The kermes oak (Quercus coccifera subsp. coccifera) is the shrub that closely relates to the holm oak. It distinguishes by its smaller, sharp, brightly coloured leaves on both sides. The male flower catkins (photo 1) reach 5 cm in length. The maturation of the kermes oak acorns lasts 1 or 2 years. These acorns have … Read more
The quarry of Talamanca or Sant Esteve is in the interfluve between the Talamanca and Mura streams, facing to the stream of Talamanca just before it joins that of Mura in Sant Esteve de Vila-Rasa, in the municipality of Talamanca. The quarry can be reached through a paved path that starts at km. 31.8 of … Read more
The oak hawkmoth (Marumba quercus) is a remarkably large nocturnal moth, with a robust body and a wingspan of 10 cm. Its entire body and wings are covered with brown hair adding pale or whitish areas of variable extent. The wings are long and narrow, the forewings being longer than the hindwings, and their outer … Read more
The spring of Pitoi or Sant Antoni in the north slope by the stream of Soldevila, in Sallent, turned very saline in the 1980s because the dumping of saline mining residues in the landfill of Cogulló. The construction in 2016 and 2017 of wells and drainage trenches on the north side of the landfill of … Read more
The Cardona geological formation that is well-known in the mountain of Salt of Cardona outcrop, can also be seen on surface at the foot of the Castle of Cardona mountain, in the meander of the Cardener river in La Coromina. This smaller salt outcrop at the bottom of Castle mountain hosts halophytes, the plants thriving … Read more
The great capricorn beetle (Cerambyx cerdo) belongs to the family Cerambycidae. It is an astonishing beetle of slender body about 5 cm length with extremely long antennae made up of thick and knotty flagellomeres. The antennae of the males – photo 1- are twice the length of the body, while that of females -photos 2nd, … Read more
The ICHN-Bages group (photos 1st and 2nd) on the hill of Puigberenguer, the oldest fluvial terrace remaining on the left bank of the Cardener river, 87 meters above the current level of the river, during the session devoted to the Quaternary terrains on 29.06.2024. The group listens to the explanations of Josep Biosca Munts (photo … Read more
Historical diagrams of the arrangement of the terraces in the Cardener river valley: above, from 1929, in Callús; in the center, from 1940, in Manresa and Sant Joan de Vilatorrada; and below, from 1960, in the current Plaça Catalunya neighbourhood of Manresa. The figures, in the 1940 and 1960 diagrams, indicate the level difference in … Read more
Stictoleptura cordigera is a small size, long-horned beetle, thus a beetle of the family Cerambycidae. It measures 16-20 mm in length without the long antennae. Stictoleptura cordigera has head, pronotum, legs and antennae in dull black colour, while the elytra are reddish brick colour with a characteristic black spot shaped as a wide strip at … Read more
Reteporella sp. Bryozoa of order Cheliostomatida from the marine Eocene in the valley of Golarda near La Coma (Monistrol de Calders, Moianès). Bryozoa are a large group of colonial animals living on the seabed that can easily be mixed up with corals or sponges. Bryozoa expanded along Paleozoic era, but at the end of the … Read more
Quercus x auzandrii (= Q. x auzendi, Q. x ausendi) is the hybrid species from the cross between the holm oak (Q.ilex) and the kermes oak (Q.coccifera). As expected, its morphological features are something between a holm oak and an kermes oak; you can’t decide whether it is an oak or a kermes oak, it … Read more
The stream of L’Om or La Baga Cerdana is a tributary going down from the Moianès plateau, from the area of the country houses of La Grossa (Calders) and La Moratona (Moià), to join the stream of La Golarda or Marfà on the gangway of Palanca de La Coma (Monistrol de Calders). The stream of … Read more
The natural shelter of La Coma is on the left bank of the Marfà or Golarda stream, not far from the farmhouse of La Coma and a few hundred meters before the confluence of the stream of La Baga Cerdana or L’Om, in the municipality of Monistrol de Calders. The shelter of La Coma is … Read more
The ICHN-Bages group at the waterfall of La Tosca and the mill of Brotons from the stream of Golarda or Marfà (Castellcir, Moianès), during outing through the valley of Marfà (Moianès) on 05.25.2024. [photo Jordi Badia (2nd)]
Lepra amara (= Pertusaria amara) is a light grey crustacean lichen that is often well seen on the blackish bark of evergreen oak trunks. The thallus of Lepra amara can reach 20 x 30 cm, although the boundaries between specimens may not be clear. In this thallus, the soralia, made up of granules containing soredia, … Read more
