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Calblanque has something to celebrate. For the first time since monitoring began, a pair of barn owls has bred in the Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas and Peña del Águila Regional Park and the family chose a nest box that volunteers put up back in 2023.

 

The box was part of an environmental volunteering project run by the Regional Government and the Ulula Association, and it has paid off in style. The chicks and both adult birds have been ringed, which will teach researchers a good deal about how the species lives in the park and around the Mar Menor.

 

There was a lovely detail too. The ring on the male showed he'd been ringed the previous winter in the protected wetlands of the Mar Menor. Inmaculada Torres, Director General of Natural Heritage and Climate Action, said the occupied box shows "how a relatively simple action, supported also by collaboration and environmental volunteering, can directly contribute to promoting the reproduction of a species."

 

Eagle owls had a good year too. Ten Eurasian eagle owl territories were monitored, and seven were found to be occupied. Eight chicks hatched during the 2026 season, including three in a nest at Cabezo de la Fuente, one of the most important sites.

 

That spot is also popular with climbers, and it shows how the two can coexist. Temporary restrictions are put in place during the breeding season through a partnership between the regional authorities, the Sustainable Climbing Association and the Mountaineering Federation of the Region of Murcia. "This case demonstrates that protecting nature does not have to be at odds with public use of natural spaces," said Torres.

 

The year also brought the first coordinated census of the little owl across the whole park. More than 40 volunteers, coordinated by the Ulula Association, surveyed 47 one square kilometre grid squares. They found the species in 24 of them and counted 46 individuals in total.

 

Torres said "scientific knowledge, citizen participation, and adaptive management are three essential tools for continuing to improve biodiversity conservation." She added that the results confirm that the conservation measures in place are working, and that they reinforce Calblanque's value as a reference space where "administration, conservation entities, volunteers and users work in the same direction."

 

 

Image: Sixolelo Ngcobo/Pexels