ADAPT San Pedro Del Pinatar

The second weekend involved more clearing up at El Carmoli on the Friday evening before a classroom session on plant identification on Saturday morning. 

Saturday afternoon was spent carrying out a survey of the plants at El Carmoli and suddenly instead of seeing just a couple of different plants they were eagerly looking up field guides to identify over twenty different species, one of which, a White Cistus (in Spanish, Jarilla), (Helianthemum marmenorenis) is endemic to the Mar Menor area.

 On Friday evening of the third weekend, which was eagerly looked forward to by all of the group, participants were given a lecture by Jose on the scientific reasons for bird ringing.  Early Saturday morning, 5.30am to be precise, some of the group met Jose and other members of Fundacion Cluster to drive to El Carmoli and erect the mist nets to catch some birds.  The remaining members of the course arrived at the site at 9.00am.  For many of those participating, the opportunity to see these small marvels of nature in the hand and to actually handle a bird was the highlight of the course.  Amongst the birds caught and ringed were Reed Warblers, Sardinian Warblers, Serins and the star bird of the day, a beautiful adult Southern Grey Shrike.

The last weekend started on the Friday evening with more cleaning up at El Carmoli before Saturday's classroom lectures on the Birds of the Mar Menor.  After a very informative morning where they were shown some wonderful photographs of local birds followed by a packed lunch the group put their newly found bird identification skills into practice with a visit to the San Pedro Salinas where they managed to identify over twenty different species of birds.  The finale was an excellent dinner at the El Carmoli Restaurant with the last volunteers leaving well after 2.00am.  Everyone who attended the course thoroughly enjoyed the varied activities and welcomed a chance to become involved with conserving this beautiful area we are all so fortunate to live in.  Being able to mix with a very pleasant group of Spanish youngsters, obviously very dedicated to conservation, was an added bonus.  ADAPT hopes that, subject to funding, more such projects can be arranged.  To view some really stunning wildlife and local scenic photographs taken by a very talented young photographer and conservationist, Guillermo Labarga, visit www.guillermolabarga.com and to find out more about ADAPT visit www.adaptsanpedro.com