The shelter of the Els Burjons fountain is on the cliff of the left bank of the river Llobregat, upstream from Les Generes bridge towards Navarcles although in the municipality of Talamanca. It spans about 300 meters length between the bridge of Les Generes and the area of rapids of the river Llobregat in front … Read more
The Llobregat river becomes young again in front of the monastery and the factory of Sant Benet de Bages: the slope increases and the flow speeds up in a stretch of rapids resulting from the outcrop of a reef limestone that is harder than the remaining rocks in the area. The rock is best seen … Read more
On the afternoon of 04/20/2024, within the journey of 125th anniversary of the ICHN celebration, members of the Delegation of Bages guided a naturalistic outing around Sant Benet de Bages. Florenci Vallès managed the interpretation of the vegetation. In the 1st image, Florenci Vallès showing the great Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara) in the garden of … Read more
Saturday 20.04.2024 was devoted to the commemoration of the 125 years of the Institució Catalana d’Història Natural in the facilities of Món Sant Benet (Sant Fruitós de Bages), 125 years of studying and protecting nature. Several previous presidents of ICHN, as well as the current Jordina Belmonte attended. They are present at the table and … Read more
Sabalites sp. is an extinct genus of palm trees that is worldwide known as a fossil from the Upper Cretaceous to the Miocene. Sabalites sp. has large palmate leaves in a radial arrangement like a fan with leaflets with marked ribs and partially welded at the base. The images show the sandstone block with several … Read more
From time to time, mostly after heavy rains, landslides occur on cliffs and steep slopes. The risk of falling rocks can be assessed, though the accurate prediction when the rocks will fall is much more uncertain. The rocks of continental origin of the geological formation Artés are heterogeneous after the changing ratio of clay, sand, … Read more
Part of the ICHN-Bages group onto the stairs of an old wall made of dry stone that is located at the beginning of the stream of Jaumandreu, in the walk from Els Manxons to the belvedere of El Garrigar (Callús and Fonollosa, Bages), on 13.04.2024. [photo Jordi Badia]
Placosmiliopsis bilobatus is a solitary coral from the Bartonian and Priabonian ages, in the Eocene epoch. It looks like a wider than taller inverted cone with an elliptical or lobed section like a figure of 8 instead of circular. Local circumstances usually determine its growth and shape therefore it is a quite polymorphous species. It … Read more
Part of the ICHN-Bages group in the left riverbank of Cardener where the canes have just been removed, below the quarters of Sant Pau and the Red and White factories, during the birdwatching activity led by Ferran Fitó, on 02.03.2024. [photo Jordi Badia]
The ICHN-Bages group next to the big London plane tree (Platanus x acerifolia) at the Sant Pau fountain (Manresa), during the birdwatching activity led by Ferran Fitó, on 02.03.2024.
For the first time, the wetland of La Bòbila, in Santpedor, has completely dried up along winter 2023-24. It can’t host wintering birds anymore. The image that was taken in the cold morning of 09.01.24 from the observatory Jordi Falip displays the dry bottom of the theoretical largest pond without a single drop of water. … Read more
Ferdinandea aurea is a nice looking syrphid that combines broad golden with narrow black stripes on the abdomen. The thorax is black with two grey bars on the middle and two shorter ones on the sides. The wings display a defined pattern of dark spots. Ferdinandea aurea displays on its yellowish face a brownish longitudinal … Read more
Funginellastrae barcelonensis (Oppenheim 1911). Solitary, disc-shaped coral of the family Fungiidae from the marine Eocene in Castellgalí (Bages). In the image, the specimens on the left and right sides are shown on basal side that has a short foot and a concentric engraving, while the central specimens are shown on dorsal side displaying the rays … Read more
Antiguastraea cvijici (Oppenheim 1906). Colonial coral from the marine Eocene in Calders (Moianès). [photo Jordi Badia / Museum of Geology Valentí Masachs]
Red-coloured altocumulus clouds during sunset announce the imminent arrival from the west of an Atlantic cold front. The Catalan aphorism is accurate: cel rogent, pluja o vent (= red sky, rain or wind). The altocumulus clouds go ahead of the cold fronts. They spread like a white sheet in a sinusoidal pattern of regular and … Read more
The Shelter of L’Espluga is a long and non that deep cave in limestone rock, thus a shelter rather than a cave or Espluga (= cave in Catalan), in the municipality of Sant Quirze Safaja, in the district of Moianès. The Shelter of L’Espluga translates the name to the stream of L’Espluga that jumps over … Read more
