Natural Reserve of Lagoa dos Salgados

The public consultation on the proposal for the future Natural Reserve of Lagoa dos Salgados, available through the portal https://participa.pt/pt/consulta/proposta-de-classificacao-da-reserva-natural-da-lagoa-dos-salgados has already started. It will run until the 20th of January 2022. Due to the importance of this lagoon in the panorama of nature conservation in the Algarve, we call for a massive participation in the public consultation from the civil society. A ROCHA and many other nature conservation organizations are working to ensure that more detailed information and minutes will be available

Natural Reserve of Lagoa dos Salgados2021-12-10T15:33:19+00:00

Birds need longer time to recover!…

Bernice Goffin was a Master's student who came from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. For six weeks she was at our Center and collected data from our wild bird ringing database, namely the Pied flycatcher. In addition to this data, she also collected our daily weather data available since the beginning of the 21st century. Unfortunately, her work indicated something we already suspected. Here's what she wrote: Many bird species that migrate long distances are in decline partly because of environmental changes, such as

Birds need longer time to recover!…2021-03-16T21:42:42+00:00

My beach

A ROCHA and Friends of A ROCHA participated in the project "my beach" organized by the science center of Tavira. This project consists of monitoring 100 meters of beach, collecting marine trash and categorizing the items. The data will then be given to authorities that will incorporate the data into national and international analyses and studies on the presence of marine waste on the Portuguese and European coasts. It is intended to understand not only the rsource of this rubbish but also its seasonality.

My beach2019-01-12T18:48:57+00:00

Protecting the Alvor Estuary – the battle continues

The Alvor Estuary is one of the most important coastal wetlands in Southern Portugal. This rich ecosystem includes sand dunes, mudflats, salt marshes and Salinas, supporting a diverse, specialised flora and fauna. Over the last twelve years, A Rocha Portugal has been leading a prolonged legal campaign to protect the site from inappropriate and illegal developments proposed by a private company (now called Water View, S.A.) that owns the nearby Quinta da Rocha estate. In 2015, the Criminal Court of Portimão convicted Water View

Protecting the Alvor Estuary – the battle continues2018-12-15T19:38:39+00:00

The Comic Volunteers

Over the years A ROCHA has received volunteers from the Erasmus+ Program, in particular the European Voluntary Service. This year we have two more volunteers to work on the microplastics  project. A ROCHA Portugal has found the two most European volunteers who came to collect data on microplastics here in the Algarve, specifically in the Ria de Alvor. Two guys with a huge heart and a contagious good mood. This was the possible interview to present our "unlikely heroes"... Left: Arjan van Vuuren (also

The Comic Volunteers2018-05-04T16:43:47+01:00

Telheiro Beach Restoration

Telheiro Beach Restoration Remember the invitation to join us and work for the restoration of the cliffs of Praia do Telheiro (see news). As it was, the work of our team and others, summing up more than 30 people of various nationalities who worked for several days, competently directed by the Group Proteger o Telheiro and by Engr. Alberto Pietrogrande, is already producing results. In the top image you can see the state in which the cliff was

Telheiro Beach Restoration2017-06-27T14:42:36+01:00

Storm petrel, 2017

We’ve just finished another season of Storm-petrel ringing, again in partnership with the University of Cardiff, United Kingdom. A project that has nearly 30 years of duration (27 to be exact), the data we collect is still a source of surprises. This year was another year of low catches. However the numbers of the last three nights, with the most surprising highest peak of this year, helped to improve the average night catch. The numbers of foreign ringed birds are

Storm petrel, 20172017-06-28T13:35:09+01:00

A list of invasive species in Portugal – 1st version

Invasive species are one of the largest causes of biodiversity loss and extinction. In our country the risks and problems with invasive species are not very well studied yet. We published a list of species - of course still incomplete - that includes all the invasive species in Portugal that were mentioned in scientific literature. At the moment the list presents 431 taxa. If you would like to help with the compilation of this list, you can send your comments and additions to alcobaca@arocha.org. You can

A list of invasive species in Portugal – 1st version2017-02-09T09:58:36+00:00

Science and Conservation in 2016

Scientific research has always been an essential part of A ROCHA conservation programs, because its findings confirm our conservation objectives. For this reason we are happy to have published a paper about Ria de Alvor on Ocean and Coastal Management journal. You can read more at https://www.arocha.pt/news/2016/09/new-scientific-paper-on-the-alvor-estuary/. This year, as in previous, we continued the monitoring of birds and moths in the Ria de Alvor. Some of the rarities ringed at Cruzinha included Yellow-browed warbler Phylloscopus inornatus and the first capture a Western olivaceous warbler

Science and Conservation in 20162017-05-26T18:01:56+01:00

Shall we help to recover the Telheiro Beach cliff?

  A ROCHA is pleased to join the Telheiro Beach Defence Group, from January 16th, to work on the recovery of this is very unstable cliff, as a result of wrong human action. The work consists above all on natural engineering work using native plants and seeds to correct inclination and prevent run off erosion. All this will help nature to speed up the recovery process. If you want to join simply fill in the form at this link.

Shall we help to recover the Telheiro Beach cliff?2017-06-12T14:37:15+01:00