Going back to Barcelona is the wish for many Barcelona lovers…
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The miracle case of the Barcelona nest
This story could be named “The miracle case of the Barcelona nest”.
It was a warm, mid-July Mediterranean night. One of those in which the heat makes it difficult for us to fall asleep, a typical July night in Barcelona. That night a group of friends decided to seek the cooling sea breeze on the Mar Bella beach in Barcelona. The heat was stifling and the beach that night was the perfect place to meet, chat with friends and listen to the waves crash on the shore.
But no one could have imagined was what was about to happen. A few meters from them, in the sand, a few repetitive blows accompanied by strange sounds, put them on alert.
The discovery
As they approached, a dark figure surprised them in the night. Stunned they discovered an adult specimen of loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) trapped under a construction fence, repatedly hitting it, fighting to get out. The first thing they did, without really understanding what was really happening, was to record the scene to upload it to their social networks … if we don’t record and publish it, no one is going to believe us! … they must have thought. This was definitely a spectacle more typical of paradisiacal beaches of the tropics, than of an urban beach in Barcelona. Then with the video ready, they reintroduced the turtle into the sea.
The nest
The turtle had just laid 77 eggs, this being the first time in history that there is evidence of nesting on the beaches of Barcelona.
The CRAM foundation, which is dedicated to the protection of marine biodiversity against global threats, has described it as an “unusual event”. They were the ones who discovered the nest, after watching the video on social networks and contacting the group of young people.
Of the 77 eggs, 60 remain in the nest on the beach in a fenced area supervised 24 hours a day and the other 17 were transferred to the CRAM incubators for breeding in captivity.
10 baby turtles were born this Sunday night August 31, 2020 on the beach of la Mar Bella in Barcelona and were released into the sea on what’s the first day of the rest of their lives. Experts say the areas where these turtles used to nest are warming up and they are starting to look for other areas to breed. The truth is that we are living strange times and nature seems to find its ways.
Going back to Barcelona?
As we said before, going back to Barcelona is the wish for many Barcelona lovers…and they are many and diverse. At one point in their life, these adult turtles will feel the call of the nest in which they were born. A nest that her mother chose to locate on a beach in Barcelona, a most unusual place, and this will be the time to return.
Nature definitely finds its ways. This unique and precious event means a breath of hope, it means that when circumstances are adverse, our instincts strive to show us the way to overcome obstacles and survive.
Going back to Barcelona, will be the message that will arise from deep inside to close the circle. And when they return to their beach, El Parc Güell, La Casa Batlló, Gaudí and La Sagrada Familia, Santa Maria del Mar and Picasso and his Museum, will still be here waiting in beautiful Barcelona.
In the near future, we will have to do things in a different way since it has been shown that we are all connected to each other and to the planet and life does not stop and it will run us like a great roller that crushes and molds us.
“Preparation and education are therefore the highest priority. An international effort would be required, and it is essential that governments can anticipate the next pandemic and prepare to stop it at its point of origin rather than simply react and cause the long-term destruction of our society and economy, as it is currently happening” concludes this article published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
For those of you who have never been to Barcelona and as our friend Caretta Caretta, feel that something inside attracts you to this point on the planet and for those who Barcelona is already part of your lives, there is a beach here wishing you to leave a piece of yourself.