Buskett Forest is synonymous with picnics and fair weather in the colder months in Malta, with thousands of families making it a destination for a Sunday afternoon out. MICHAEL CARABOTT discovers, however, that these Sunday outings are putting great strain on this bio-system
Buskett (a word derived from the Italian word boschetto, which means small forest) was set up as a hunting and recreational ground by the Knights of St John during their time in Malta.
Right at the heart of the forest lies Verdala Palace, built in 1568 by Grand Master Huges Loubenx de Verdalle as a summer residence.
The Buskett Gardens are located in a fertile valley close to the Rabat and Dingli area. The gardens are glorious in the spring but also offer shade from the harsh midsummer sun and are popular with people going for walks in the winter.
Many different trees and shrubs grow in the gardens. Indigenous forests once covered Malta, but logging was carried out for shipbuilding in the era when galleons plied the Mediterranean waters.
The popular feast of Mnarja (the feast of St Peter and St Paul), which is celebrated on 28 and 29 June, is held in the gardens. Hundreds of people flock each year to Buskett to eat traditional Maltese dishes and to listen to traditional folk music and singing. There is also an agricultural show, at which farmers exhibit their produce, plants and flowers.
Buskett-Girgenti
Information obtained from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority shows the different types of habitat of the Buskett area and the various species of vegetation and animals that can be found there.
Other site characteristics
Buskett is rich in biodiversity and has been declared as an “important bird area” by BirdLife International, particularly because of its international importance for raptor migration.
The site also houses a number of biotopes and species listed in the respective annexes of the EU Wild Birds and Habitats Directive.
Habitat types
The Buskett/Girgenti ecosystem is a large valley that supports several habitat types.
The Gnien il-Kbir/Gnien iz-Zghir system is characterised by a riparian vegetation based on salix alba (this is the only extant native place where this white willow is known), salix pedicellata (willow), populus alba (white poplar) and ulmus canescens (elm). Isolated remnants of quercus ilex (holm oak) also cover some expanses of land.
The Buskett area (il-Gonna tal-Buskett and il-Palazz ta’ Verdala) is a semi natural woodland based on pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine) and ceratonia siliqua (carob) trees.
It is important for many wood associated species, including invertebrates (snails and indigenous beetles) and mycoflora (such as boletopsis grisea and sacrosphaera coronaria mushrooms). Other flora, including undergrowth species such as ruscus hypophyllum (Florida /Holland/Israeli ruscus) which is very rare, rhamnus alaternus (evergreen buckthorn), iris foetidissima (stinking gladwyn), scilla clusii, kundmannia sicula (kundmannia) and various other orchids are also found in this area.
The undergrowth seen here is also very important, with rare species such as lathyrus spaericus (grass pea) and ononis ornithopodioides (bird’sfoot rest-harrow).
One of the most important features of il-Buskett (which is a candidate for Special Area of Conser-vation status) is the native populetum albae riparian woodland at Wied il-Luq consisting of populus alba (white poplar), fraxinus angustifolia (the narrow-leaved ash) – the only site where this is known – ulmus minor (small-leaved elm)and quercus robur (common oak). The watercourse is important for many species such as carex divulsa (grey sedge), calystegia x lucana (sea bindweed), physa acuta (freshwater snail) and discoglossus pictus (painted frog). The area is also important for lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and flatworms.
The Bosk area is the remnant of a a quercus ilex forest that also supports a maquis with laurus nobilis (bay tree), rhamnus alaternus (evergreen buckthorn), pistacia spp (pistachio) and crataegus spp (hawthorn).
The woodland itself and nearby open spaces are also important as a concentration point for birds of prey, many of which are of international importance. Buskett is very important for woodland and wood-associating species as well as for those of leaf-litter and for cryptofauna in general. These include a number of insects, woodlice and spiders that are only known in Buskett and two or three other places in the Maltese Islands.
A permanent freshwater spring occurs at Ghajn il-Kbira (Girgenti). Due to the limited cover of this type of habitat in the Maltese Islands, the species associated with this habitat are very rare and threatened, such as the vetch vicia bithynica, (pondweed), potamogeton pectinatus and ruscus hypophyllum (butcher’s broom), which are known to occur only at Ghajn il-Kbira. Moreover, the freshwater mussel pisidium casertanum occurs in only two or three areas in the Maltese Islands, Ghajn il-Kbira being one of these sites.
Caves are also found in this area. The Ghar ta’ l-Inkwizitur, for example, contains a number of endemic species and is an important roosting site for rhinolophus hipposideros (lesser horseshoe bat) (Annex II species), myotis blythii punicus (mouse-eared bat) (Annex II species) and plecotus austriacus (grey long-eared bat).
