These past few months, we've
been hard at work restoring this flooded quarry in the northeast of Portugal.
Our goal here is to use all of this water to create
a variety of habitats which will help improve the conditions for local wildlife.
And we've been busy creating a lot of new areas and features
that are already transforming this place for the better.
And in this video, I'm really excited to show you how we redirected water
to form a whole new lake, flooded some new lands near the main channel
and created half a dozen or so rare Mediterranean
temporary ponds which are now full of life.
And as I go round showing you all these features we've built.
I'll also be checking in on the wildlife that has moved in
and putting my very amateur wildlife photography skills to the test.
So this quarry is quite the maze and it's really hard to come up
with a concise way of explaining this to you.
But I think if we focus on this upper area of the quarry where we have started
our work, it might be possible to explain what's happening here with the water.
Now, before I start the tour,
I think it's useful to recap the timeline for this project.
The property has been dedicated to rewilding since 2021,
when it changed ownership
and was put under the management of our good friends at Rewilding Portugal.
At the time we visited the area and thought the opportunity was amazing.
So we decided to get properly involved.
About a year later, after getting the project management plan in place.
We started conducting some eDNA surveys to understand what species are present
in the area by filtering the water and then checking what kinds of DNA got
stuck in the filters.
Then the Earth movement started in the fall,
and we have two objectives that we want to achieve with this work.
The first one is to increase the size and variety of the flooded areas,
which essentially means we are expanding this rare aquatic habitat
with different depths of water.
And the second one is
that we're able to hold water here for longer during the drier seasons,
which means the area can support more wildlife year round.
The creative brain behind
all of these earth movements is Pedro, who runs rewilding Portugal.
And I must say that in this first area we are working on,
he came up with some really original ideas that brought
some fast results, which I'm really excited to show you.
So now let's follow the water, starting with this barrier here.
This is one of the barriers that we've built here,
and you'll be better able to see it from the drone.
But essentially what it does is it stops the water from running right through
right through there.
And instead it starts accumulating here and it accumulates and goes back
all the way there.
This first set of barriers are blocking the water
coming from this side and preventing it from going straight through the system.
Instead, we're taking it on a big detour to suit our purposes.
The water here is running slowly through this wide channel,
creating some shallow water pools later in the season.
These will become temporary ponds, but more on those in a bit.
As you can see, we had to block quite a few channels,
but bear in mind that these were not natural channels.
Well, none of this is, which is why we feel it's
okay to work on this area to maximize its potential.
The blocked water then flows into our first properly flooded area.
Ok, so the next biggest barrier that we have is the last one
that we showed you in that drone sequence.
And it's yeah, this one right here.
And it's essentially the cork that is plugging the gap,
which allows the creation of, yeah, the lake back there.
So you can see the water would normally flow
through this narrow bit here all the way down there.
And by stopping the flow of water there, we're essentially able
to create this lake and
which will be temporary, as we mentioned, and allow the flooding of this area.
And it also means that the water has to go all the way around
so that it gets retained in the system for longer.
This lake is the first major feature we created,
and it's worth diving in a bit deeper here in these shots.
Jaguar took in November last year.
You can clearly see the area that we have now flooded.
It used to be mostly dry and all of this water used to run through a narrow
channel there.
But now we have blocked its course and it has accumulated to create this
small lake that is about knee deep and is connected to the bigger, deeper
lake in the back there.
Now, of course, in November this area was dry.
We did not bring about the winter rain, but we did help it accumulate here
by blocking its path.
So this flooding is a product of our work.
And naturally, after it
flooded, some plants and animals took advantage of this unique opportunity.
So I've decided to come and take a closer
look at this temporary lake that we've created here.
And I must say, it is a bit of a strange experience
because I'm walking in here barefoot and it is quite slimy,
and I've seen a few critters lurking in between all these plants here.
But yeah, above all,
it's really cool to see that change has come about rather fast.
One month ago this area was completely dry and now we have these aquatic plants
here, as well as a variety of animals that are already using this area.
I was able to stick a GoPro in the water for a closer look.
And I found this little guy
who initially was quite nervous, but then relaxed to my presence a bit.
This is a European pond turtle, a new threatened species
that has a great time in this weapons eating animal matter and plants.
Then we also have these beautiful aquatic plants
which create what looks like miniature underwater forests.
And on the surface they produce these lovely white flowers,
which is why they're known locally as Borboleta d’Água, which means
water butterfly, a really appropriate name for this charming little plant.
Well, at least that is how we identified it.
We're currently in talks with aquatic plant experts to help us out
and to properly evaluate the area and consider any potential reintroductions.
We also caught glimpses of other wildlife, but they were too fast
for our camera skills, which is of course, where the eDNA comes in handy.
It allows you to detect species which are very hard to see and survey for.
We purchased and conducted eDNA tests for both vertebrates and invertebrates
to see what is living in the area.
And we found DNA for at least 204 species with varying degrees of certainty.
These results are super interesting and useful for us,
and I was initially going to include a breakdown in this video,
but while writing it, I realized there's a lot to tell you here.
So for now,
if you're a member, you should be able to read Tiago’s summary of the results
and the implications for our work in the update section of your account,
where you can also download the actual files with the full report.
And then in a few days we will be releasing
an in-depth dive here on YouTube on how eDNA testing works
and all the interesting stuff that we found lurking beneath the surface.
Okay, so back to the flooding now.
These deeper lakes here already existed, but they flowed through
this narrow channel in the middle, which we decided to block as well.
