Bonelli's eagles visit

Friday 28 October 2016

Celebrations!

The Natural Park of La Mata-Torrevieja is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Park this year and various events have been organised to draw attention to this.
It is hoped to refer in the future to this area as  a “Protected Space”  rather than a park which gives the wrong connotation, as if a place to play ball games, have swings, let dogs run about,  and so on.
The first of the talks prepared was a presentation about the Taro Blanco – the shelduck, which was based on observations and study of this bird over the last 9 years by Park official Justo Ferrer.
This proved to be very interesting with a slide show of various places where it is to be found and its habitat.  One surprise was learning that it nests in old rabbit burrows rather than making a nest on the ground.  The birds mate for life and the father bird is very defensive in looking after its young.  The chicks are led out to the water as soon as they are able, to look for food, which is the artemia, the small crab-like crustacean which lives in broad salty water. The audience were loud in their applause and a group then went to see some of the ducks in situ.
The next event held on the 28th of October was a photographic exhibition of photos taken by Justo Ferrer to show “Birds in Action”.  These photos have been taken over a period of time of the many birds to be seen in the Natural Park, in various places and at various times.  They were often taken from Justo’s car as it served as a sort of “hide” so the birds were not frightened away.
Further events are to be: On Sunday 6th November, a presentation about the birds of  La Mata




On Friday 11 November there will be a bird walk. On Friday 25th November a presentation in the Palacio de la Musica and on Sunday 4th December a walk around the Wine route.
All times will be available on the Park website in due course.
The Volunteers of La Mata hope to support and be involved with many of these activities.


Monday 10 October 2016

Día de las Aves

Día de las Aves

This event was organised and run by the Parque staff, actually Jose Manuel, and took place on Saturday 1 October at the Parque. Approximately 35 people including 10 children attended.  Jose gave a presentation on the theories of the evolution of birds, some anatomy and a bit of physiology and then lead us on a walk through the Parque giving information about the various plants and also history of the vines. 
First stop was the acequión but apart from a couple of flamingos and a heron there was little to see.
Next stop was the hide and from here we were able to ascertain that what looked like a black raft on the lake was actually a flock of some 2-3000 black necked grebes. From the hide we went to the picnic area where some people made use of the observation tower and others enjoyed a picnic.
There will be more events over the coming months to celebrate the Parque's 20th birthday so worth keeping an eye on their website.

Stephen