Lake of Ivars by Josep Giribet

Gigapan Pro

In the west of Catalonia, at 120Km from Barcelona, one can find a vast flatland region, having wide sediments expanses laid over millions of years.

Clusters of tiny lakes and marshes have formed naturally over the millennia. In the recent history, a century and a half ago an irrigation canal was built, the Canal d'Urgell (1861). Most of the surrounding area was drained to provide water for it.

Despite those efforts, some lakes were saved and were used by the locals as a recreation area and to hunt the variety of birds living there or stopping over on their seasonal migration.

In the 1950's the lake of Ivars was drained and auctioned by the council as area.
However, the land was not very fertile due to its saltiness and the harvested cereal crops were very poor.

In the 1990's, environmental concerns had the government buy the area back, fill the lake up and let wildlife grow unmolested. In a short while, life was thriving again, with wetland green plants reclaiming the area and birds getting back in force.

Nowadays it has many nature-loving visitors and brimming with exuberant wildlife, it has become a key stopover of bird migration between the north of Europe down to north Africa.

Gigapan photography: Josep Giribet

www.estanyivarsvilasana.cat/?lang=en