Date: April 18, 2008 Source: Celsias
• San Glorio ski resort blocked by court - A project to build a ski resort in the San Glorio pass, between the provinces of León and Cantabria, has been blocked by a ruling of the regional courts of Castilla y León. The site, within the confines of the Natural Park of Fuentes Carrionas, is home to endangered Brown bears, although the court based it's ruling on the doubtful viability of a snow-based enterprise due to climate change.
Date: April 18, 2008 Source: El Mundo
• Castilla Leon promotes birdwatching tourism - The Trino Project, subsidised by the EU Initiative for Rural Development (LEADER), seeks to promote a new kind of tourism in the region of Castilla León. At present fourteen Local Action Groups offer accommodation and birdwatching routes in eight different provinces. Follow link for brochure in English with contact details and local websites.
Date: April 08, 2008 Source: Patrimonio Natural
• Oldest European human remains found in Atapuerca - Scientists have discovered the oldest human remains in western Europe. A jawbone and teeth discovered at the famous Atapuerca site in northern Spain have been dated between 1.1 and 1.2 million years old. The finds provide further evidence for the great antiquity of human occupation on the continent, the researchers write in the journal Nature. The find was made in the Sierra de Atapuerca, a region of gently rolling hills near the Spanish city of Burgos which contains a complex of ancient limestone caves. These caves have yielded abundant, well-preserved evidence of ancient occupation by humans and have been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. "It is the oldest human fossil yet found in Western Europe," said co-author Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, director of Spain's National Research Centre on Human Evolution (CENIEH) in Burgos.
Date: March 27, 2008 Source: BBC
• El Cachucho, Spain's first offshore reserve - El Cachucho, a 450 metre-deep fishery 56 km from the Asturian coast, is to become Spain's first Marine Protected Area. WWF has campaigned for many years for the protection of this specially diverse area which has required a consensus of 8 ministries. El Cachucho, which derives it's name from the Asturian term for Red bream, will form part of the European Natura 2000 network.
Date: March 24, 2008 Source: WWF/Adena
• Introducing European bears to Spain could be OK - Brown bears from the Iberian Peninsula are not as genetically different from other brown bears in Europe as was previously thought. An international study being published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that, to the contrary, the Spanish bear was only recently isolated from other European strains. These findings shed new light on the discussion of how to save the population of Spanish bears. "These bears have possibly been isolated in Spain for a few thousand years, which is a very short period in an evolutionary perspective. In other words, there has been a flow of genes to and from the Iberian Peninsula throughout most of the time brown bears have been there. This is extremely interesting data when we discuss transporting bears from other areas to Spain for the purpose of preservation," says Anders Götherstam, who directed the study.
Date: March 24, 2008 Source: Science Daily
• Ebro footpath finished - It is now possible to walk the whole length of the river Ebro, from its source to the Mediterranean along the newly-inaugurated, GR 99, the "Camino Natural del Ebro". The footpath totals 1,260 km and crosses Cantabria, Castilla y León, the Basque Country, Rioja, Navarra, Aragon and Catalonia. This is the first of an ambitious plan by the Ministry of the Environment to create walking routes, complete with basic accommodation options, along Spain's major rivers. Follow link for printable map.
Date: March 04, 2008 Source: Desnivel
• Greenway videos on Youtube - A series of short films featuring some of Spain's best Greenways (disused
railway lines converted into cycling and walking routes) is now available on
Youtube. Commentary is in Spanish but there is some information is English on the ViasVerdes website. Follow the link below to see the videos.
Date: March 04, 2008 Source: Vias Verdes
• Jelly menace to return this summer - Plagues of "mauve stinger" jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca, that have been the scourge of Mediterranean swimmers in recent years will return this summer, say scientists at the Barcelona-based Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM). Numbers of large fish such as swordfish and red tuna, which eat jellyfish, have been drastically reduced by bad fishing practices, as have the smaller fish, such as sardines and whitebait, which compete for food with the stingers. Global warming has also brought about the ideal conditions for jellyfish to breed: mild temperatures, little rain and a lack of the usual winter rainstorms. Plagues of jellyfish are nothing new - they often recur in cycles of up to 10 years, but recently, these cycles have become ever shorter, and the blooms more widespread and populous.
Date: March 03, 2008 Source: The Guardian
• Candid bear pictures in Madrid - An exhibition of unique photos of Spanish brown bears in their natural environment, in the western Cantabrian mountains, opens today in Madrid. The photographs have all been obtained by automatic trail cameras set up by conservation organisation FAPAS, and show bear behaviour and situations seldom, if ever, seen by humans in Spain. La Casa Encendida, Ronda Valencia 2, Madrid. Tel. 902 43 03 22. 10 am-80 pm daily, 4th-30th March.
Date: March 03, 2008 Source: La Casa Encendida
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