The Biviere di Gela nature reserve, established in 1997, protects the largest coastal lake in Sicily, a shallow marsh set among the dunes of the gulf of Gela, about a kilometre and a half from the sea. It lies entirely within the municipality of Gela.
What to see
The lake is the dominant feature. According to Pliny the Elder's Naturalis historia it was once called Cocanico and salt was extracted here, dried on the edges of the pool. Until the sixteenth century the area was a brackish marshy environment; at the start of the seventeenth century Duke Giovanni of Aragon turned it into a freshwater lake, linking it by an underground channel to the river Dirillo. Until the middle of the twentieth century it was a hunting and fishing reserve; in 1991 it was declared a wetland of international importance by the Ramsar Convention.
The birdlife, with more than two hundred species, is the reserve's most notable natural feature: the Biviere is one of the most important resting and wintering places for migratory birds. Among the ducks you can see wigeon, pintail, shoveler, garganey and pochard; among the waders the black-winged stilt and the black-tailed godwit; then herons such as the grey heron and, more sporadically, the rare purple heron. Spoonbill, kingfisher, marsh harrier and osprey are also present. The vegetation around the lake includes reedbeds and other water-loving plants; in spring the meadows flower with wild orchids such as Ophrys oxyrrhynchos, a rare Sicilian endemic, and on the dunes grow the white broom and the rare Leopoldia gussonei, endemic to the shore of the gulf of Gela.
Visiting
The reserve has a car park at the entrance, a visitor centre, equipped areas, trails and hides for observation, built with European Community funding. Opening hours and access arrangements do not appear in the sources consulted: check with the managing body, which according to the sources is the LIPU.
Our editors' tip
Look for the glossy ibis, the bird that has become the symbol of the reserve. The bittern and the night heron, nocturnal in habit, are present but harder to observe.
