LUCIO DE ADVENTUS (FINCA LA PARDILLA) – TREBUJENA, CÁDIZ, ANDALUCIA, SPAIN

The site is very favourable for wildlife, close to the Guadalquivir Estuary in the Doñana area. A shallow excavation in an area that had previously been heavily transformed created a marshland with five islands, and these were immediately occupied by black winged stilts, avocets, redshanks, little terns, pratincoles, Kentish plovers and some wildfowl species, notably marbled teal. After three years the site is already being economically exploited by two local firms, one for aquaculture (shrimps) and the other for ecotourism. Both companies are local, based in the nearby village of Trebujena.

Since the area was restored a monitoring programme is taking place to monitor biodiversity, water quality and CO2. Local NGOs also take part in various activities, for instance environmental education. One of the most important successes is the three pairs of marble teal which have been breeding at the site since the very beginning of the project. The Adventus marsh is a good example of how wildlife conservation and sustainable development can add great value to abandoned land which was wrongly transformed in the past.