Note extracted from DEIA (http://www.deia.com/2018/01/21/bizkaia/gatika-da-alas-a-las-mariposas-en-un-oasis-que-se-construira-en-marzo, and translated by David Henderson (BBT)
Gatika Gives Wings to the Butterflies in an Oasis which will be done in March
The Town-Hall, AMPA (School Parents` Association) and Butroi Bizirik will be working together on a project to create an area to help butterflies.
Carlos Zárate, Sunday 28th September.
Maribe Llona from GEIGE together with David Henderson and Ana Lopez, members of Butroi Bizirik, inspect the area of land where the oasis will be.
The Town-Hall, AMPA (School Parents` Association) and Butroi Bizirik will be working together on a project to create an area to help butterflies to breed.
GATIKA: The butterflies are one of the first species to be affected by changes in its environment, according to the experts who explain that the biggest threat to them is “the alteration or destruction of its habitat”. The use of pesticides and a deterioration in the environment due to urban growth are some of the causes. However, recently there have been initiatives to provide spaces which can help the breeding and development of the butterflies. These are what we call “oases for butterflies”.It is in the creation of one of these wildlife sanctuaries that GEIGE (Association of Parents of Pupils from Gatika School) and the Town-Hall have been working on. The Town-Hall has offered a piece of land opposite the former MESA factory and to facilitate the project the Town-Hall is counting on the technical advice of Butroi Bizirik which advocates the creation of spaces for biodiversity. As such, both the Parents` Association as well as Gatika Town-Hall underline the important work of awareness raising and environmental education that the development of such a project will mean for the children in the village. “ It seems to us to be a lovely and interesting way for the children to learn about nature. It`s a subject that they give a lot of importance to in the school and it`s important that they know the local flowers and wildlife.” says Maribe Llona, the President of GEIGE.
“The idea is to involve the school kids in the creation of the oasis by combining the work that they do during school hours with future after school visits”. she goes on to say.
The children have already shown their interest in environmental projects in the past, being rewarded for their involvement in the Basque Government`s environmental education programme on rivers and the coast.
The Town-Hall has invited people to participate in the project by thinking of a name for it. Proposals can be left in the Town-Hall or in the Cultural Centre until the 25th January. The next stage will be to decide what area will be fenced off and then an information panel will be put in place. “All this will be done with the help of Butroi Bizirik,” said the town`s Development Officer, Estitxu Aranzamendi, “and it will be clearly an educational tool.
With regard to the construction of this sanctuary, experts from Butroi Bizirik have come to Gatika to see the site at first hand. “ We will start to plant the wild flowers in March so that they are in flower for spring and right through till October” affirm the members of Butroi Bizirik, Ana López and David Henderson.
PRECEDENTS: There have been a number of these gardens recently, such as the butterfly oasis in Fruiz which Butroi Bizirik did,”one which has had a lot of media attention”, remarks López, and also the one in Eguzkibegi ikastola as part of the Natura Eskura project. “The Olentzero House in Mungia has for some time now been working on biodiversity” says López. But anybody can do an oasis, as is shown by the fact that two have been done by individuals in Bakio, in line with the proposal made by Zerynthia, the non-profit association for the research, dissemination and conservation of butterflies and their habitat.
“You can even have one on your balcony. Any flower can help these species.” affirms Henderson. “However, not all flowers are suitable for although they might be colourful, from the point of view of biodiversity they`re not very useful” says López. So, in Gatika they will plant “27 flowers which are easy to find”. They will be especially aromatic herbs which will create “survival spots”, herbs such as “lavander, salvia, oregan or thyme” concludes López.