- La Raja farm, in Alicante, will be dedicated to the conservation of this critically endangered species and other aquatic birds
- Its almost 90 hectares are in addition to the 55 adjacent hectares acquired in 2021 under the LIFE Cerceta Pardilla, bringing the total to 141 hectares foreseen in the project
- In the coming months, habitat improvement actions will be carried out that will benefit the entire biodiversity of the wetland, included in the Natura 2000 Network.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has acquired the La Raja farm, located within the El Hondo Natural Park in Alicante, one of the most important sites for the conservation of the brown teal(Marmaronetta angustirostris).
The purchase was made through the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura (CHS) and is one of the key actions included in the National Strategy for the conservation of the species. In addition, it is part of the actions of the project LIFE Teal “Coordinated actions for the recovery of the brown teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris) in Spain”, coordinated by MITECO’s Biodiversity Foundation with the aim of improving more than 3,000 hectares of wetlands to reverse the risk of extinction of this duck, the most endangered duck in Europe and the most endangered in the world. critically endangered in Spain.
The La Raja wetland has almost 90 hectares and is made up of two large lagoon areas of brackish water, populated by aquatic plants, including submerged macrophytes. It constitutes a very favorable habitat for the marbled teal and its best breeding site in the whole of the Iberian Levant. It also hosts breeding populations of great importance at European level of other species of waterfowl, among which we can highlight the white-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala), the Purple Gallinule(Porphyrio porphyrio), the avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), the common tern(Sterna hirundo), the little tern(Sternula albifrons) and the kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus).
It is located in the southwest area of El Hondo Natural Park and is adjacent to the two El Espigar farms, acquired in 2021 by the conservation associations ANSE and SEO/BirdLife, also within the framework of the LIFE Cerceta Pardilla project.
Due to their ecological value, these areas of the Natura 2000 Network are recognized as critical sites in the Strategy for the conservation of the brown teal, that is, they constitute vital areas for its survival and recovery. The Strategy expressly indicates the need to acquire farms as a priority in situ conservation measure for the protection and management of the wetlands inhabited by the species.
The three farms together exceed the 141 hectares acquired for conservation, one of the objectives of the LIFE Cerceta Pardilla project.
HABITAT IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS
The La Raja farm needs urgent habitat improvement and conservation measures due to its current situation, especially as a result of the alteration of its water flows and its exclusive dedication to waterfowl hunting.
To this end, actions will be carried out to reduce its main threats, especially hunting, and to improve the habitat through vegetation management works and channel reprofiling to recover the surface of the water surface, allowing the water connection of the farms and guaranteeing an adequate flooding pattern. In addition, the public use of this wetland will be favored with the improvement of paths and the installation of observatories.
A CRITICAL ENCLAVE FOR THE SPECIES
El Hondo Natural Park (2,387 hectares) is a wetland of international importance, included in the Ramsar international convention for the protection of wetlands and in Red Natura 2000 as ZEPA and LIC Fondo d’Elx-Crevillent. Together with the Doñana National Park, it is the main nesting site for the marbled teal in Spain. These two wetlands have become home to more than 60% of the breeding pairs in our country and, therefore, in the European Union.
One of the milestones in the reproduction of the species occurred in 2023, when, for the first time in many years, the species bred in El Espigar after the recovery of the wetland within the framework of the LIFE Cerceta Pardilla project. Five different females and 36 chicks were sighted that year.
LIFE TEAL
The marbled teal is one of the seven species in critical condition in Spain. Until the mid-20th century it was abundant in Mediterranean coastal wetlands, but in recent decades its decline has been drastic, reaching its lowest number in 2009, with 22 females with chicks, and remaining below 50 females with chicks until 2020. The 2023 census, a year of severe drought, counted 75 females with chicks, 22% lower than the reproduction recorded in 2022. Our country is almost its only place of distribution in Europe.
The LIFE Cerceta Pardilla project develops a program of research, conservation, governance and awareness actions in seven of the 13 critical sites where 83% of the breeding pairs in Spain are located.
LIFE Cerceta Pardilla, which is coordinated by the Fundación Biodiversidad of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, involves as partners the Ministry itself, through the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura and Tragsatec; the Junta de Andalucía, through the Consejería de Sostenibilidad, Medio Ambiente y Economía Azul and the Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua; the Generalitat Valenciana; the Government of the Region of Murcia, as well as the organizations SEO/BirdLife and ANSE. It is supported by the LIFE Program of the European Union and the Directorate General for Water.
