Griffon grandeur – Valencia vultures take off
‘Most social vulture’ can now be found in all three provinces
REGIONAL director for the environment, Raúl Mérida has highlighted how the griffon vulture has been brought back from the brink of extinction in the Valencia region.
He noted that in the 1970s numbers had dwindled to just three nesting pairs in the north of Castellón province.
However, successful conservation plans operated by the regional government and others have allowed the population of this emblematic bird to recover, he noted.
This resulted in 645 nesting pairs being catalogued by his department during the 2023 season.
Sr Mérida noted that the protected bird is now present in all three provinces of the region.
But rural Castellón remains the stronghold for the griffon vulture.
Last year environment department staff identified 84 nesting areas around Castellón and counted 477 pairs, of which 450 were found to have reproduced.
They only produced 284 chicks, which the department calculated to be 0.63 chicks per pair – a higher number than that recorded in 2022.
Sr Mérida explained that after disappearing from Valencia in 1970s, a nesting pair was
spotted again in the province in 2011 – in the municipality of Tuéjar.
“Since then the numbers have been increasing in the area of La Serranía,” noted the director.
And in 2012 a pair appeared in Ontinyent, which was ‘without doubt due to the expansion of the nucleus reintroduced into the north of Alicante province’.
In 2018, they were also found
to be reproducing in the Rincón de Ademuz and Hoces del Cabriel – and more recently in Chera near the Buseo reservoir.
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The population in Valencia province is now estimated to be 139 pairs.
Sr Mérida reminded that the FAPAS-Alcoi association started a reintroduction programme in Alicante province at the turn of the century.
This turned out to be a success and griffon vultures started to reproduce again in the Alcoy area in 2004.
During the first decade of the century, ‘the species increased its population and had reproduced in various points close to Alcoy, expanding towards the south’, explained Sr Mérida.
Alcoy city hall noted that a breeding population became established in the Barranco del Cint near the city, and also the Sierra de Mariola.
But after 33 nesting pairs were recorded in 2012, the number had started to fall.
However, Sr Mérida assured that ‘this year it seems the Alicante population has recorded a slight recovery with two new colonies appearing, each with three pairs’.
Vulture facts
The Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) notes that the griffon is the ‘most social of Europe’s four vulture species, feeding in groups and roosting and breeding in large colonies that can host hundreds of individuals’.
“Following its decline in the continent over the 20th century, today it is Europe’s most populous vulture species, with approximately 35,000 breeding pairs, 25,000 of which are found on the Iberian Peninsula,” they state.
According to the VCF, the griffon vulture feeds mainly on the softer parts of carcasses, such as the muscles and viscera.
“Because of its long neck, this species can reach far into the carcass without snagging,” noted the VCF.
Adult birds have a wingspan of between 2.4 metres and 2.8m, and can weigh up to 11 kilos.
They breed in colonies on steep cliffs.