The holm oak of Querol stands for the large holm oaks that often grow near the Catalan country houses. The image of its vigorous trunk that divides into robust radial branches supporting a wide, rounded, and regular treetop is magnificent. In 1991, the holm oak of Querol was declared monumental tree of Catalonia. The file … Read more
The holm oak of L’Erola grows in the municipality of Calders, on the right side of the road B-124 from Calders to Monistrol de Calders, about 250 meters away from the roundabout. It picks the name from the country house of L’Erola or L’Arola of the neighbourhood next to the road N-141c from Manresa to … Read more
Cryphia pallida is a small moth from the Noctuidae family, reaching only about 18-20 mm wingspan. The forewings are brown with a greenish shade plus a poor consistent pattern of dark spots painting a bizarre appearance that becomes cryptic when the moth rests on the rough, colonized by lichens bark of a tree. The forewings … Read more
See a pair of videos of the roaring of the red deer (Cervus elaphus) that was listened and seen through binoculars and telescopes from long distance, from the hermitage of La Mare de Déu de la Guia, in Taús (Alt Urgell), in 07.10.2023 during the naturalist outing of the ICHN-Bages to Les Valls d’Aguilar. The … Read more
Part of the ICHN-Bages group crossing El Pont Foradat (= the holed bridge) or Pont de Les Arnaules, a natural bridge of rock, during the naturalist walk on 21.10.2023 from the Seo of Manresa to Viladordis. The access to El Pont Foradat was a new route, after crossing the C-16 Terrassa-Manresa highway through the stream … Read more
The ICHN-Bages group at the Malbalç paleontological site (Manresa, Bages), with the Collbaix mountain in the background, during the naturalist walk on 21.10.2023 from the Seo of Manresa to Viladordis along the bank of the Cardener river, the Malbalç and the Pont Foradat or Pont de Les Arnaules. [photo Jordi Badia]
The castle of Castellcir or castle of Popa is in this municipality of the district of Moianès, onto an isolated rocky cliff that elongates from SW to NE and that is eroded at the base. The rocky cliff is about 10-12 meters tall above the ridge in a vertical or overhanging wall. It dominates the … Read more
The ICHN-Bages group in the belvedere of Els Orris (Berguedà), near to the mountain port of Coll de Pal and looking at the mountain of Tosa d’Alp, in 08.07.2023. [photo Ferran Mota]
The ICHN-Bages group on the summit of Puigllançada (Berguedà), 2408 m, in 08.07.2023. [photo Jordi Badia]
The ICHN-Bages group in the interfluve between the Llobregat river and the Merlès creek, near to its confluence in the Puig-Reig municipality (Berguedà), on 27.05.2023. [photo Jordi Badia]
Part of the group crossing the creek of Merlès by an appropriate footbridge where it borders between the municipalities of Gaià (Bages) and Puig-Reig (Berguedà), during the ICHN-Bages naturalist outing on 27.05.2023. Realize the high flow rate and the brown colour of the water; the creek has recovered after the rains of the 2nd half … Read more
The drought in the cereal fields The farmers of the Bages district, most of them elderly, do not remember a cereal harvest as miserable as the one in 2023. The drought continues since January 2021 and it has been especially severe in the last 9 months, from September 2022 to April 2023. It might last … Read more
Stromatolithic limestones are originated by stromatolites, these are made of microorganisms mucilaginous mats growing in shallow flooded, illuminated areas, usually in intertidal areas from flat and calm coasts. Stromatolites still exists, though they use to be much more abundant and extensive at the beginning of life, during the Archean eon. The biggest stromatolites are sinusoidal … Read more
The ICHN Bages group visiting the Mequinensa Mine Museum (Baix Cinca), on 25.03.2023. The mine is in fact one suitable to visitors museum displaying the successive lignite exploitation techniques that have been used in Mequinensa over 170 years. [photos Museums of Mequinensa]
The ICHN-Bages group listening about the vegetation in the slope of Vallcarreres that links the plateau of Los Monegros with the valley of river Cinca, in the municipality of Torrent de Cinca (Baix Cinca), on 25.03.2023. Before, the group had visited the Museum of History and the Museum of the Mine in Mequinensa; later on, … Read more
The images of La Llosa del Cavall (Solsonès) reservoir from the river Cardener, on 03.12.2023, illustrate how serious is present water scarcity in Central Catalonia. Rain has been poor since January 2021. The reservoir is at 26% capacity; it contains 20.8 hm3 of water from 80 hm3 total capacity. The large reservoir of La Llosa … Read more
Esplugues, in the municipality of Castellcir, is a troglodytic house that uses a natural shelter as a roof. It has a ground and two floors. It was inhabited from an unknown date until 2002. The Esplugues house is located on the right bank of the Fontscalents stream. It has one Romanesque bridge in front to … Read more
