News: Short & sweet / archive
January to March 2025

Our revegetation project aims to create new wildflower meadow biotopes on the arable land purchased by our Foundation to expand our Pantani Migratory Bird Sanctuary north of our Pantano Longarini lagoon 
Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to purchase certified wildflower seeds in Sicily in recent years that would have enabled us to convert the formerly intensively used arable land north of our Pantano Longarini lagoon into permanent, species-rich wildflower meadows.

The time is now ripe, following our acquisition of more than 12 hectares of arable land in 2023. After intensive waste disposal work and several ploughing sessions, we planted French sweet clover to rehabilitate the soil.

No sooner had the idea been born among our on-site Bird Guards to collect wildflower seeds at suitable locations in the region between Ispica and Granelli on the south-eastern coast of Sicily, numerous members of the local environmental protection group "Pirati della Marza" from Ispica (province of Ragusa), which has been extremely helpful to us for years, volunteered to collect wildflower seeds.

It was admirable to see the great motivation and perseverance with which the women and men of the Pirati environmental protection group completed the wildflower seed collection work, which was hard on their backs and knees. They not only searched the flower meadows of our Pantani migratory bird sanctuary, but also fallow land along country roads and field paths, as well as in olive and almond groves.

The impressive result of the seed collection campaign will enable us to sow more than 7 hectares (70,000 m²) of sloping land with genetically appropriate wildflower seeds. This will benefit the Mediterranean insect and bird population, including migratory birds such as the Common Linnet, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Skylark and Crested Lark, for whom we can thus create a species-rich and nutrient-rich meadow biotope of the highest quality.

The Salzlandkreis district, situated east of the Harz in Saxony-Anhalt, is not exactly known for its abundant water and high precipitation levels. However, the 75-hectare lake district near Frose is a true paradise for wetland birds and those inhabiting inland waters and reed beds
Many reed-lined shallow waters have emerged and are still emerging after the cessation of the use of the nearby open-cast lignite mines and the shutdown of the open-cast mining pumps that followed German reunification. In this intensively farmed landscape, this relatively small wetland has a magical attraction for migratory birds from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts on their journey south and return to their breeding grounds - waterfowl from inland and shallow waters,  bird species from wet meadows and songbirds from the reedbeds.

They all benefit from our land purchases, which have been ongoing here for more than 12 years, and our efforts to have the area designated and protected as a nature reserve. And that, we hope, will finally become a reality in 2025.

After almost 12 months of drought in Sicily, the diversity of bird species resting and foraging in our Pantani Migratory Bird Sanctuary is breathtaking.  
The re-filling of our lagoons and riparian wetlands with water after the heavy precipitation in January 2025 was as astonishing as the speed with which the migratory bird species of the North and Central European seacoasts, inland waters and wetlands returned!

What was still utopian in mid-January has been a gratifying certainty since the beginning of February: the Pantano Longarini lagoon has broken through the flat sand dune on the beach with immense water pressure and created a connection to the Mediterranean Sea, only 100 metres away. This means that saltwater fish, crabs and small crustaceans can now swim into the lagoon, significantly improving the food supply for waterbirds, waders and birds of prey.

At the same time, our Bird Guards were able to document two new bird species in our sanctuary. It was with slightly clouded joy that the first Sacred Ibises were observed. This invasive bird species that escaped from private aviaries, have settled in the Po Valley in northern Italy and have been observed for the first time in Sicily.

There is, therefore, all the more reason to be delighted about the sighting of a Dartford Warbler in our coastal Pantani dwarf shrubland (maquis) areas. This Mediterranean songbird species has become extremely rare and now only occurs in the mountainous regions and rocky hills of Sicily.

With the two new bird observations, we are now at 254 documented bird species in the Pantani Nature Reserve!

Sporadic summer drying out of the Pantani Cuba & Pantano lagoons is a natural dynamic, but what was new was the months-long drought, which has finally come to an end with more than 150 litres of precipitation per m² in only five days …

The sporadic drying out is crucial for the freshwater lagoons and wet meadows and future water quality in particular, as harmful germs, bacteria and non-native introduced animal species lose their basis for existence and thus their adverse effects on the diverse migratory birdlife.

And as fast as our lagoons and the wet meadows near the shore filled up with water again thanks to the heavy rainfall, so rapid was the return of the migratory bird species of the northern and central European coasts, waters and wet meadows! Finally, we are glad to say! Our Bird Guards and we, too, were already showing signs of withdrawal due to the absence of migratory birdlife and biodiversity.

If we experience further precipitation by spring 2025, the mouth of the Pantano Longarini lagoon will be able to open up to the Mediterranean Sea, allowing salt-water fish, crabs and small crustaceans to enter the lagoon. This will increase the food supply for waterfowl, wader species, and birds of prey while creating new aquatic life!