Boumort hunting reserve

June 14, 2015June 14, 2015Leave a comment

Yesterday we were just packing up and sorting stuff out, getting ready to leave today. We said goodbye to Juan-Anton in the afternoon and in the evening we went to visit Silvia and Rafael. They invited us in again and we had another tasty dinner and talked about Catalonia, its people and wildlife. Everyone here has been so warm and welcoming! It feels like such a nice place to live.

This morning we put our bags in the back of the taxi and freewheeled the 12 km to the main road, soaking in the gorgeous scenery and the morning sunshine. Then we met the taxi again in a nearby village and got taken 25 km uphill to another small village in the mountains. We locked up our bikes and waited with our huge pile of bags!

Heading down to Alinya

Enjoying the morning sunshine

We had been invited to Boumort by Jordi, who arrived at 10am as promised, and we piled into his car. We didn’t know what the plan was for the day but were ready to go with the flow. And it turned out to be a good one!

Me with Jordi Palau, overlooking Boumort

Jordi drove us off the tarmac road onto the tracks in the reserve, telling us about the place on the way. Boumort is one of 3 areas that Jordi and the rest of the team manage as hunting reserves. Hunting is the main activity here but they are also starting to generate an income from ecotourism. There are hides at the vulture feeding station and you can pay to spend a half day there watching the birds and taking pictures.

The reserves were set up in the 1980s and one of the first projects was to reintroduce red deer. (I guess that was rewilding before anyone started talking about it like that!) The only species that can be hunted on the reserves are red deer and wild boar. They are also reintroducing black vulture here. The project at Alinya is the same one as at Boumort, so the 45 birds live between the two places.

Jordi told us our first stop for the day would be the vulture hide! There were two other visitors that day too, so the four of us went inside with Jordi and watched the frenzy. We saw hundreds of griffons, at least six black vultures, a handful of Egyptian vultures and at least three bearded vultures!

Waiting for breakfast

Incoming

Tucking into some brains

Fighting over the food

Black vulture among griffons

A young bearded vulture strutting around at the back

Three of the four species here (Egyptian vulture flying)

After the frenzy, we set off again in the car with Jordi and he told us about the black vulture reintroduction project. They have a holding cage at Boumort for the young birds and a hacking station on a cliff top. Hacking is when you take young chicks from captivity and put them somewhere you want them to call home. Then you feed them until they grow up and fly the nest. They see the place where they fledged as the place where they were born and tend to stay there to reproduce when they are grown up. It’s a good way to supplement the reintroductions.

We stopped for lunch next to one of the office buildings on the reserve, which had a fabulous view over the valley! Nice place to work.

The history of Boumort is similar to Alinya – when people moved away from the area and abandoned the farmlands and forestry areas, nature started to come back. Now the forest is taking over the grassland areas, which is something they are trying to prevent. A mixture of habitat types is ideal for all kinds of species, and in a wild ecosystem, a mosaic of habitats would form naturally through grazing, fire, flood, landslides. But where there are no top predators and where fires are controlled, alternative forms of management are required, so they have reclaimed some of the old pastures.

Over the past few decades since the wolf was hunted to extinction in the area, a few lone wolves have been seen here, but not for 5 years. And the lone wolves were almost always males. Only one female has been seen in the whole region over the last 20 years. Reintroduction of the wolf is not possible politically but if it comes back naturally, that would be great for the reserve. In the meantime, hunters do the job of the wolves. As well as trophy hunting, there is selection hunting. You can pay a small fee to come and take out the deer that would probably be taken by wolves in a natural ecosystem. They won’t have an impressive set of antlers, but hunters are always looking to hone their skills, and it’s an important function for the reserve.

As we drove around, we were soaking up the scenery. The weather had been gorgeous all morning; sunny with a few fluffy clouds. Now in the warm afternoon we drove along the north side of one of the mountains and enjoyed the lush cool forest.

Jordi had said that he could only spend the morning with us, but it was almost 4pm when he dropped us back by our bikes. Ah, Spanish midday! Then we said our goodbyes and he headed back to the office to carry on working, whilst we got our bikes together to set off.

Managing three reserves must keep Jordi very busy! We feel very privileged that he spent the day showing us around. It was the perfect day trip.

