Torrevieja, the pink lagoon

The end of the summer is the best moment to contemplate the unusual spectacle of pink water in the salt marshes of Torrevieja. It is not the pale pink of fairy tale princesses, but that of mallow and currants, heightened in tone as to seem artificial and venomous as well.

This hypersaline water is nevertheless the ideal habitat for some algae and bacteria that are responsible for its surreal coloration. They are also the diet for Artemia salina, a minuscule but very abundant crustacean, which in turn is food for an enormous number of aquatic birds that, with the elimination of hunting, do not have any enemies except for rats and a few ashen eaglets.

The end of the summer is the time to observe the greatest ornithological variety with birds that remain year round are joined by migratory species. Pink is also the colour of the most attractive of them all - the majestic flamingo - and this is the spot in the Comunitat where they are the most populous, only being surpassed in Spain by Doñana and Fuente de Piedra. At times, ornithologists have counted more than 8,000 flamingos in Torrevieja. Witnessing the flight of a huge flock is one of most impressive spectacles of nature in our region, especially if it takes place with the low light of dawn or at sunset.

There are other habitants of great beauty that swim in this sheet of pink. The Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) is a species of duck that is partly white but the neck and the back is black, the beak is coral red, the stomach chestnut, and the feet violet, so that it creates a spectacle where ever it goes. With its extraterrestrial appearance, the black-necked Grebe is frightened by everything it sees with its scarlet eyes. It isn’t difficult to spot it, given that it arrives to join 3,000 other grebes around this time, but to observe all its details one needs binoculars, a highly recommended accessory when visiting any natural park.

In Torrevieja’s natural reserve, there is another optical instrument even more essential - sunglasses. The salt gives off millions of reflections of light from the burning Alicante sun, causing ocular damage to workers in the salt marshes in previous eras. There’s an abundance of salt, above all in the final days of summer that, here as in any field, is the moment of harvest. More than 750,000 tonnes leave each year, most of it going to Nordic countries to battle the ice on the winter roads. The primary source is, of course, the sea water, but it is surpassed by the giant salt mountain of Pinoso. There, an essential amount of water is added to the rock salt   to run through a 53 kilometre pipe down to Torrevieja. As its saline concentration is ten times greater than that of the sea, the evaporation happens far more quickly.

A DIFFERENT GULL

The Audouin's Gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii) is smaller and more vulnerable than its omnipresent cousin, the common Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis), which could be the reason that it is far scarcer, and in the whole of the Comunitat, they only breed on the Columbretes islands. Biologists drew up an expansion plan, preparing paradisiacal spots such as the island of Benidorm habitable for them. However, the Audouin’s gull preferred the salt marshes of Torrevieja, a few metres from the industrial plants, as a home. Within in a space of just four years, they have gone from being a few stray birds to 750 reproducing couples this season, a figure that amounts to five percent of the specie’s world population. They are easily distinguished by their red beaks and grey feet.

What to see in September

Nature incurs big changes in September. At the end of the month, the autumnal colour takes hold of the forests in the highest and coldest regions such as the Rincón de Ademuz and the Peñagolosa Mountain. The vineyards of Meseta and  Utiel-Requena also begin to turn red. With the first autumn rains, the Valencian Mountain undergoes a new floral growth, known as winter’s spring. In the humid regions along the coast, the greatest gatherings of birds can be seen on their migratory routes.