Saturday, 5th May 2007

A lone rambler contemplates Rdum tal-Madonna

This walk was a repeat of the activity first held on 8th December last year when we had to abandon the walk midway because of a freak thunderstorm. This time no inclement weather threatened and an 80-strong group turned up next to the Ghadira Nature Reserve. From there we set off up the road and turned by the Mellieha Bay Hotel eventually reaching the small picturesque cove known as Tal-Imgharrqa. From there we continued along the coast in this area where there is severe erosion and cliff collapse - in fact at one point the cliff is just a couple of meters from the road.

Once we regained the road we made our way to the end of the promontory to the area known as Rdum tal-Madonna - an ecologically important area and now the site of a project called the Yelkouan Shearwater Project. It was here that the group was met by Birdlife Malta's Helen Raine, the project's director who explained in some detail the purpose of the initiative. Helen explained that the Maltese Islands are home to about 10% of the global population of the Yelkouan Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan / Garnija). An estimated 1500 pairs are known to breed locally, of which Rdum tal-Madonna is home to around 500 pairs.

With the help of the EU LIFE Fund, a partnership of three conservation organisations and four government authorities are working together to reverse population declines and reduce future threats to the birds. The overall aim of the project is to increase breeding pairs from 500 to 700 pairs at Rdum tal-Madonna and from 1500 to 2000 pairs nationally.

Helen Raine addressing Ramblers

The project will run until 2010 and will focus on protecting birds at Rdum tal-Madonna, the largest breeding colony in Malta. Birdlife Malta together with the project's partners will take action to improve the area for the benefit of shearwaters and other wildlife as well as local people and visitors. Work has already started with a program of rat eradication from the area - a serious threat to young chicks of this species. Further work will include:

• Working with fishermen to find a solution to prevent the accidental catching of birds
• Working with government authorities to ensure that coastal breeding habitats are effectively protected
• Reducing noise and light disturbance to the site by working with the recreational sector to find alternative locations for their activities
• Creating a management plan
• Employing a site warden to monitor and manage the site
• Developing a system to identify marine Important Bird Areas (IBAs) nationally.

Yelkouan Shearwater

The partners in this project are Birdlife Malta, RSPB (UK), SPEA (Portugal), Armed Forces of Malta, Heritage Malta, Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences and The Malta Maritime Authority.

More info can be found from the Life Shearwater Project and from BirdLife Malta

After this brief stop the group made its way via the seaboard cliffs to Ir-Ramla tat-Torri, another important site in the area, being one of the Islands' few remaining coastal sand dune habitats.

Sea Holly

Steven made a brief talk about the site, which holds some very rare species - some of which can only be found here in mainland Malta. Gozo has its own much more pristine sand dune site at Ir-Ramla l-Hamra. Contrary to popular perception that nothing grows on sand this site supports probably the last extant specimen of Prickly Parsnip (Echinophora spinosa / Busbies xewwieki) in the whole of mainland Malta(!) as well as a good clutch of Sea Daffodils (Pancratium Maritimum / Pankrazju), the thorny Sea Holly (Eryngium Maritimum / Xewk tar-ramel) and the very attractive Sand Oyster Thistle (Scolymus Hispanicus / Xewk isfar tar-ramel). The Sea Spurge ( Euphorbia Paralias / Tenghud tar-ramel), which for some time was reported to have disappeared from this site, has now made a happy reappearance - even if in very small numbers. Due to the large numbers of Ramblers on this walk it was decided not to enter this small and very vulnerable site - a site which is legally protected and under the care of Nature Trust (Malta)

Little Egrets at Ghadira Nature Reserve

The walk continued by the coast taking in the bays of the area until we reached the Riviera resort, and then we took a road southwards to reach our starting point again. Birdlife Malta invited the group to visit the Ghadira Nature Reserve and about half the participants availed themselves of this welcome at the end of a somewhat longer than usual walk.