The LIFE Greenchange project placed 4 basking islands in the ponds of the Pantanello Park planned to favor the permanence and reproduction of the site’s fauna.
The action wants to improve ecological functionality and increase biodiversity in the area of the Natural Monument of Ninfa which includes the Pantanello park.
The basking islands, built in bamboo wood, are floating platforms which, thanks also to the planting of hygrophilous species such as straws, cattail and sedge, constitute small welcoming sites for animals.
The basking islands are some of the green infrastructures planned by the project of the Province of Latina for the protection and the preservation of numerous species of the wetlands of the Agro Pontino, particularly for those threatened and in danger. Present in the ponds of Pantanello, but now rare in the Pontine Plain and in strong decline in the rest of the national territory, the marsh tortoise (Emys orbicularis) is one of the target species of the basking sites of Greenchange.
In recent days a group of cormorants has stopped on the artificial islands to warm themselves in the sun.
On the basking islands, marsh tortoises can effectively regulate their body temperature and numerous species of birds like cormorants can receive particular benefit using these structures for daily stops and during migratory journeys.
Just the Pontine Plain is located along the main migratory routes. The basking platforms help the birds on their long journey, tempering them with the possibility of stopping in unreachable sites for terrestrial predators.