SEO birdlife

     At  around 10.30, a long wooden boat arrived at the docks where we were waiting. The boat had benches on the sides, where all of us fit perfectly, with the driver of the boat standing in the back.  Only half ofthe group was in the boat at the time, and the other half was on a bike trip. The air was cold and it was quite windy, but luckily most of us were prepared for the weather, since it was similar to what it had been the last few days. The weather actually got better when we were about halfway done with the trip. Then it got easier to enjoy the view, which was green water, reeds and tall buildings in the skyline. The trip was about 20 minutes long, which was just the right amount of time to look at the surroundings and have great conversations. Eventually we arrived at the SEO safely. On the way back though, we ran out of gas momentarily, but thankfully the boat had an extra gas tank just in case, and we did not have to swim back to land. In conclusion, the boat trip was a good and fascinating  experience, and I think everyone who was with us can agree on that. 

    When we arrived at the house, we were greeted by a member of SEO birdlife who told us about the Albufera and how polluted it is. She told us about the history of the Albufera and how it didn't actually use to be a lake but was formed in the 17th century because of sedimentation. In the 19th century they started to grow rice there. Our guide told us that the Albufera lake started to get polluted in the 70's because of the built houses and the chemicals that they started to use for growing the rice. This started to eutrophicate the lake and grow the algae that in turn killed the plants that used to keep the water of the lake clean and feed the animals of the area. This left many animals in danger of becoming endangered species. Luckily in the 80's the Albufera became a protected area. 

The SEO birdlife member told us about how the area that used to be a rice patch is now a green filter meaning that it filters the water and cleans it. The green filter that they showed is only a prototype and it alone cannot clean the entire waters of the Albufera but in the future it could be a great innovation to clean many waters and help the endangered species by getting the environment back to how it used to be.