The City Council reports the installation of nesting boxes for small birds of prey and bats in two public parks

At the request of the Sierra Bermeja Naturalist Group ‘Grunsber’, the municipal brigades have placed these shelters for species considered vulnerable and beneficial for being insect predators.

The Estepona Town Hall informs that six nest boxes for bats and autillos (birds of prey) have been installed in the public parks of ‘Los Abuelos’ and Seghers.

At the request of the Sierra Bermeja Naturalist Group ‘Grunsber’, the municipal operational brigades have placed these shelters to create urban habitats for these two species classified as ‘vulnerable’.

The representatives of ‘Grunsber’ point out that all bat species are protected by several state and community laws. In our country, moreover, there are several species considered ‘vulnerable’ and one of them in danger of extinction.

On the other hand, the European scops owl is the smallest of our nocturnal birds of prey and is also considered a vulnerable species according to the Red Book of Birds of Spain 2021.

Both the autillo and several species of bats willingly accept artificial shelters, so the Naturalist Group ‘Grunsber’ considers appropriate and convenient the installation of these nest boxes that facilitate the presence of these species in the urban environment.

Those responsible for this group assure that both species are very beneficial for the control of insect pests. Bats are very voracious animals that can keep insect populations at bay so that they do not become pests. This is of special interest, according to ‘Grunsber’, to avoid the presence of exotic species that could be dangerous, such as the tiger mosquito or the yellow fever mosquito.

In the case of the European scops owl, it is also beneficial for human communities because it is a great predator of insects, since its diet is based mainly on invertebrates of considerable size, such as moths, crickets, grasshoppers and cockroaches, among others.