We got back on the bikes and headed back up to the pass. It was only 5 km to the top, then we got to ride downhill the rest of the way! It was happily overcast and we enjoyed the journey.

Going up to the pass

At the top

Going back down to the valley

That evening we got to a campsite in Organya, set up, showered, laundered, cooked, ate and were about to pack up when another touring cyclist arrived. He rode into the middle of the camping pitches, dismounted, and promptly dropped his fully laden bike on the ground. Thud. We gave him a wave and he set up before coming over to say hello.

Joe is from Sheffield doing a tour around Europe. He set off in January (!) and is about to make his way back home. We chatted until it got dark, shared some food and headed to bed.

– Anna

Hiking with a guide

June 7, 2015June 7, 2015Leave a comment

We breakfasted with Carles and enjoyed more nice chats over museli. Then we drove down to the visitor centre in Alinya at 10am to meet the hikers he would be guiding. They were three local people from La Seu, down in the valley. We all introduced ourselves then Carles gave us the plan for the day – we would drive to a village further up the mountain then walk up past some huge rock formations to a ridge. From there we could enjoy the great views before heading back down a different route to make a loop back to the village. We would be going from about 1200m to around 1750m.

So off we went and parked the cars at the hillside village, the stone buildings overlooking the valley below. We walked past more potato caves and learned about the traditional farming methods here. The people would have kept the potatoes in the caves until the price was good enough to make the long journey down to the valley by mule to sell the potatoes at the market. As well as potatoes, they would have grown cereal crops here in the terraced fields on the hills and kept sheep and goats.

Carles showing us a fallen bird’s nest

We walked between two huge rocks on our way up the valley. The mountains here were formed by tectonic movements and have since been eroded by wind and water. The harder rock has resisted erosion for longer and so you can see huge sections of mountain sticking up out of the ground in places, forming ridges, peaks and ledges. The trees like to grow along the cracks, highlighting the layers in the rock, so you can see that the lines sometimes run horizontal, sometimes vertical and all other variations in between.

We walked passed different types of vegetation. At the beginning of the walk we were in a Mediterranean habitat with shrubs and oak trees. Then we went up into the Scots pine and juniper. Above us, starting around 1800m, were black pines that grew up to the tree line.

We walked through forest and then wildflower meadows to the ridge that was our summit for the day. The rocky ridge was exposed to the wind and, although calm today, all of the plants were growing close to the ground to protect themselves.

Up to the ridge

We stopped for lunch with fabulous views of the landscape. From there, the rock formations, human impact and vegetation patterns we had learned about were all on display.

Carles at the summit

Lunchtime

After lunch, we walked back along the ridge and spotted a type of mountain goat called an isard! They’re very shy and it scampered up a crazy ledge to escape from us. Then we had to make our way down through some forest. It was an old trail that hadn’t been maintained and we scraped our way past Scots pine and spiky juniper bushes to make it out to the wildflower meadows once again.

Which summit is which?

An orchid perhaps…

When we were about half way down, the three local hikers decided to take a short cut to the car since they were in a hurry to get back to town – Adieu! Then, with time on our hands, Carles decided to take us on a little detour.

There was a storm brewing in the north and a cool wind was blowing, sweet relief from the afternoon sun. We chatted about the valley, its people and its landscape and Carles told us some of what he’d learned from the people who had come on the walk. One of the women had grown up nearby and said that she had come to Alinya for mass with her parents. The village of Alinya used to have a rectory and a school. The rectory is now used as a visitor centre but the school is long run down. The lady said that the last rector here was a woman who had moved to Alinya to be away from it all but still in a community. She held mass and helped the people in the community until she was too old to stay on the mountain and moved to the valley before passing away in her 90s.

When we reached Alinya again, it was early evening and we looked at the rectory with fresh eyes. Then took a silly picture!

Outside the rectory

The old school

Carles was reluctant to head back home to his town near Barcelona so we all went for teas and coffees in Alinya. We spent hours talking about sustainable living, Transition Towns, cycle touring, inspiring adventurers, and our plans for the future. Carles and his girlfriend Anna had a lot of inspiring ideas! They grow their own food, she makes her own soap and they are part of a local co-orperative. Carles has plans to set up a community bike shop where you can learn to ride, rent bikes and go to the workshop to fix your bike. It felt so good to share stories and ideas with someone with similar values.

