(under construction...)

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Merry christmas and a happy climatic change

The day a new apartment in the centre of Aveiro (Portugal) got occupied (December 1, 2015), a large pre-roost gathering of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) got noticed there, high up in the sky. Barn Swallows are a species assumed to spend the winter in Africa....

Today some big folks signed some deal that would help us all with taking care of climatic change...

Today also, we managed to find the exact roost of the swallows. A total of 150 Barn Swallows was counted, roosting on some small street corner in the centre of Aveiro. On December 12, 2015. A record for Portugal for December? While all other birders in the area were driving around in their cars looking for rarities... None of them recorded a single Barn Swallow this day (or this month?) it seemed...

Merry Christmas and a happy Climatic Change to everybody, anyway...

Tim

Photo by Fabi

Friday, November 13, 2015

Another chopped up dolphin, @ Costa Nova, Portugal (November 13, 2015)

Striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba ?? Cause of death unknown. Reported to CRAMQ.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

French Wireless gull (Larus cyborgus) @ the Eirol landfill, Portugal (November 3, 2015)

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Projecto Sobreiro: Seeding more ‘balotas’ in the São Jacinto dune reserve

Yesterday my two companions and I went for a big walk through the São Jacinto dune reserve. With us we carried two big bags full with balotas (acorns), which we seeded at the moister and shaded areas in the woods of the reserve. 2015 is the fourth year in which acorns are seeded there by us. This activity is undertaken to increase diversity of the woods, to reduce the chance of forest fires and to help fight invasive acacia species (see some earlier posts about this subject). Thankfully, now the wardens of the reserve also see the point of this and already seeded a large amount of acorns there earlier this fall. Very nice!

Over time this little oak will outgrow the acacia and attract a lot more wildlife.

Not all of the young oaks survive. Again, this summer a number of them died due to the scorching temperatures and draught that occur on the peninsula during summer. Most of the oaks that grow there now are English oaks (Quercus robur). Cork oaks (Q. suber) have also been seeded during the past four years, but this species appears to have more difficulties surviving its first years. I suspect that over time the oaks themselves will create better growing conditions for both types by changing the soil structure and chemistry, and by preserving moist.

At least three of the oldest English oaks in the reserve that have been planted there in the past, produced acorns this year (one more than last year). Although there were not many yet, the acorns that have been seeded thus far will certainly speed up the process. We’ll have to be patient, but in some decades from now the São Jacinto dune reserve can host the largest mixed forest of the Aveiro region, which once was dominated by oak (instead of monotomous Eucalyptus plantations…)!