Fundación Moeve: 24 years celebrating World Wetlands Day in Huelva

• The week kicks off with students from Pinzón School in Palos de la Frontera and Mayor Milagros Romero joining the celebrations
• Fundación Moeve has installed three specially designed nesting boxes to help recover the marbled teal
• Fundación Moeve celebrates this day for the 24th year in a row

This Sunday, Fundación Moeve will kick off the activities organized to celebrate World Wetlands Day at Laguna de Palos, part of the Natural Park Lagunas de Palos and Las Madres. This unique wetland is home to over 60 endangered bird species, including the marbled teal and the ferruginous duck—two of the most threatened waterfowl in Spain and Andalusia.

Fundación Moeve's week-long celebration, now in its 24th year, will begin with a special event at Laguna Primera de Palos, led by students from Pinzón School in Palos de la Frontera and Mayor Milagros Romero.

In addition, Fundación Moeve has announced new efforts to support the recovery of the marbled teal in Laguna Primera. The marbled teal is Europe's most endangered duck, having suffered a sharp decline in recent decades due to habitat loss. In Andalusia, its presence has dwindled in key wetlands such as the Guadalquivir Marshes and El Hondo Natural Park. Although Laguna de Palos is well preserved, water quality problems have affected the frequency of sightings of this species.

Fundación Moeve is committed to the ongoing restoration and monitoring of the lagoon. One of its latest initiatives was the installation of three specially designed nesting boxes for the marbled teal. Positioned over the water and equipped with a platform for perching, these boxes are designed to encourage breeding among the species. Fundación Moeve worked closely with experts on this bird to design and place the nests.

The marbled teal is a small duck with mottled plumage and a distinctive dark eye stripe. It lives in densely vegetated wetlands where it finds both shelter and food. Its main threats are habitat loss, water pollution, and illegal hunting.

The installation of these nesting boxes marks a significant step forward in the conservation of the marbled teal in Andalusia. It is hoped that these initiatives, together with the improved water quality of the Laguna de Palos thanks to the construction of a sediment and nutrient trap, will create a suitable environment to support the reproduction and recovery of this species in Huelva.