The population of the Kentish plover is in rapid decline in Spain, says SEO/BirdLife.
They note that it ‘faces a high risk of becoming extinct in the wild’.
The principal threats for the small shorebird are the loss of habitat and intensive recreational use of beaches, which have a negative effect on their nesting.
Beach cleaning by town halls, dogs off the leash and ‘uncontrolled development’ along the coast are taking a heavy toll.
Because their nests are made directly on the sand – on beaches and in dunes, as well as on the shores of salt lakes and wetlands – the eggs are very vulnerable to predators.
SEO/BirdLife says that rising temperatures mean eggs are exposed to ‘heat stress’, which can prevent them from hatching.
Regional governments and some town halls are taking action to protect the nests.
Some of the strictest measures are being employed in Denia (north Alicante).
Dogs are banned from their ‘natural beaches’ from March 1 to July 1.
And while some local authorities opt to rope off sections of beach and dunes in order to protect potential nesting sites, Denia has been installing fencing to ensure that pets and people do not stray into these zones.
A town hall spokesperson said they aim to ‘prevent the destruction of the natural habitat of this emblematic bird on our coast’.
Denia is one of the few municipalities in Alicante province to ‘detect new nests’ in recent years and they have decided to cordon off a larger area during the nesting season.
The spokesperson said the council is working with residents and the Agró ecologist association to protect any nests which may be constructed.
According to the town hall, the population of the Kentish plover in the Valencia region has fallen by 70% in the last 30 years.
South Alicante
The AHSA environmental association has highlighted the ‘worrying decline’ of the Kentish plover in the south of the province.
There has been one exception; at the salt lakes in Santa Pola, where breeding pairs numbered 34 in 2021 and 52 in 2022.
There has been a sharp decline in nesting at the lakes of El Hondo and La Mata-Torrevieja; they accounted for 135 pairs between them in 2013 and just 17 in 2022.
In Guardamar del Segura the town hall has permanently roped off a section of beach next to the dunes in the south of the municipality, close to the border with Torrevieja.
AHSA has carried out a census of breeding pairs in Guardamar in recent years, recording a total of 21 in 2020 in the area between the mouth of the River Segura and the Torrevieja border. In 2023 there were just five or six.
The ecologists noted that Guardamar was the most important coastal enclave in Alicante province for the Kentish plover during the last decade.
They lamented that beach cleaning machinery has been used up to the edge of the dunes, which they claim is banned from November 1 to June 30 under regional legislation.
They also noted that large numbers of people are taking their dogs onto the beaches despite the local ban; and many of the pets are let off the leash on the sands.
The ecologists claimed that local authority has failed to take action to stop this activity.
They have contacted the town hall to ask them not to use beach cleaning machinery in the areas where nests may be constructed.
And they have urged the local authority to fine people who take their dogs onto beaches which are potential nesting sites.
They reminded that beach cleaning machinery and the presence of dogs have been identified as the cause for the extinction of the Kentish plover in some areas of Spain.
Recent Comments