At 7pm we were hungry and Carles had to start his drive home so we parted ways. He’s a great guy, I hope we will keep in touch!

Dave and I headed home on the walking trail, which is much shorter and steeper than the road. We collected a few elderflower heads and soaked them overnight to make cordial. We had fajitas for dinner (sort of – the supermarkets here don’t have much in the way of foreign food, so there were a few substitutes to be made!), and went to bed.

I’m hoping we get a day off tomorrow – there’s so much to catch up on! Whoever would have thought you could be so busy without having a job!

– Anna

Forestry fun

June 7, 2015June 7, 20152 Comments

Today was a fascinating day! We went with the students again, this time to a forest management project.

The area we visited was much higher than where we are staying in Alinya. Our ride for the day was a trusty Landrover Defender. We definitely put it through its paces grinding up the mountain on a rutted dirt track!

Another pothole!

The project area used to be used for agriculture (growing potatoes and grazing) but now a lot of the land has been abandoned and with no grazing pressure the forest is growing back over the small areas of grassland. That could be considered quite a positive development, but here they are not so keen on having unbroken wild forest. The Foundation that owns the land has started a project to develop the new woodlands into a commercial forest that will preserve some areas of open land, and provide job opportunities (as lumberjacks) for people at risk of social exclusion – mostly due to mental disability.

We learned that the project is run on a not for profit basis, but it is also unfunded. The Manager’s job is to ensure employment for as many people as possible, to preserve grassland areas AND to balance the books exactly – he can’t make a loss. Not an easy task when he is working with poor quality timber in a remote mountainside with only a gravel track for access! The one advantage is that the Foundation allows use of the land for free, reducing the cost base.

All this was explained to us, after which Anna dropped the question “so if it isn’t profitable, why not just leave the trees where they are?”. I was waiting for it, but still enjoyed it when it came. The answer was that the Foundation’s priority is people, they want to use the land to provide opportunities for people to work, while managing the land in a sustainable way.

Anna seeking answers

We could see that the trees we were standing under were only 50-60 years old. We learned from one of the Professors that Spain was mostly deforested during the days when Spain was a superpower (building the armada among other things), and that was only turned around beginning in the 1930s with a huge reforestation program, which even continued under the Franco dictatorship. So Spain has a lot of young forest but hardly any old growth. The forests are now expanding naturally; approximately 65% of annual growth is harvested per year, meaning 35% of annual growth is left standing. In areas like the one we were in, this is considered a problem because the forests are encroaching on grassland. The grassland areas that are being lost contain a different ecosystem to the forest – losing the grassland means losing biodiversity. Coming from the UK where we have entire national parks full of grass, the idea of preserving grassland is a bit strange. Me and Anna want to look up how biodiverse grasslands actually are compared with forests. We think forests are better, but lets run with it for now!

The Prof – loves grassland

We went to an area where the lumberjacks had just been working. The Manager told us that in this stage they are basically clearing out the crooked or otherwise non-uniform trees to allow more space for the straight ones to grow – this will make them more profitable when they are harvested in 10-15 years’ time. The wood that is felled now will either go to the sawmills as lower grade timber, or be chipped and dried for use as biomass fuel. Only the trunks are taken, branches and needles are left as they are unprofitable, as a side benefit they return nutrients to the soil and provide habitat for other flora and fauna.

Work area

Approximately 50% of the standing wood is being removed during this phase. Apparently there is no need for replanting as regeneration occurs naturally, and the soil is fertile enough to cope with the removal of trees without becoming nutrient deprived. Not sure how long for though, and it wasn’t clarified at the time.

Walking back across the endangered habitat!

We walked back to see the logs being loaded onto a lorry for the drive to the sawmill. The loading was really impressive, the crane driver was working at super speed, picking up 6m trunks and stacking them neatly on the bed of the lorry. A lumberjack was simultaneously trimming the ends off a few trunks that would be too long for the sawmills. A whole lorry was loaded while we stood around chatting and admiring the old agricultural tractor that had been converted to drag the trunks to the loading area. The Manager told us that today the trunks were being sorted into 3 quality grades, but sometimes they sort up to 7 grades.

