Results of the Photo Contest - May 2020 (protect the environment)
Laura from Italy
My friends and me volunteering in “Balkan Hotspot”, in Thessaloniki, gathered in the closest beach of the city, Peraia in June. The village is not so big and is quiet during the week, in particular in winter months. In spring most of the inhabitants of Thessaloniki reverse there to foretaste the beginning of the summer. When we went, Peraia was already afflicted by the irresponsible behaviour of humans. We found every kind of objects hidden under the sand. Bottles of beers, cigarettes, paper, but the most interesting were pieces of children toys like a little pink shoe, an arm of a doll and plastic cars. We were laughing because it was unexpected and at the same time obviously disappointing. We brought some of the broken toys home to give them a “new life”. After this experience, everyone felt more sensitized and we understood how much a little cigarette in the trash bin could create a huge difference.
Érik from Spain I was very lucky to volunteer with Third Eye Organization of Mediterranean in Turkey. The aim of this organisation
is to preserve and protect 2 species of endangered turtles(Chelonia mydas and Caretta caretta) that come to the beach of Kazanlı to lay eggs. My main activities as a volunteer were to clean the beach and to do workshops with my mates to increase the awareness of the situation. The beach of Kazanlı is full of plastics and all kind of garbage.These residues affect the life cycle of the turtles, making their survival more difficult. Indeed, only 1 in 1000 turtles reach the adulthood!Then, in the middle of my volunteering, the situation changed. Coronavirus arrived.I decided to stay and finish my volunteering.In May, the season of the turtle moms had arrived; it was in that moment that I could take this amazing photo of a turtle taking a breath. Now 2 months later in the baby turtle season, I just hope the beach is clean enough for them to reach the sea.
Daniele from Italy I have been a volunteer with SEO/BirdLife in Doñana National Park where, among many important activities, one in particular
caught my attention.
The "Cerro de los Ansares" is a mobile dune in Doñana National Park. Greylag geese that spend the winter in Doñana fly here every morning to ingest grit that helps with their digestive process. Hunters would exploit that behaviour to shoot them but even after hunting was banned from this site, in 1983, the lead shots remained. While the geese ingest grit they also ingest the shots by mistake, leading to lead poisoning and death with only as much as 6g of lead ingested: this means not only the death of the goose but, since lead stays in the body even after death, also the intoxication and possible death of every other animal that feeds on its body.
So far every study has proven that the best way of removing the shots is by hand: a demanding job, especially under the scorching Andalusian sun, but a much needed one.
Marina from Spain While on my voluntary service project on the protection and conservation of the Imperial Eagle in Serbia, I spent
two weeks lost in a small village, Mala Remeta, in the Balkans, working for the preservation of some pastures. As the nature lover I am, I soon got fascinated by the different landscapes and knowledge I was discovering. While the volunteers were working on removing some vegetation that didn´t allow water to flow properly in a stream near our village, someone found the specimen, which is shown in the photo. The father of one of the coordinators of the project told us that this was a specimen of Morimus funereus, an endangered species very rare to find. The following October, when I entered university to study environmental engineering I randomly found the specimen in a beetles guides while I was doing some class work; it reminded me of my Serbian adventure so much.