A group of students and teachers from Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, Naxxar, recently went on a day trip to two nature reserves in Sicily – Cava d’Ispica and Vendicari – organised by the school’s Green Committee. The group was accompanied by Richard Cachia Zammit from Birdlife Malta and John Borg, curator of the Natural History Museum.

Cava d’Ispica is a spectacular gorge that cuts deep through the Hyblaean hills. Various birds were sighted during the visit, including magpies, marsh harriers, buzzards, serins, wrynecks, robins, blackbirds, stonechats, song thrushes, finches, goldcrests, coal tits, jackdaws, wrens and a peregrine falcon. The group also had the opportunity to visit a medieval chapel, Santa Maria della Cava.

In Vendicari, a wetland nature reserve, water birds, including a large number of flamingos, were the main attraction. Other birds sighted were cormorants, grey herons, little egrets, great egrets, many types of warblers, spoonbills, lapwings, wood pigeons, shelducks, starlings, mallards, skylarks, white wagtails, redshanks, stonechats, reed buntings and moorhens.

As sunset drew closer, a large number of cormorants flew in to roost in nearby trees. Their calls reverberated throughout the nature reserve.

The group also observed a weasel, two species of lizards and a number of butterflies, the most impressive of which was the large yellow butterfly, Gonepteryx cleopatra.