Loading up

Learning about timber grades

On the way back to our ride, Anna posed charmingly with this potato cave, which is probably hundreds of years old and still in good condition. The potato caves were used to store harvested potatoes and keep them cool and in good condition until the market price was right, then the potatoes were taken to market in the big towns in the valleys by mule. Some are still in use, although not on the industrial scale once enjoyed here.

Every potato shall have a home

Just after this the timber lorry came past, the driver probably dreading the tortuous road he was about to take back down the valley. Chatting to the Manager I learned that the timber on the lorry would be sold at about €80 per tonne, not much for all that growing time!

The next stop was the biomass storage and processing area. Here we learned that the trunks are stored whole for 7-8 months to dry before being chipped and sold in 1 tonne bags. The bags are sold for about €50 per tonne. The cost to produce a tonne is also about €50!

Biomass everywhere

The storage area is on the north face of the mountain. It is situated to take most advantage of the the wind, in order to dry the trunks before chipping. Wood used in biomass boilers must be as dry as possible, to ensure efficient combustion. This site acheives a biomass humidity of about 22%, which is as good as it gets without artificial drying.

Here is the old storage method. It’s cheap but inefficient as you get higher humidity and you have to leave the bottom layer as it gets contaminated with soil.

Low tech

Here is the new shed, the Manager’s pride and joy! It was pretty empty when we visited; apparently they rent a chipper for 4 days per year, which is enough to chip a whole year’s worth of trunks and fill the shed.

The Rolls-Royce solution

There is about 300 tonnes of timber in this photo. The chipper will go through this in less than a day, at a maximum rate of 9 trunks per minute!

Timber!

Too cool

After this it was back down the bumpy track, enjoying the views of Monserrat in the distance.

View from the road – confusingly Monserrat isn’t in this picture!

We went to the hotel and had a coffee, then it was time for the students to head back to Lleida. We said goodbye then walked back to camp. Anna had been inspired by one of the students to try barefoot walking again, but gave up after a few metres when she realised the tarmac was at about 50°C. Maybe practice on the grass is in order!

Aah, barefoot

Argh, barefoot!

Back at base, we prepared dinner and enjoyed it with a glass of Mario’s delicious homemade wine.

Last of the Portuguese wine

We were just packing away when a car pulled up and a guy came over and started speaking in Spanish. Anna tried a bit of Spanish too before we got to the good old ‘sorry we don’t understand”. We must have done better than usual though because it took him ages to try “do you speak English?”. Luckily, we do! It turned out his name was Carles (Carlos) and he wanted to camp in “our” garden. Anna said yes and started showing him round. It turned out Carles is the guide for the walk we are doing tomorrow! He lives outside Barcelona with his girlfriend (also Anna) and discovered the Alinya valley with friends one day. He fell in love with it and after meeting Aleix the bird expert here they decided it would be cool to run guided walks around the valley. And we get to be on the first one!

Obviously we offered him some of Mario’s wine, and he provided some chorizo, so that was pretty much the rest of the evening, sitting out drinking and chatting until dark. Carles had already walked the route today to check it out and told us about being harrassed by the massive sheepdogs they use here. It turns out he is also a touring cyclist and has crossed Canada the wrong way, just like Anna! He was really excited about our trip, and Anna’s grand plan to have her own big rewilding and eco-tourism project one day. He is into self-sufficiency and the transition town concept so there was loads to talk about and we had to drag ourselves away at the end of the night to try and get some sleep before the hike tomorrow!

So things to ponder/research from today.

Is the type of forestry they are doing here sustainable? We know that intensive forestry can de-fertilise the soil, and lead to eradication of natural forest species through removal of standing and fallen dead wood, non-profitable tree species and understorey. Some of the pine woods in the UK’s largest forest (Thetford Forest) stand in regimented rows with nothing growing between them and no refuge for anything else to thrive. That isn’t what’s happening here so far. What about the soil though? The generation time for this forest will be 60-80 years. Is that long enough for the soil to recover between harvests?

