Ria Formosa - 11 Feb 1989

The Ria Formosa Natural Park is a remarkable area of marshes, lagoons, mud­flats, saltpans and sandbars, extending from 15km west of Faro, eastwards almost to the Spanish border. It is recognised as a wildfowl feeding ground of inter­national importance for such species as fla­mingo, spoonbill and many waders and wildfowl.

Created in 1755 by a great oceanic earthquake, the landscape of sand dunes, islands and bars to the open sea is still continously reshaped by tidal changes. During the 1870s, this whole area was leased to one family as a royal favour. When the lease ran out in the mid-1980s, the crown no longer existed and the state wanted the land. The family laid claim to it and there have been several years of legal, polit­ical and personal battles as to who should have what. However, since then, the Ria Formosa has been a protected nature reserve, despite the heart of it being under the flight path of Faro airport. The water here is still excellent quality, having managed to escape detectable contamination by industrial effluents, sewage dumping, agricultural and radioactive pollutants. The main industry, away from the tourists, is the traditional gathering of sea-salt. Except for the protected area at Ludo, there is considerable human influence on the area: the marshland and mudflat shellfish fauna is exten­sively exploited, and some of the offshore sandbars are already crowded with holiday homes.

We stop for lunch half way between Ludo and the Praia do Faro where we watch kentish plover and other waders and gulls. Then we visit Les Batty and his family ‑ friends of Ralph and Glenis. Les lectured at the university at Faro and, although his subject was oceano­graphy, he managed to include sea birds and saltpans in his work. He explains to us that many saltpans are being converted to fish farming tanks. As yet there are no bird problems on these fish farms and Les hopes to study the changeover and the effect on birds before the farmers suspect the birds as potential pests and used that as an excuse for more shooting.

At Les's suggestion we give Ludo a miss and carry on to the Castro Marim reserve, stopping to the see the salt pans at Tavira on the way. Salt extraction here is on a larger scale than we had previously seen and there are great white mountains of the stuff waiting to be transported away. There are few birds in those evaporation tanks that are almost dry, but those with water hold black‑winged stilt, avocet, godwit, red and greenshank, and even a couple of sanderling.

Half a dozen stilt feed in one part­icular tank, with others coming and going all the time. They wade in water just above knee deep, pecking things off the surface or off the bottom, frequently immersing their heads. Sometimes one gets into a rhythm of stepping and dipping. Mostly they feed together quite peaceably, but two birds are giving each other some hassle. One bird sits on the water as the other approaches, stands up when it has passed, then sits down again. When the second bird has moved on several metres, the first one jumps into the air and flies over it, appear­ing to threaten it, before land­ing a metre further along. Both birds resume feeding peaceful­ly, then repeat the process after a while.