SPBT is flying over Dereio Valley, monitoring rare birds of prey!
The Society for the Protection of Biodiversity of Thrace started this summer the raptor monitoring project in the Special Protection Area (SPA) "Oreinos Evros – Koilada Dereiou" (Dereio Valley), which is part of the European Ecological Network Natura 2000. Fortunately, during the fire of 2023, Dereio Valley was not affected, but a small part of it (south and west) and therefore it is a potential shelter for birds of prey that will not be able to nest in the burnt SPAs "Dasos Dadia - Soufli" (Forest of Dadia-Soufli) and "Southern Forest Complex of Evros ".
So, this year, from May to July, after designing a network of viewpoints and road transects, the people of SPBT - scientific staff together with the volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps - started for the first time in Dereio Valley the raptor monitoring, with the aim to identify as many bird of prey territories as possible and to monitor their changes in the coming years.
The monitoring was performed from 14 viewpoints and from nine road transects with a total length of 111 km spread over the whole area of the SPA. Several hours under the scorching sun, many bumps on hard roads, pesky insects that out of sheer curiosity “explored” the bodies of the researchers with stings and long hours of computer work, were not enough to discourage the team, who were greatly rewarded by observing impressive eagles soaring with wings wide open, others performing acrobatics, hawks flying by, fast like a bullet, pairs of birds flirting and sometimes flying with their youngs who were making their first flight of their life.
It requires patience and systematic monitoring over the next few years to understand if and what will change in the birds' movements, behaviour and populations and take action accordingly to protect these endangered species and restore or maintain their ecosystems. However, we also need to reduce the pressures and threats that prevent this from being achieved.
SPBT will analyse the data collected and is looking forward to continue the monitoring in the coming years, hoping that the results will contribute to decision-making and planning management actions for the effective protection of the area and the adjacent areas affected by last year's devastating fire.
Additional information
- To date there was little information on birds of prey in this area. Monitoring of birds of prey has been performed by the N.E.C.C.A. since 2020 in the Forest of Dadia-Soufli SPA and since this year also in the Southern Forest Complex of Evros SPA, two protected areas that unfortunately were burned in 2022 and 2023. The Dereio Valley SPA is in fact a continuation of these to the north.
- The Dereio Valley SPA is located in the central Evros. In the east it borders the Forest of Dadia - Soufli SPA up to the village of Kotronia, in the north it reaches Bulgaria above the villages of Goniko, Rousa and Mikro Dereio, in the east it borders the “Koilada Filiouri” (Filiouris Valley) SPA up to the village of Petrolofos and in the south it reaches the site “Treis Vryses”. In Evros and Rhodope there are a total of 11 areas that have been designated as SPAs and their connectivity is an important factor for the effective protection of the birds that occur in them. Besides, birds do not "see" area boundaries when they move but fly “with no barriers” among areas, even outside the SPAs.
The raptor monitoring Dereio Valley is performed in the framework of the "Greek Wildlife Alliance" an initiative implemented with the support of WWF Greece in cooperation with 11 Greek environmental NGOs with a common vision of the well-being of wildlife and humans.
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