Brown Bear population increasing in Pyrenees

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At the end of the XX century the French Goverment started a program to save the last Brown Bear population in the Pyrenees. It is almost 15 years since the first brown bear coming from Slovenia was liberated in the Pyrenees, joining the tiny population (2-5 individuals) these mountains had at this time. There was controversial in French and Catalan media and also some local people were opposite to brown bears.

2005 Brown bear (Ursus arctos) distribution map in Pyrenees. http://www.depana.org

Despite these initial problems, today the brown bear population is well established in Central Pyrenees, mainly around Val d’Aran, in Catalonia. There are about 30 brown bears in the whole of the Pyrenees, and about 25 living in Val d’Aran and areas around (mainly north Pallars). It is a nice new to say local people have changed their opinions about bears since most of them are proud to have this impressive mammal living in their forests.

Brown Bear in the Pyrenees. Photo; Carles Oliver

2011/12 winter is gonna see a big number of puppies because of until there are 6 females to reproduce. Since XXth 80’s that there are not so many females to reproduce in one spring in the Pyrenees!! This is an astonishing change in thirty years, when the species was almost erradicated from these mountains and this change is thanks to French and Catalan Goverments as well as DEPANA, ADET, Fiep and other NGO’s.

Red-rumped Swallow expanding North

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The Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) is going North its breeding territory in Western Europe. The numbers of this swallow in Catalonia are also growing up. There are two main breeding populations, one is at North beside the French border but the biggest one is at South and inland in both Lleida and Tarragona provinces. Is in this bigger population where I’ve found this spring some couples breeding in new sites.

Typical Red-rumped Swallow nest inside a non-used building. Photo; Carles Oliver

Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) is breeding in new places in a 50 kilometers North of Balaguer town, an area immediatly situated South of Pyrenees. I’ve found until tree nesting couples in different non-used farm houses near the village of Camarasa. The swallows are in an area with no breeding records for this species before.

Red-rumped Swallows use to nest inside small or medium size non-used human constructions as well as under bridges and other structures. It prefers to have near the nest some small river or other fresh water.

It seems clear that this species is gonna be commoner in Catalonia in next years and is even possible that is gonna arrive as a nesting bird to some Pyrenees valleys as a natural process due its strong expansion in Western Europe.