Habitat restoration work at Ilhéu da Vila, Santa Maria

June 7, 2023

Under Action C6.1 – Habitat restoration for seabirds of the LIFE IP AZORES NATURA project, habitat restoration work is being continued on the Ilhéu da Vila, Santa Maria.

In mid-April, a team from the Santa Maria Environment and Climate Change Service continued the work to remove the invasive species New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides), which proliferates on the islet, obstructing access to procellariforms' nests.

To sustain the substrate in the steep areas of the islet, after the removal of invasive species, the construction of palisades continued and direct sowing of Azorean Lotus (Lotus azoricus), Azorean Coastal Fescue (Festuca petraea), Buck's-horn Plantain (Plantago coronopus) and Azorean Wild Carrot (Daucus carota ssp. azoricus), and the planting of 35 specimens of Azorean Fleshy Bishopsweed (Ammi seubertianum), 145 specimens of Azorean Bellflower (Azorina vidalii) and 126 specimens of the Azorean Lotus (Lotus azoricus).

In the future, a compost bin will be built on a rocky area to store and contain the removed plant material, namely New Zealand Spinach, thus avoiding its dispersion by wind action.

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