Controlled Fire in Serra do Alvão

The volunteers of Plantar uma Árvore from the Serra do Alvão in the context on training of conservation of the nature techniques, had the opportunity to visit an area, in the Baldio of Pensalvos and Soutelo de Matos, where the firefighters of Aguiar Florestase happened to be doing a controlled fire. They learned about the benefits and the challenges of…

LIFE VOLUNTEER ESCAPES until June 2021

The extension request for the project LIFE VOLUNTEER ESCAPES was recently approved for more six months. It is with joy that we announce that we will continue to work with the support of long-term volunteers until June 2021 in nature conservation in Portugal. With most of the biodiversity and conservation indicators achieved, we decided to…

I can remember…

One of the most remarkable experiences in these 10 months was the stay at Farilhão Grande for 4 nights. Much of the work was done during the night, when the roques-de-castro (Hydrobates castro) return to the nest. The nets were opened after the sun went down and closed before the sun came up. During that…

LIFE VOLUNTEER ESCAPES in English

“We are what we do”, this is the slogan for LIFE VOLUNTEER ESCAPES, a project created to welcome young adults between 18 to 30 years that are eager to help nature conservation and learn more about the environmental challenges. We are 9 portuguese associations in total that are prepared to receive volunteers for a minimum…

Quarantina

The word ‘quarantine’ comes from the old Venetian word ‘quarantina’ meaning 40 days. During the black death epidemics of the 14th and 15th centuries, ships would be isolated for a period of 40 days to try and prevent the spread of the disease. We have been in quarantine for over 40 days and this period…

Quarantine

We are now in the third week of quarantine and this strange life is becoming reality. Between binge watching netflix, video calling loved ones and running down the eerily deserted Lisbon streets, I have been writing the report for the seabird coastal counts in 2019. However, I have high hopes that we will be able…

Impacts of Tourism

After an incredibly interesting experience in the field, it has been a return to office work recently. This has involved analysing the impact which the tourism on Berlenga is having on the population of European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristoteli) and also updating the equipment records associated with the rodent control program. Finally, we will travel to…

In at the deep end

In my first week of volunteering with SPEA I had the incredible opportunity to travel to the islands of Berlenga and Farilhões. On the first night we stayed overnight on Farilhões and spent our time checking both artificial and natural Maderian Storm Petrel nests, we ringed the chicks and adults which we found. This was…