You're probably starting to see the pattern here.
It's all about blocking the water's path.
So after the water was blocked by these two channels,
it was forced to go all the way around through this area here,
which were leaving untouched because it's already really diverse.
And here finally, once the water has gone round one last time,
we actually finally let it through this this gap here.
So then it can flow.
And we tried to control a lot of this flow to go
towards the area that will create these small, temporary ponds.
But a lot of the water is also simply escaping back slowly
into this main area which was flooded already.
So I'm following along the little channel that leads the water to the ponds.
And as you can see, it's quite dry now.
It essentially used to have water flowing through here
when the water level was at its highest right after the rain.
And that's also what allows the creation of these temporary ponds.
So essentially, when the water comes, it stays there for a little while
and then it creates this perfect habitat for amphibians to to reproduce.
And this is where we've been finding a lot of frogs,
enjoying and having a great time in the sun.
And without, you know, being afraid of predators,
except for being afraid of us as we're trying to film them.
But broadly speaking, they feel really safe here.
And it's a really good place for them to reproduce.
Me and Tom are, at best, amateur wildlife filmmakers,
and you'd think that filming a frog in a pond would be an appropriate
challenge for us because it's one of the lowest levels of difficulty.
But these little buggers jumped each time we got anywhere near a pond.
It was before we could even see them, let alone film them.
That is, until we found my favorite animal in this wetland superstar Frog,
with its relaxed demeanor and desire for the limelight.
I’ve never been so hard to find the frog in a pond.
I must say
that we initially thought that this was a frog with below average intelligence,
but when you really think about it, letting us film
it was a really smart move.
Nice wildlife shots mean better videos, which means we can reach more people
and find more members to fund this work,
which eventually expands the frogs habitat.
Now that is a smart frog right there.
And I must say it was lovely to spend time with our new green friend,
which eventually led us to a few more of its cousins.
These are Iberian water frogs and one of at least four species
of amphibian that live here and take advantage of this opportunity.
The ponds are a safe haven against the invasive predatory fish that live in
some of the lakes, and that is the magic of these small, temporary ecosystems.
We've created space for amphibians to do their thing in the spring and secure
the next generation without being bothered by carp or other fish.
Of course, they could still be scooped up by one of these great herons
that have started to return to nest here in the spring.
But that is the whole point.
More space for frogs to reproduce is great for the frogs,
but also for all the other species that depend on them.
It's another lever that allows us to boost the biodiversity in this quarry.
And as usual, we fund all of this work through our community, through our Mossy
Earth members who contribute small
amounts each month to allow us to set up these kinds of rewilding projects.
If you're curious about helping us do this,
then be sure to check out our other videos and of course, our website
where you can sign up.
You can find it by typing mossy.earth
or through the link in the description and in the comments down below.
I think it's fun, but above all really impactful
and you get to see what your money does through the updates in your account
and in videos just like this one.
And if that's too much of a commitment for now, then subscribing,
liking and commenting is a great way to support us as well.
And I really mean that.
Now let's check out the final area we've restored.
My wildlife photography skills must have improved through the filming
of our superstar Frog because as we were going to film
this final area, I was able to film this beauty in flight.
I thought this might be a faded
pincer tailed dragonfly, which is an endangered European species.
But my ID skills are not so sharp.
If there are any experts watching this.
Please let me know in the comments what you think it might be.
So this here is the next obstacle for the water,
and it's the barrier that you saw Rui build yesterday with the digger.
And essentially what it does is it tries to stop that water over there
from running essentially along the course that it has because it was quite narrow
and quite deep. So this barrier stopped it.
It used to also have those pipes to allow the water to run through.
So we've removed them.
And now that this barrier's here, this water is essentially starting
to accumulate.
And as it accumulates over the next few weeks, it will slowly start
to have to go round once again, flooding a much, much bigger area
before it's actually able to rejoin the rest of the water over there.
And while this might look a little bit temporary right now,
and these do tend to break in with when there's a lot of rainfall,
it will, after a bit of time starts solidifying more and more
and we are going to plant trees over them to essentially add to their resilience.
So this should become a permanent feature and it will really allow
for this whole area to be flooded.
We built two of these barriers and the second one down
here is the one which allows for the flooding of this area.
It's also the one which broke during the heavy rains.
But as I mentioned,
this problem will be reduced with time as the features become more permanent.
Now, remember, this is just the start of this project.
There is a lot more to come in other areas.
Budget around €36,000 so far for this project,
which includes the machinery, use the water passages.
The eDNA both now and later, and the staff of course.
And those resources should go a long way to transform this quarry
into a thriving wetland
As the day was coming to an end, we finally had some action in the air
when a pair of storks showed up and started doing this beautiful dance.
But, well, you know, my wildlife camera skills aren't
that good, and I can't believe I missed this moment here.
They were also followed by a few vultures which are ever present in this region.
And after all of this action, I decided to wrap up with some more
filming of the beautiful Borboleta d’Água in the lake to fully enjoy
our new creation.
I'm really happy with this lake and the progress
that this project has made, and I hope this was an interesting update for you.
So if you'd like to follow along and see how we continue
transforming this area and how this project progresses,
the best that you can do is to subscribe to our channel here on YouTube
and you'll be seeing a lot more of these updates.
And if you'd like to fund this kind of work, this and other rewilding projects
that we do, then the best that you can do is to head over to mossy.earth
to learn all about our rewilding membership.
Until next time. Cheers.