Aiming the increase of the amount of food available for the black vulture in the Southeast of Portugal, the Habitat Lince Abutre LIFE project proposed to create a network of feeding stations for scavenger birds in this region of the country. Now that its implementation is concluded, with a total of 10 feeding stations constructed in the SPAs of Mourão-Moura-Barrancos and Guadiana Valley, the project promoted the workshop “Feeding Stations for Scavenger Birds”, divided in two components. The first, technical, held on May 16 and 17 in Adega da Mantana, at Moura, gathered several experts from public administrations, Environmental NGOs and others, from Portugal and Spain, who talked about the application of the European legislation concerning the supplementary feeding of threatened scavenger species and the last researches about the management of this species’ feeding, for its conservation. The second part of the workshop, held at Herdade dos Lameirões, in Safara, was enlarged to the general public and, in particular, to all the livestock producers of the farms that supply this network of feeding stations, whose role is fundamental to its operation.



Technical workshop, May 16 and 17, Adega da Mantana, Moura

This workshop gathered 50 technicians of Portugal and Spain and aimed to let know to its participants the work developed by entities and Portuguese and Spanish experts on the conservation of scavenger birds, namely in what concerns to the management of feeding stations for these species.

The first day of the workshop consisted of a set of short talks on the experiences and knowledge about the supplementary feeding of scavenger birds (abstract book in Portuguese/Spanish available here). The next morning, the group gathered at a round table to discuss issues related with the implementation and the functioning of the feeding stations, namely in what concerns to the current situation of the legislation of the feeding of scavenger birds in Portugal and the immediate impact that the application of the new communitarian legislation will have on this matter, benefiting from the experience and the examples given the day before and from the presence of the national authorities with responsibilities in the permit of the feeding stations in Portugal, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) and the General-Directorate of Feeding and Veterinary Services (DGAV). During that afternoon, the participants were invited to visit the private feeding station constructed under the scope of Habitat Lince Abutre LIFE project at the estate of Contenda, also at Moura, where they watched the demonstration of a supply by the project’s veterinarian.
With this meeting we hope to have contributed to the increase of knowledge, debate of this issue and of the improvement of the feeding conditions of scavenger birds, and in particular of the black vulture, aiming its conservation in Portugal.

 

 

  Habitat Lince Abutre LIFE project thanks the City Council of Moura for allowing the accomplishment of this workshop at Adega da Mantana, as well as Herdade da Contenda – Empresa Municipal for the field visit to the feeding station for scavenger birds located at this estate.

Workshop for the general public, May 24, Estate of Lameirões, Safara

To get to know a little more about this project and its regional efforts to enhance the feeding conditions of the black vulture, on the morning of May 24, more than 30 people gathered at Lameirões estate, including livestock producers of farms that supply the project’s network of feeding stations, landowners, birdwatching companies, local inhabitants and ecotourits from different regions of the country.

The workshop started with a presentation of DRAP Alentejo about the estate of Lameirões and their several partnerships with nature conservation projects, among them, Habitat Lince Abutre LIFE project, which was then presented to the participants, focusing the measure of creation of a network of feeding stations for scavenger birds (its aim, operation and advantages) under the efforts for the conservation of the black vulture at the regional scale. At the end of the talks, Habitat Lince Abutre LIFE project offered to DRAP Alentejo a notice board of the Centre for Cleaning and Disinfection of Vehicles of the Estate of Lameirões, an infrastructure built by this regional directorate that brought a logistic added value to the feeding station built at this estate.
It was then time for the long-awaited visit to the SPA scale feeding station for scavenger birds of Lameirões, where the participants of the workshop saw a demonstration of a supply by the project’s veterinarian.

The gathering ended with a picnic for birdwatching, not far away from the feeding station, giving the participants an opportunity to watch Red Kites, another threatened species that occasionally also benefits from the supplementary food supplied at the feeding stations for scavenger birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Habitat Lince Abutre LIFE project thanks to the Experimental Centre of Lameirões and to the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fishery of Alentejo (DRAP Alentejo) for their support to this event.