Birdlife are organising a picnic at Simar Nature Reserve on Sunday from 5 to 8pm afternoon offering families an opportunity to enjoy time outdoors discovering nature.
There will be special activities for children including bug spotting, birdwatching and nature crafts.
Participants are to bring their own food, drinks and picnic basket.
Participation is free but places are limited, so those wishing to attend need to book a place as soon as possible as reservations are being accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
To reserve a place, fill in the form at https://birdlifemalta.org/2019/08/picnic-at-simar-2019.
Alternatively call 2134 7645 (ext 503) or e-mail education@birdlifemalta.org.
Simar Nature Reserve is located at one end of Pwales Valley, St Paul’s Bay.Transforming a dump into an oasis
Simar Nature Reserve is an oasis at one end of the agricultural Pwales Valley, at St Paul’s Bay. The reserve takes its name from the sharp rush (Is-Simar in Maltese) that grows throughout the reserve.
Up until the 1980s, Simar was neglected, and largely used as a dump. However, in 1992 the authorities accepted a BirdLife Malta proposal to restore the wetland by creating a network of pools, canals and islands, planting hundreds of trees and restoring the site to a thriving wetland sanctuary.
Today Simar is teeming with wildlife living in a mosaic of habitats, including open pools, reedbed and trees. The wetlands provide a safe haven for both resident and migrating birds. The pools are attractive to aquatic birds like herons, rails and kingfishers, but also provide a home for the rare and protected Mediterranean Killifish and species of rare tassel-weed. The reed beds offer a good hiding place for secretive species such as water rails, herons, egrets and shy warbler species.
Simar is the only place on the Maltese islands where coots and little grebes breed and for the first time in 2014, a pair of black-winged stilts successfully bred at this reserve.
As one walks around the trail, one can also spot Mediterranean chameleons and geckos camouflaged on the branches.
Simar is today a fully protected bird sanctuary, a Ramsar site, and a Special Area of Conservation within the EU Natura 2000 network.