The Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA), in partnership with Machico City Council, challenges nature lovers to participate in the BioBlitz Ponta de São Lourenço@night , on April 20th.
In this event, biologists and the SPEA team will help identify the most varied species, along the initial area of the well-known Ponta de São Lourenço pedestrian trail, on Saturday, April 20, between 5:30 pm and 9:30 pm. This activity is free but limited to 50 participants.
“This is the second BioBlitz taking place in Madeira and everyone is welcome: families, students, teachers and nature enthusiasts. It is a free activity that promotes community awareness of the importance of biodiversity, through exploratory and scientific methodologies, while simultaneously taking the opportunity to map biodiversity in this protected area of the Natura 2000 Network”, says Cátia Gouveia, coordinator of SPEA Madeira.
In the 2023 BioBlitz, held in Laurissilva, 37 participants were scientists for a day, and recorded more than 55 species, including birds such as the bis-bis and the wood finch, plants such as the button fern and the uveira -da Serra, and several arthropods, such as the bill bug and the ground bumblebee.
This year, Bioblitz takes place in the municipality of Machico, parish of Caniçal, where SPEA invites Madeirans to discover the high natural diversity that exists in protected areas and how this biodiversity is affected by light pollution.
If you are interested in participating, sign up at www.naturaatnight.spea.pt and come equipped with comfortable clothes, a flashlight and lots of curiosity. The species found will be photographed and inserted into the iNaturalist application, thus obtaining a list of beings that occur in that natural area.
Combating light pollution has been one of the focuses of SPEA’s work in Madeira in recent decades. This activity takes place within the scope of the LIFE Natura@night project, coordinated by SPEA and in which an alliance of 13 partners aims to take a very direct approach to the origin of the problem, seeking to implement more efficient, better targeted and more environmentally friendly public lighting. As part of this project, Machico, together with the municipalities of Santa Cruz, Santana, Funchal and Câmara de Lobos, is making changes to its public lighting, in order to safeguard the health of nighttime ecosystems.
The LIFE Natura@night project is co-financed by the European Union’s LIFE program, coordinated by SPEA, and has as partners the Municipal Council of Câmara de Lobos, the Municipal Council of Funchal, the Municipal Council of Santa Cruz, the Municipal Council of Machico, the Municipal Council of Santana, the Municipal Council of Santa Cruz da Graciosa, the Regional Directorate of Maritime Policies, the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands, Fluxo de Luz and the Spanish Society of Ornithology.