Continuing the works at Ilhéu da Vila, Santa Maria

Feb. 22, 2023

On January 19, a team from Santa Maria Environment and Climate Change Service went to the Ilhéu da Vila to continue working on removing the invasive alien species Tetragonia tetragonoides and its seeds deposited in the soil. 

This work was carried out in an area of a size proportional to the number of plants available for planting this Spring, which is currently in production at the Faial Botanic Garden.

It was verified that the previous actions of weed removal had overexposed the soil, leading to soil erosion, the team built palisades to reduce erosion, sustain the soil and favour direct sowing and planting, which is intended to be done soon. It was also verified that the native species Spergularia azorica, Azorean Lotus (Lotus azorica) and Buck's-horn Plantain (Plantago coronopus) are abundantly sprouting.

During this field trip, 203 seabirds’ nests were also monitored, including the artificial nests installed in July 2021 under the LIFE IP AZORES NATURA project, to assess the reproductive success of the Madeiran Storm-petrel (Hydrobates castro). Given that the weather conditions did not allow the work to be carried out earlier, this monitoring was carried out late, so many empty nests were found, but with signs of occupation, and, likely, the brood has already left the nest. Nine Madeiran Storm-petrel broods and one egg of Barolo Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) were identified. We also identified eight nests with non-viable eggs, two dead adults and evidence of predation.

Find out more about this project coordinated by the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change at www.lifeazoresnatura.eu/en/.