As of this week, the Picos de Europa National Park has two more bearded vultures living in the natural park, as Lesly and Europa, who are about three months old, have moved in.
The Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture (FCQ) has taken care of and transferred them from the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (Huesca) after the Government of Aragon ceded them for breeding and release into the wild. This species disappeared in the Picos de Europa in 1956. It was in 2010 when the first new specimens were reintroduced and in 2020 when the first successful reproduction occurred.
After a vet check, FCQ has installed Lesly and Europa on a platform where they will acclimatise to the environment for a month, until they have completed their development. Then they will be released and will become part of the wild stock of the species in Picos de Europa, where 28 specimens currently live.
“The arrival of these two chicks in the Picos de Europa is the result of decades of dedication on the part of numerous public and private agents who are making a great effort to reintroduce the species and mitigate the threats that put it at risk,” explained Gerardo Báguena, vice president of FCQ, during the first stage of their integration. This entity has been working for more than 20 years to restore the population in collaboration with the park’s environmental authorities, the three autonomous communities that manage it and the support of public and private funds.
The event was attended by Beatriz Corredor, president of Redeia, a group that collaborates with FCQ within the framework of its commitment to the protection of birdlife, especially through its subsidiary Red Eléctrica, the company in charge of transporting and operating the electrical system in Spain. “For Red Eléctrica, it is a priority that the transmission network and birds coexist in harmony. For this reason, when we design the lines, we avoid areas where birds are present and in flight. And when it is not possible, we place bird guards that make them more visible and prevent accidents”, Corredor pointed out.
Red Eléctrica is implementing this year a special plan for the bearded vulture that involves signalling 160 kilometres of lines that run through the areas where this bird lives mainly: Picos de Europa, Pyrenees, El Maestrazgo and Sierra de Cazorla. In addition, it is signalling another 46 km of lines in critical risk areas for birds in the Principality of Asturias, Aragón, Cantabria, La Rioja, Navarra and the province of León.
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