In February, the LIFE Godwit Flyway managers Andreas Barkow and Ulf Bauchinger from NLWKN visited the Portuguese partners from the Tagus Estuary Birdwatching and Conservation Area (EVOA), Companhia das Lezírias and the University of Aveiro.
Recent measures implemented in the project areas along the Tagus were inspected. Sandra Paiva from EVOA reported that the Saragoça salt pans were largely restored last autumn, in order to recreate favourable feeding conditions for rare bird species by increasing the salinity in a large evaporation basin.
Optimising water management was also a key focus during the visit to the rice fields of Companhia das Lezírias, which cover an area of about 400 hectares. The aim here is to optimise the timing of water management and land use after the rice harvest. To this end, José Alves and Afonso Rocha from the University of Aveiro are investigating various scenarios in order to ultimately develop recommendations for optimising agro-environmental measures for rice farmers.
Finally, the German visitors could encounter about 25.000 Black-tailed Godwits at their staging site at the Tagus and supported a night catch to employ 11 GPS transmitters to shed light on further secrets of bird migration and habitat use of this endangered bird species.
