Transboundary cooperation to protect the Cinereous Vulture breeding colony at Herdade da Contenda, southern Portugal

The LIFE Aegypius Return project promotes cooperation between Portuguese and Spanish organisations to strengthen the protection of a cross-border Cinereous Vulture breeding colony.

Herdade da Contenda, owned by the Municipality of Moura and covering 5267 hectares, is home to the southernmost Cinereous Vulture breeding colony in Portugal, in the Mourão/Moura/Barrancos Special Protection Area (SPA). This is the second largest colony in the country, and in 2023 it recorded 17 to 18 nesting pairs and produced five chicks recruited to the population. Two of these pairs are located in Spanish territory, close to the border, but from an ecological point of view, all these pairs belong to the same breeding colony.

This year, the colony appears to be expanding eastwards, as during the breeding monitoring work, four new nests were detected in the Spanish Contienda, located in the SPA and Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche.

One of the nests located on the Spanish side, with a Cinereous Vulture incubating. ©LPN

In order to coordinate protection efforts, for example by reinforcing surveillance or avoiding forestry work or any other type of disturbance during the breeding season of this endangered species (which runs from approximately January to September), a technical meeting and field trip were recently organised, which included technicians from the Vulture Conservation Foundation (coordinators of LIFE Aegypius Return), the Liga para a Protecção da Natureza (LPN, which collaborates with Herdade da Contenda. E.M. in monitoring and protecting the colony) and various organisations from the Junta de Andalucía's Department of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy: the Territorial Delegation of Huelva, the Environment and Water Agency, and the Andalucia Necrophagous Bird Recovery and Conservation Plan.

Portuguese and Spanish work teams at Herdade da Contenda ©VCF

The various nests on the Spanish side and some on the Portuguese side were observed, always from a great distance, with the help of binoculars and telescopes, in order to keep a safe distance from the nests and avoid disturbances.

Monitoring Cinereous Vulture nests at Herdade da Contenda ©VCF

After the work, it was agreed to define a protection polygon around all the known nests on the Spanish side, expanding the efforts already made on the Portuguese side and also in neighbouring Spanish regions that also shelter breeding Cinereous Vultures, such as the Sierra Pelada and Rivera del Aserrador SPA/SAC.

The Cinereous Vulture is a threatened species and very sensitive to disturbance during the breeding season. It holds the Endangered conservation status, both nationally in Portugal and regionally in Andalusia. There are four known breeding colonies in Portugal, two of which (Douro Internacional and now Herdade da Contenda) already count on transboundary collaboration for their protection.

The LIFE Aegypius Return project aims to consolidate the return of the Cinereous Vulture to Portugal and western Spain. It is co-funded by the European Union's LIFE programme. Its success depends on the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders, and the collaboration of the partners, the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF), the coordinating beneficiary, and the local partners Palombar – Conservação da Natureza e do Património Rural, Herdade da Contenda, Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves, Liga para a Protecção da Natureza, Associação Transumância e Natureza, Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre, Guarda Nacional Republicana  and Associação Nacional de Proprietários Rurais Gestão Cinegética e Biodiversidade.