IRREPLACEABLE
Doñana National Park
Andalucía, Spain
uring the migration season, hundreds of
thousands of birds descend upon Doñana
National Park in Andalucía, Spain.
These thousands of European and African
birds all flock to Doñana, an area of low-lying marshes,
shallow streams, and rolling sand dunes, to rest, refuel and
breed. Throughout the course of the year, more than 300
different species of birds can be seen in the park, including
White-headed Duck Oxyura leucocephala, Spanish
Imperial Eagle Aquila adalberti and Little Bustard Tetrax
tetrax. The largest nature reserve in Europe, Doñana has
been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, a Ramsar
site, and is part of the Guadalquivir marshes – identified by
BirdLife as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA).
D
Unfortunately, numerous dangers currently threaten
these vital wetlands, and the birds that depend on them,
according to a recent report by SEO/BirdLife Spain. The
principle of these threats is over-intensive irrigation: the
groundwater underneath Doñana is tapped both for wells
and to irrigate surrounding farms. However, the illegal
exploitation of these aquifers to irrigate out-of-season
strawberries and blueberries is causing unsustainable
water usage that threatens the marshes. The situation is so
extreme that half the systemically monitored threatened
birds in Doñana are showing a downward trend, and some
species, like the Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris,
are running a serious risk of extinction. Others, such as the
Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca, are already considered
to be locally extinct.
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W I L D
In response, SEO/BirdLife is urging the Government of
Spain (the State Party to the World Heritage Convention)
to declare Doñana’s aquifers globally overexploited, to
shut down all illegal water tapping, and to ensure that
a programme is in place to stop the illegal abstraction
of ground water. If these problems are not addressed,
Doñana will continue to lose biodiversity at an alarming
rate, not to mention the pristine expanse of natural beauty
that is the park itself.
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B O A R
Sus scrofa
Wild Boar are a natural threat to the birds of Doñana as
they eat both the eggs and chicks of dozens of species
that nest on or near ground level. In 2017, nearly 800
Purple Heron Ardea purpurea nests were predated, as
were practically all the of Whiskered Tern Chlidonias
hybrida breeding colonies.
BIRDLIFE
BIRDLIFE • • OCT-DEC
APR-JUN 2018
2019