In Salobreña there are wooden, insect nests called Refugios para Insectos (Insect Shelters) fixed to trees, etc around town.

The boxes are the idea of the Environmental Department of the Town Hall, which has provided them with the idea that these structures will help the pollination of the trees and plants in the municipal gardens and parks etc.

When we think of pollen harvesting, we automatically think of just bees, who do the lion’s share, admittedly, but there are other species, some of which are in danger of extinction. Hence, these shelters or refuges.

Each box has three compartments containing different material, such as small pieces of tree trunks with holes, bark and pinecones, each one adapted to the type of insect that the Environmental Department wants to attract; i.e., wasps, bees, caterpillars, beetles and spiders.

The Councillor for the Environment, Ángela Rodríguez, (see photo) explained that these new “ecological connectors” had been placed at strategic points in such a way that they are protected from the elements and vandalism. She added that they also have an educational function, (thanks to the information boards placed near them) which is to bring people’s attention to the importance of these insects as part of Nature’s protective system.

So far they have put up five of these boxes in such places as near the bus stop for La Caleta, the Colegio Mayor Zaragoza, The Plaza de Goya, The Plaza del Ayuntamiento and the calcarenite-covered area near the Parque La Fuente.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)