This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

This Oasis is located in the Municipality of Piombino, Province of Livorno, and is part of a Site of Community Importance (SIC IT5160010) as well as being a Special Protection Area (SPA IT5160010).

The very Oasis was established by WWF in 1998, although it had already been protected by the same organization since 1978.
The 312-acre area covers a flat coastal area, now surrounded by power plants and industrial facilities. It’s true biodiversity heaven, mainly thanks to its remarkable anthropogenic features – the same of the ancient huge swamps of lower Val di Cornia.

Local flora can be found among the brackish areas – Salicornia spp. and Alimione portulacoides), and the freshwater marsh – Phragmites australis (marsh reed), Typha spp. , Juncus acutus (spiny rush), Carex elata (sedges), Orchis palustris (marsh orchid), Ranunculus aquatilis (white water-crowfoot), and Tamarix spp. (salt cedar).

Some 203 species of birds have been recorded so far, including mallards, wigeons, gadwalls, Northern pintail, teals, shovelers, shelducks, pink flamingos, grey herons, great egrets, little egrets, bitterns, lapwings, snipes, curlews, marsh harriers, peregrine falcons. Sandpipers, little stints, short-toed snake eagles, honey buzzards, short-eared owls and long-eared owls, bee-eaters, redstarts, whinchats, swallows, and sand martins.

Some rare nesting species are present as well like bitterns, little bitterns, purple herons, marsh harriers, kestrels, black-winged stilts, avocets, lesser grey shrikes, and moustached warblers.

A typical species in this WWF Oasis is the flamingo – it can be found in the northern part over a 123-acre area which is painstakingly monitored given its strategic position according to the main migratory routes.

During any visit, local guides can show you how to remotely read the colour-ring tagging system for flamingos.
The two Nature Trails connected to each other, start at the Visitor Center and allow a thorough visit of this Oasis.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)