The Junta de Andalucía has approved a decree making the Charca de Suárez (waterfowl reserve) in Motril a Zona de Especial Protección para las Aves (ZEPA). 

This move means that this humedal or wetland preserve can be included into the European Natura 2000 Network and the Inventario de Espacios Naturales Protegidos de Andalucía.

The Charca de Suárez, is the most vital wetland on the Costa Tropical, serving as a critical freshwater nesting, wintering, and resting site for several migratory and threatened, bird species (e.g., marbled teal, crested coot, white-headed duck).

The wetland consists of eight permanent ponds fed by the water table, rainfall, and irrigation runoff. Five were protected in 2007/2009 (Las Aneas, el Trébol, el Taraje, el Lirio, and the Caña de Azúcar), while the remaining three sit on adjacent land that is no longer cultivated.

Those other three ponds are La Juncia, el Junco, and El Álamo Blanco, which, as previously pointed out used to be cultivated plots but as they have been left to themselves, they have become natural ponds.

Motril Town Council are happy bunnies over this designation and intend to expand the reserve to officially include the three adjacent ponds  mentioned above. They say that they have spent funds on, infrastructure, and hiring staff for the site.

Its goal, they say, is to guarantee that the fauna can survive, rest, and reproduce, and that the wetland conserves its natural conditions.

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

Keywords: Wetlands, Charca De Suárez, La Juncia, El Junco, And El Álamo Blanco, European Natura 2000 Network, Zona De Especial Protección Para Las Aves, Marbled Teal, Crested Coot, White-Headed Duck, ZEPA

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