FC Barcelona: There is now a “guide” that lists all living animals in the stadium

Thirty birds, mammals and reptiles: Jordi Portabella, training biologist and new environment advisor at the legendary



Stadium in Barcelona releases a guide for free to show that even in such a place, there is life to protect.It is not any stadium, mythical pregnant in Barcelona in Spain, the Camp Nou is the largest football stadium in Europe with its capacity of more than 99,000 places, and therefore its fauna, its birds, that Jordi Portabella, offers us to look, observe, admire. At 62, this diploma in biology and football passionate leads the Catalan foundation for innovation and research.

A few weeks ago, the leaders of the stadium asked him to establish an ecological strategy for the building, so to show that there is the nature to defend, he has just released a guide from the fauna of the camp New.50 pages, downloadable for free on the internet and garnished with photos of the real inhabitants of the stadium, those who have not taken care of victories, defeats, or possible scandals as that underway on the remuneration of referees, in short, those who really have elected home in the stadium. And it’s not just pigeons. Looking well, we can admire three species of pinsons, two of martinets, three of chicks, swallows, pies, starlings, and then sheepfolds, lovebirds, without counting a couple of crecelles, and even a pilgrim falcon who Niche right next door and goes through the stadium to hunt.

Birds but also bats and reptiles

Barcelona being a port city, there are also seagulls and gulls, we can also cite three species of parakeets that all descend from pets who have escaped or have been released by their owners. And then there are not only birds, just above the gallery, the section reserved for the president of the club, there is a colony of bats, and finally, in the spans of the geckos and the lizards of the walls . What remind us that far from the image of full, crowded, bubbling stadiums, the majority of time, they are quiet places, without much human circulation.

Jordi PortaBella suggests stadium managers to optimize the building and its surroundings to protect biodiversity, like what the English club of Dartford does: stop concreting, plant everything that can be, the roof , the parking lot, or even collect rainwater to water the land. While the latest WWF report tells us that 70% of vertebrate animal populations have disappeared from the surface of the earth since 1970, everyone has to do their part, including the world of sport. And undoubtedly it starts with showing all this life that surrounds us and then protect it better, in the city and elsewhere.