Mountain Brigade of Aiani

Expeditions by OTA
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Tradition
Wild fawl
The seagull

The seagull

This is the story of a nest and a seagull family.

On March 20, 2001, as the "Mountain Brigade" of Aiani reports, there were rumours that the Greek Electricity Company would arrive at Aiani and change the site of the nest, which stood there for years.

Last spring a similar incident happened: the C.E.G, following municipal orders, destroyed and threw away the nest, with the sole excuse that the birds littered the place. Moreover, the C.E.G. placed a thorny piece of iron on top of the wooden pilar, so that the seagulls would leave. The people of the village opposed fiercely this mishap, what led the Municipality and the C.E.G. to place a new pilar, right beside the old one, so that the seagulls would build a new nest.

The seagulls of course neglected the site fore a nest. In a painskilling effort, they built their own nest on top of the old pilar, having to bear the piece of iron.

On March 16-17 2001 the seagulls returned to honour the village once more and settled down to their nest. Since the nest bent dangerously, the villagers thought they should warn the Municipality and the C.E.G., in order to stop the electrical current and fix the nest.

The people think that the seagulls will leave the village and never come back. If littering the place is such a problem, the solution would be to place an aluminium construction, which could be placed under the nest.

The Municipality has an advantageous ecological place, which is not seriously considered up till now. The village of Aiani lies near the artificial lake of Polyphytos, which is becoming and increasing biotope. A colony of about 200 herons resides SW of village Rymnion and several seagulls visit the villages round the lake. The Municipality has connections with special scientists in EKPAZ (Greek Company for the Protections of Wild Animals), as well as the Greek Ornithological Society and other organisations. They assured everybody that they love the seagulls as much as villagers do, and that the nest will not be removed.