Highlighting local conservation
SPAIN, as you will know, doesn’t possess a powerful national body the equivalent of Britain’s RSPB, appealing to the masses with a wide array of trinkets, tea-towels, Christmas cards, etc., plus a huge and important network of well-maintained reserves.
But that doesn’t mean that conservation isn’t represented throughout Spain.
Nationally, the SEO (like a bit of a cross between the RSPB and the more scientific BTO) does what it can to put pressure on electricity companies to insulate their pylons, and on the government to stop hunting of sensitive species.
Most conservation, however, is really carried out at local level, and here on the Costa Blanca, we should all be indebted to AHSA (http:// ahsa.org.es) and its tireless president, Sergio Arroyo, for the immense amount of work they carry out on behalf of all nature-lovers in the Costa Blanca area, especially around the precious remaining wetlands of El Hondo and the Vega Baja area.
AHSA, a body, you should all feel free to subscribe to, publish a regular magazine, La Matruca, in which some of the finest photographs you will see are to be found.
They also have regular outings to sites of interest, and keep up pressure on local authorities to maintain standards.
AHSA has also acquired some tracts of marshland in the neighbourhood of El Hondo, with the objective of attracting a breeding population of the extremely rare and threatened marbled duck, and it is this species, as well as the almost equally rare white-headed duck, as well as the red-knobbed coot that cause the most conservation headaches – our area being effectively their sole refuge in Europe.
I know many readers are more centred to the north of Alicante, and maybe would be more likely to visit the Marjal de Pego – also an interesting area.
The regional government do their best to provide boardwalks and so forth there, but rice production – and hunting – mean that any visit has to be timed with care, and, whilst local enthusiasts do what they can, there is no substitute for a body like AHSA.
The photo shows Sergio Arroyo, accompanied by son Jorge, receiving a cheque from Costa Blanca Bird Club, presented by then president Barry Chambers.