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MURO WHILST controversy rages over the pending construction of a new golf course in Muro which threatens the habitat of the rare marine falcon and other flora and fauna in the natural open spaces of Son Bosc, Balearic Ornithology and Nature Defence Group (GOB) yesterday organised a fourth outing to the spot to highlight what will be lost if the project goes ahead.

Group ornithologist Rafel Mas who was the guide on the trip, explained that the falcons which were catalogued as a threatened species in 2007, fly every summer from Formentor in the north of Majorca to the land at Son Bosc to feed on a species of beetle which abounds in the area. At 7pm, the ecologists and other supporters who are against the construction of the golf course met in the entrance of the natural park of s'Albufera to set off for Son Bosc. “We deliberately decided to leave from the park so that those on the excursion could see that Son Bosc is a natural extension of the wetlands,”said Tonina Siquier of GOB.

During the outing, attendees could stop to watch the ample variety of wildfowl which depend on the wetlands for their feeding and breeding habitat. Then at about 9pm a large group of marine falcons, numbering as many as 50, swooped over Son Bosc on the trail of their favourite beetles which measure between 3 and 4 centimetres in length and which were emerging from the sand dunes where they have been living for nearly a year.

Siquier pointed out that if the golf course is built, the beetles won't be able to feed on the tree roots they need and in consequence, the falcons will lack the protein they need.

Apart from the falcons at Son Bosc, there are another 121 species of wildfowl as well as a myriad of insects and meadows containing rare wild orchids.
The ministry of the Environment, alerted by GOB, recently located yet another meadow with clusters of orchids and as a result have temporarily have put on hold any works at the site of the new golf course.