strait nature news

November- 1st-7th - Common Cranes in Winter- Stephen Daly writes

I travelled through the plains of La Janda on a very wet Sunday morning in search of wintering Common Cranes (Grus grus).
We’d had a week of almost perfect weather and I shouldn't really complain when a large storm comes from the southern Atlantic, but I think we are so used to sun and warmth here, even in late November.

I belong to the “Asociatcion Amigos de la Laguna de La Janda” at the village of Tahivilla, and listened to reports of the results of our efforts to return part of the area to it’s natural state. Members of the association are roughly 90% Spanish, including some local landowners that do care about conservation and the environment.

Looking back, the draining of La Janda is regarded by many environmentalists and conservation experts, that this was one of the worst ever ecological disasters in Europe. In the late 1950’s Dwight D Eisenhower welcomed facist Spain under Franco back into the fold after years out "in the cold". The resons for this were quite clear at the time. Spain was very poor, Andalucia had famine and malaria, especially in the wetlands. The U.S. paid millions of dollars for land to use as air and naval bases in Spain and huge agricultural engineering projects commenced with the aid and tecnology of Dutch companies.Thus the entire land was drained for agriculture.

Giant Windmills

It’s a slow process, attempting to convince local and national governments the need for conservation and protection in this important area and the recent wind farm expansion has damaged and literally fragmented the eastern side of the plain of La Janda towards Tahivilla and Facinas.

It's not just the sheer physical presence of the 80m high turbines, with a rotor circumference of 65m There are hundreds of kilometres of compacted sandstone roads that have been rolled and built to provide access for maintenance crews to each windmill, which also break up the natural habitats of many animals.

Cables and Pylons

To compound matters, the companies operating wind farms, are not forced by planning legislation, as they should be, to bury the cables that take the generated electricity to sub-stations or beyond to larger pylon lines. Instead they have erected countless cables that go through the wind farm areas and have built another large pylon line from Facinas to Tarifa - right on the southern edge of the Alcornocales Parque Natural and one of the busiest bird migration pathways in the world. Wind turbines and cables do cause deaths to birds - in particular to Birds of Prey.
To date there is still no major breakthrough from the government of Andalucia agreeing to our formal proposal that in order to prevent further damage and destruction to the western area at present free of wind farms. La Janda should be given the status, SPA (Special Protection Area). Some of the huge agricultural area could be returned to it’s natural state, thus encouraging bird, animal and insect life to return to this rich area.

Above, a flight of Cranes fly across a section of the huge La Janda plain.

Looking back it is now regarded by many environmentalists and conservation experts that this was one of the worst ever ecological disasters in Europe, when, in the 1950’s the entire land was drained for agriculture.

Common Cranes in Winter- Stephen Daly writes

I travelled through the plains of La Janda on a very wet Sunday morning in search of wintering Common Cranes (Grus grus).
We’d had a week of almost perfect weather and I shouldn't really complain when a large storm comes from the southern Atlantic, but I think we are so used to sun and warmth here, even in late November.

Common Cranes are present during winter and is's common to see them in Extremadura feeding with their cousins, Great and Little Bustards. Sadly, the last Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in Cadiz province, died this Spring in La Janda. He was affectionately know as "Jorge" and reached 16 years of age.

Little Bustards (Tetrax tetrax) can be seen throughout the area in smaller groups but larger flocks roost in August and September, when irrigated fields offer food sources in the driest time of the year. Adult birds eat a variety of plants and new born chicks feed up on protein high crickets, grasshoppers and beetles. Little Bustards are declining in numbers in their European ranges due mainly to agricultural intensification (e.g. Schulz, 1985, del Hoyo et al., 1996). Its most important populations are now located in the EU, mainly within the Iberian Peninsula. The available but incomplete figures suggest that 80-90% of the world population may be concentrated in Spain and Portugal.

Calandra Lark

All photos taken by Stephen Daly