BirdGuides

By Manuel Morales Holgado RECOVERING From prehistoric rock art to royal hunting ground, through political revolution, intensive farming, protracted bureaucracy and muddled administration, one of the greatest wetlands in Europe has had a contentious past. Now, at last, conservationists have come together to restore some of its former wildlife-rich glory. Manuel Morales Holgado describes the BirdLife project that Global Birdfair is backing this year. La Janda is one of the most important birdwatching hotspots in Andalusia and the Iberian Peninsula. This is the result of its strategic geographical location in the Strait of Gibraltar and the rich mosaic of natural and farmed habitats including seasonally flooded rice paddies. A birdwatching hotspot However, this is just a mere glimpse of the former splendour of La Janda. Well into the second half of the 20th century, La Janda used to hold one of the most important wetlands on the European continent. During the period of maximum flooding, the wetland expanded to more than 50 km 2 . During the dry part of the year, its surface shrank to approximately 4,000 hectares and formed a network of smaller lagoons, which were covered by extensive reedbeds. The richness of the avian community in the former wetland had caught the attention of the human inhabitants of the region from time immemorial. This is manifest by the birds depicted in the rock art at the nearby archaeological site of Tajo de las Figuras. This has been considered an ‘early practice of birdwatching at La Janda dating from the Neolithic period! More recently, during the 19th and 20th centuries, the unparalleled richness of this wetland’s avian community drew the attention of wildfowl hunters and European naturalists, including: Irby, Verner, Buck and Chapman, and Riddell. All of them described the ornithological value of La Janda in their respective reference works. More recently, Professor Francisco Bernis, pioneer of modern Spanish ornithology, recorded here, for instance, the last breeding pairs of common crane in the Iberian Peninsula in 1954. Equally noteworthy is that this region held the last known population of the Andalusian hemipode in Spain. Tragically, nothing could prevent the wetland from being drained. Drainage and land ownership From the end of the Islamic period, La Janda was held in Royal Ownership. Next, in 1307, King Fernando IV gave the Village of Vejer, including La Janda, to ‘Guzman el Bueno’, thereby acquiring Ducal jurisdiction. In 1566, the ‘Real Chancilleria de Granada’, gave the neighbours of Vejer the ownership of La Janda. In 1822, the Spanish Government ignored the communal ownership of the land and mandated its drainage. However, this proved unsuccessful. Since the mid-19th century, the idea that wetlands were unproductive land All images by Manuel Morales (La Janda Friends Association Secretary) Glossy ibis Little bustard Flamingos and osprey 20 j G LOBAL B IRDFAIR 2022