Tal-Wej: a ‘green lung’ in an urban area under threat

As a nature photographer, I have spent countless hours outdoors in Malta’s natural spaces. I have documented the beauty of the many species that inhabit these areas but I have also experienced first-hand the painful decline of the island’s natural environment.

Love-in-a-mist

Over the years, I have watched areas of natural habitat grow ever fewer. I have seen species that were once common-place become rare or disappear altogether.

New constructions and the ubiquitous tower crane are always on the horizon (literally). This loss of our natural heritage has been insidious and truly tragic. Now, yet another of the few remaining natural spaces in Malta is under threat.

Tal-Wej is an open green space on the limits of Naxxar and Mosta. It is one of very few areas in the Maltese islands that supports freshwater rockpool habitats. These pools appear after the first rains at the end of summer and persist throughout the winter months before drying up when the rains cease.

Argiope spider

The species that live in these habitats are uniquely capable of surviving these extremes. Just one spectacular example is the tadpole shrimp, one of the oldest living species on the planet thought to have evolved some 300 million years ago during the end of the Carboniferous Period, therefore pre-dating the dinosaurs. The extant species (Triops cancriformis), literally a living fossil which also occurs at Tal-Wej, does not seem to have changed much (in evolutionary terms) since the early Jurassic.

Rich garrigue and steppe are also found across much of Tal-Wej, providing an important expanse of habitat and supporting many important species of flora and fauna. Furthermore, the area is also of considerable cultural interest, with a vast array of archaeological features that include cart ruts, Punic tombs and many others.

An important expanse of habitat supporting many important species of flora and fauna

Star of Bethlehem

Just as important is the role of this green lung in the midst of a large urban conurbation. In a context where too many of us live within crowded urban environments, often having to cope with ongoing construction disturbances and the constant noise and pollution of traffic, we simply cannot afford to lose any more of the few restorative green spaces that remain.

Access to nature is not an optional extra. The ability to spend time in nature is critical for our health and well-being. Indeed, it is a right that every citizen is entitled to. Perhaps the time is ripe to start considering this when we measure our country’s progress.

Tal-Wej was recently nominated for protection as a Natura 2000 site, which would have ensured that it would be strongly safeguarded at European level. Now, a number of landowners are appealing this decision, presumably because this would constrain their ability to develop their parcels of land − this notwithstanding the fact that the area is already protected and ODZ.

As we have seen too often, however, local protection mechanisms can be overturned and that is presumably just what these landowners are hoping for. But is it not time to give something back to nature and prioritise the common good?

Hedgehog

Tadpole shrimp (Triops cancriformis)

Filfolensis, one of the species thriving at Tal-Wej, in the limits of Naxxar and Mosta.

Skink

Leopard snake