Live stream: geres_xures_reserva_de_la_biosfera.mp3
Soajo, Gerês-Xures Biosphere Reserve, Portugal
Cláudia Martinho
Latitude: +41.89132143681112°
Longitude: -8.25622168342025°
Streaming off-grid from an oak grove, using a Soundcamp streambox. The location is in a rural valley surrounded by granite mountains, part of the Gerês-Xures Biosphere Reserve. With a combination of wildlife and rural activities, environmental sounds include birds, insects, cattle, cowbells, horses, agroforestry practices, and streams of water on rainy days.
Soajo is a mountain in the northwest of Portugal, next to the border with Galicia, part of the Gerês-Xures Transboundary Biosphere Reserve. This year, we’re experiencing very heavy rains and cold temperatures at dawn.
This hilly landscape is far from major population centres, with a dense hydrographic network, ecosystems in a good state of conservation, fauna and flora species of exceptional interest for the conservation of biodiversity. Inherited pre- and proto-historical agricultural and pasture techniques and communitarian practices have ensured a balance between human activity and the natural environment. For its natural and cultural values the area was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 27 May 2009.
Biomass coverage of these mountains and plateaus are dominated by four distinct biomes: oak forest, shrubbery, marshes and riparian vegetation. The flora diversity includes 823 vascular taxa that occur in 128 types of vegetation. Approximately 235 vertebrate species were identified, of which 200 are threatened or under protection (these include the Iberian wolf, three species of bat, the golden eagle, the Gerês goat). 147 species of birds are identified, many of which are migratory, with approximately 36 species nesting in the Biosphere. Of particular note are the red-billed Chough, Golden Owl, European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus), hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), common snipe (Gallinago gallinago), red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), garden warbler (Sylvia borin) and whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).
More information about the Gerês-Xures Transboundary Biosphere Reserve:
https://www.reservabiosferageresxures.eu/en/the-reserve/natural-values
https://geres-xures.reservasdabiosfera.pt/
This hilly landscape is far from major population centres, with a dense hydrographic network, ecosystems in a good state of conservation, fauna and flora species of exceptional interest for the conservation of biodiversity. Inherited pre- and proto-historical agricultural and pasture techniques and communitarian practices have ensured a balance between human activity and the natural environment. For its natural and cultural values the area was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 27 May 2009.
Biomass coverage of these mountains and plateaus are dominated by four distinct biomes: oak forest, shrubbery, marshes and riparian vegetation. The flora diversity includes 823 vascular taxa that occur in 128 types of vegetation. Approximately 235 vertebrate species were identified, of which 200 are threatened or under protection (these include the Iberian wolf, three species of bat, the golden eagle, the Gerês goat). 147 species of birds are identified, many of which are migratory, with approximately 36 species nesting in the Biosphere. Of particular note are the red-billed Chough, Golden Owl, European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus), hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), common snipe (Gallinago gallinago), red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), garden warbler (Sylvia borin) and whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).
More information about the Gerês-Xures Transboundary Biosphere Reserve:
https://www.reservabiosferageresxures.eu/en/the-reserve/natural-values
https://geres-xures.reservasdabiosfera.pt/