Is the aim of sustaining “unnatural” grasslands in this area a good one? Perhaps before people got here, large animals, fires and big trees falling down would have ensured that there was space in the forest for grasses, legumes and scrub, and all the species that depend on those habitats. Now those natural agents have been removed, is it a good idea to try to replicate them? And does it make a difference that the act of doing that is providing employment for people who would otherwise perhaps not have a job and the self esteem that can go along with that?

Another thing that was mentioned is that Cantabria imports the majority of its wood, even though the forests are growing here. Is it better to use the wood that grows here, or try to restore Cantabria’s woodland by essentially outsourcing the damage to South America where the forests are currently shrinking?

I’m not sure what I think about it all right now, but it’s definitely given me an appetite to find out more.

– Dave

Sunday stroll & wine tasting

May 26, 2015May 26, 20152 Comments

Yesterday we’d planned to have a boring route planning and admin day in the only cafe in town where there’s internet, but we ended up walking the reserve with a visitor and going to a wine festival!

Niek had slept out at the reserve at our campsite the night before then gone into town in the morning to meet Johanna and Fernando, a prospective member of ATN. The three of them turned up just as we were finishing breakfast and we all headed off for a stroll around the reserve.

Fernando is a portly man with the air of someone who has become used to being in charge. As we led him around the site and showed him what was what, he delighted in sharing some of his own stories with us, too. He used to spend the summers in Algodres when he was a kid and his cousins still have a house there. He worked in Mozambique for fifteen years as a teacher, fish exporter and construction magnate and is now setting up a hotel on the coast in Portugal.

We walked up to a good pace to watch the vultures in the river valley. One of the dogs from Algodres, who has been named Rowdy, followed Johanna to the reserve today. He was super happy after finding a piece of bone that the vultures had overlooked!

Egyptian vulture

Egyptian vulture again

Rowdy!

After walking to get a view of the vulture nests on the other side of the valley and visiting the 500 year old cork oak, Fernando was keen to get back for a nap. He said he was going to a wine tasting festival in the afternoon and invited us along!

So we walked back into town and sat in the cafe whilst he disappeared into his house for a few hours. Then we woke him up and he drove us in his car towards Vila Nova de Foz Coa where the wine festival was.

We got in the car and Fernando announced that we might not like it, but he was going to put on some jazz. We drove with the windows down and the saxophones blaring, passing vineyards and villages and taking a few nice detours. He took us to the top of a big hill for an amazing view of the valleys. Then we sped into Foz Coa for the festival.

Taking in the Coa valley

It cost €2 to get into the wine tasting. All of the best wines in Portugal there for the tasting for €2! It was absolutely delightful. Fernando was in his element, sauntering from stand to stand, the four of us trailing behind him soaking up his every word. “This is the best wine in Portugal! Smell the tropical fruits, then taste the flavour explosion in your mouth. Hmm!” They were indeed delicious.

Great marketing!

After a while we started to feel a bit rosy-cheeked and went around the stands seeking out the bread and olive oil snacks rather than the wine. We were there for several hours, tasting, eating and having a sit down. Dave got very into it and spent time talking to the wine makers, asking them how it all worked. At the end we tasted some delicious ports before Fernando was rushing around buying bottles and loading them in his car. He said he wasn’t drinking, just tasting, so he was fine to drive…

“Let’s listen to some rock!” and Coldplay was blaring as we drove around vineyards in the setting sun, Fernando taking the corners wide and pumping his fists to the music, soaking in the scenery. We think maybe some wine slipped down when he was tasting. We toured around the vineyards in the Douro valley where they grow the grapes for the wines we had just tasted. The lazy wide river has a bit of a floodplain then steep hills where the vineyard rows are cut into the mountains. We stopped at a water fountain for a refreshing drink and a quick wash of the feet on the way. The late afternoon light was orangey-pink on the vines, a calm landscape that we sped back through on our way up out of the valley to head home. Coldplay was exchanged for some early punk and we were treated to Fernando’s enjoyment of Patti Smith on the drive back. What a day!

Valley and vineyards

We arrived back into town around 8pm and were all pretty tired. We thanked Fernando for a fabulous day out and Dave and I cycled the bumpy track back to camp whilst the others headed to bed.

Sunset ride home

– Anna

for people. for nature.

Category: People

Boumort hunting reserve

Hiking with a guide

Forestry fun

Sunday stroll & wine tasting