May the Christmas season fill your home with your loved ones, your heart with love and your life with laughter!

Merry Christmas!

Montesinho Natural Park

The Montesinho Natural Park is located in the North-eastern Trás-os-Montes region, in the North and East it borders with Spain. The region is known as “Cold Land” and comprises the parishes of Vinhais and Bragança. The Park has an area of 75 000 hectares.

The landscape is formed of rounded hills and deep valleys with the highest point of 1 481 m; the schist is the dominant rock, but it is possible to find granites, ultrabasic rocks and limestone. These features enable the existence of different kinds of habitats, like heather scrubland , oak woods and morass. The big diversity of plants is due to the geologic and climatic variability, here it’s possible to find one of the biggest national areas of Spanish oak (Quercus pyrenaica) and Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) and some botanic relics, which can only be seen here.  The fauna is also very diverse, with around 110 nesting birds, including the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetus), with 70% of all the mammals species found in Portugal and the most important population of the Iberian Wolf (Canis lupus ssp signatus).

The Natural Park was created in 1979 aiming to protect animal population and community’s characteristics of the European and Iberian Fauna, some of them endangered, and the well preserved natural flora. The symbol of the Park is the flower of the Sweete Chestnut (Castanea sativa), one of the most abundant trees in the area.

Spanish Carpet (Scotopteryx peribolata, Hübner, [1817])

Family: Geometridae

Wingspan: 28 to 33 mm

Habitat: Shrublands, open, dry and warm woodlands and rocky slopes

Flight period: June to November

Distribution: Iberian Peninsula and Southwestern France. Occurs isolated in Switzerland

Notes: This species feeds on plants within the Fabaceae Family (Cytisus, Genista, Retama and Ulex). The specific name “peribolata” cames from Greek and means surrounded, referring to the pattern of the wings.

Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus, Linnaeus, 1758)

Photo by Guillaume Réthoré

Family: Charadriidae

Size: 28 to 31 cm Wingspan: 67 to 72 cm

Habitat: Wetlands, Arable fields, pastureland, grasslands, marshes

Status: Winter migrant and rare breeder

Distribution: Europe, Asia and North Africa

Notes: The scientific name “vanellus” comes from the Latin and means sieve, referring to the way this species flap its wings. In the south of Portugal it’s known as “Cold bird” because it comes in small groups, to eat in farmlands when the weather its cold.

• Watch our video: “A Rocha” at Sagres Bird Fair. Subscribe our channel.

We would like to thank everyone who helped on the A Rocha Portugal stand: A Rocha staff and volunteers, and our supportive ‘Friends’. Without you, it would not be possible to have a presence at Sagres Bird Festival. Thank you to those who came by to say hello, and we look forward to meeting and making new ‘Friends’ in 2024.

• Watch our open day video:

Meet A Rocha Volunteers;

Hello, my name is Clara and I studied geography in Hamburg, Germany. Since October 2023 I work as part of the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) for A Rocha Portugal. Together with Lieven and Nina, we work on a project about microplastics, where we take samples from beaches and analyse them for their microplastic content. For me, this is a great opportunity to learn more about anthropogenic environmental influences and I’m really looking forward to our time together!

Hello, my name is Lieven von Maydell. I graduated from school in Germany last summer and am now doing a gap year before starting university. I wanted to use this time to develop myself personally and make a positive impact in the world. That’s how I ended up at A ROCHA through the ESC programme, which was a perfect match for my ideas. I am very happy to be part of the team and am looking forward to the coming months.

Ornamental trees

In our parks and gardens it is possible to see amazing trees, although most of them are exotic! Plants native from other parts of the world used as ornamental. Maybe you have seen some of them….

Hybrid Plane (Platanus x hispanica, Mill. ex Münchh.)

Family: Platanaceae

Type of plant: deciduous tree

Size: up to 30 metres

Distribution: This species is a hybrid of American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) native to Eastern and Central United States and Oriental Plane (Platanus orientalis), native to Eurasia, from the Balkans to Central Asia.

Flower bloom time: April to June

Curiosity: This species was first discovered in the XVII century, it is thought through hybridization of 2 other species which were planted near each other somewhere in Spain. Widely planted as ornamental due to its ability to adapt to urban conditions and resistance to pollution. The root system can destroy the street pavements and the fruit hairs can cause respiratory problems when inhaled. The colour of the bark is characteristic: multi-coloured with a camouflage style pattern.

1^st December – Restoration of Independence/Public Holiday

7^th, 14^th, 21^st December – Cruzinha Bird ringing display & Moth Talk (10 am to 12 am). Book here 

8^th December – Day of the Immaculate Conceição/ Religious holiday

8^th to 10^th  December – Christmas Market in the churchyard of Mexilhoeira Grande

11^th December – Day of the city of Portimão/ Local Holiday

25^th December – Christmas/ Public Holiday

Cruzinha is closed from 18^th December 2023 to 3^rd January 2024; on Thursday 21^st and  28^th December there is no Open Day

What makes a good Birthday present?

Sustainability, Innovation, Discover!

You can find all of that in the Gift Friendship for the Friends of A Rocha Portugal!!

Sustainable Christmas

Christmas is the perfect time to think in a sustainable future! Make yours and your surroundings into a green Christmas

1. Choose quality instead of quantity (good products last longer and have a smaller footprint)
2. Give services instead of products (vouchers for concerts or dinners or events, will make a double Christmas experience!)
3. Choose well the materials (recycled paper or other materials and Fairtrade products or organic food or clothes)
4. Less packaging (buy products with little or without packaging and avoid the plastics)
5. Wrapping (make your own wrapping with recycle paper or reuse paper or card, avoid the ribbons)
6. Gift of hope (if you run out of gilt ideas, why not to choose to help an environmental association or animal adoption?)
7. Food waste (choose well your menu for the holidays, eat more vegetables and avoid the waste, use the leftovers to make another meal)
8. Food (choose local products and seasonal products)

LETS BE GREEN – LETS BE GREEN – LETS BE GREEN

Visit our website here

Guillaume Réthoré (Gui)- My life with birds: A mimetic Little Bustard

Can you spot the Little Bustard in the picture? It is in the middle on the left side, by a rock. The bird has the same size and colour as the surrounding rocks. If we had not seen it landing, we would never have seen it! This Little Bustard was the only one we saw during the last A Rocha Life tour in the Alentejo. They are not as easy to see in the autumn as they are during spring, when the males display. It is also a species which is declining fast, and unfortunately, not only in Portugal, mostly because of the changes in agriculture practices.

Text and photo by Guillaume Réthoré

Editor: Filipa Bragança

English proof reading: Helen Rodda

Portuguese proof reading: Lena Soares

Production controller: Helen Rodda

Email: friends.arpt@arocha.org

www.arocha.pt

Thank you for supporting us!
Hope to see you soon!