Destruction of Ponta do Pargo IBA for a golf course

Destruction of Ponta do Pargo IBA for a golf course

Unfortunately the economic crisis did not hit Madeira Island as it should and money is still being spent on the worst things… One of Madeira’s Important Bird Area (IBA) is being destructed for the construction of another unprofitable (the 3rd one already!) golf course… 🙁

Ponta do Pargo is the westernmost tip of Madeira island and it was a very good spot for bird watching some of the endemic birds as Berthelot’s Pipit, Rock Sparrows and Spectacled Warblers but also for migrant birds where Stonechat, Wheater, Woodchat Shrike, Lapwing, Golden Plover, Hobby, Peregrine Falcon, Buff-breasted Sandpiper were some of the species already recorded there.

As you can see from the pictures the regional government didn’t care about any kind of life there and just ‘cleaned’ every bit of Gorse Ulex europaeus, Pride of Madeira Echium nervosum, Globe Flower Globularia salicina, Fennel Foeniculum officinale and some other bushes that were the habitat of the endemic birds listed above, for some butterflies as Painted Lady Cynthia cardui and Long-tailed Blue Lampides boeticus as well as __for other insects as bumble bees or spiders. They didn’t even start on just one side and move forward slowly to give a chance for the birds and other creatures to move away from the work field, instead they just started all around, trapping all species…

Only today, 3 weeks after the works started and much time after this project was publicly presented, SPEA, the Portuguese BirdLife partner had come to the newspapers saying they do not agree with that Golf Course and that it goes against the Territorial Planning Project for Madeira where it states that Ponta do Pargo is (was) for agriculture only. Why didn’t they press charge against the government or said something before the damage was done?

Madeira Wind Birds mourns for all the species murdered at Ponta do Pargo.