The cave at Girgenti is a very important site for bats and for cave-dwelling invertebrates, which are often endemic and known only in this cave.The ix-Xaghra ta’ Laroka, Ta’ Zuta and Girgenti areas consist of mixed garrigue characterised by thymus capitatus (thyme), anthyliis hermanniae, rhamnus oleiodes, erica multiflora, teucrium fruticans, teucrium flavum, lonicera implexa and asparagus aphyllus. Other species include orchids, mostly the ophrys species. This is the only site for the critically endangered salvia fruticosa.
In the most exposed areas, the karstland exhibits a rocky steppe aspect and is dominated by asphodelus aestivus and hyparrhenia hirta.
These areas are also rich in shrubs such as pistacia lentiscus, ceratonia siliqua, prunus spp, punica granatum and crataegus spp. Disturbance is, however, intense in some areas and components of a disturbed steppic assemblage such as foeniculum vulgaris, ferula communis and glebonis coronaria are found.
The site also contains an afforested recreational area in which have been planted various threatened species such as: tetraclinis articulate (gum
juniper), chaemaerops humilis (dwarf fan palm) and pistacia terebinthus (turpentine tree). The dominant trees here are olea europaea (olive) and pinus halepensis (evergreen pine).
A considerable part of this candidate special area of conservation, in particular the peripheries, consists of agricultural land which is still in use.
Fruit trees, in particular stone fruit and citrus, are most commonly grown. In some areas, although agriculture is not intensive and the land is dry farmed, there have been reports of the existence of threatened agro-species. The status of these species, however, requires verification since no surveys have been carried out. For example, the very rare adonis microcarpa (pheasant’s eye), the rare glebionis segetum (corn marigold), agrostemma githago (corn cockle) and hibiscus trionum (Venice mallow) have not been recently reported in the Maltese Islands.
The agricultural land is also important for rubble walls which, apart from their agricultural and cultural value, are also an important habitat for reptiles, small mammals and other plants.
Other important species
Myrmecophilus baronii is a flightless pelago-Maltese cricket which is listed as “very rare”, with a restricted distribution in the Maltese Islands. It lives in association with the ants componotus barbarious and messor structor and has recently been recorded in Buskett, one of only two areas known in the Maltese Islands.
Myotis blythii punicus (mouse eared bat) is known to roost and breed in the nearby caves and thus uses Buskett as a feeding ground. This bat is very vulnerable, with a restricted distribution in the Maltese Islands.
The blue rock thrush (monticola solitarius) breeds on the escarpments surrounding Buskett, while Buskett itself is the main feeding ground. The site is also important for fungi such as boletopsis grisea and sarcosphaera coronaria. Some fungi are only known to grow here and few other sites in the Maltese Islands.
Vulnerability
Buskett is generally a wooded recreational area and a favourite visiting place for the public, particularly during winter. But the uncontrolled recreational activities are putting excessive pressure on the surrounding natural environment and are leading to a number of negative impacts such as waste generation, damage to flora and fauna and trampling. These are in particular affecting the Aleppo pine woodlands, the Holm oak forest remnants, the populetum albae community and the garigue.
Moreover, this site is also vulnerable to invasion by species typical of degraded areas.
Although hunting and trapping are illegal, Buskett is an attraction for daring hunters and trappers. However, patrols and wardens in the area during the migration period of birds has helped to greatly reduce the threat presented by them.
Site designation
The site is designated as a Candidate Special Area of Conservation of International Importance via Government Notice 877 of 2003, as declared through the provisions of the Flora, Fauna and Natural Habitats Regulations of 2003 (Legal Notice 257 of 2003).
Legal Notice 12 of 2001 declares different parts of the area as nature reserves, where all trees and woodlands are protected and thus certain activities are controlled and/or restricted. The separate sections that are protected are: Il-Buskett, Wied il-Girgenti and Gnien il-Kbir.
Il-Buskett is also declared as an Area of Ecological Importance and as a Site of Scientific Importance (and Area of High Landscape Value and Scheduled Woodland), through the Development Planning Act (Government Notice 403 of 1996). Buskett Gardens and Verdala Palace, and Girgenti are two bird sanctuaries designated via Legal Notice 146 of 1993 as amended, both of which fall within the area in question.
A cluster of trees within Buskett have been protected since 1933, through GN 269 of 1933 which lists the historical trees having an antiquarian importance. The site is declared as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International: Buskett and Wied il-Luq.
The Greens’ stance
Alternattiva Demokratika’s environment spokesman Mark Causon believes that Buskett is our only natural woodland, where trees and nature have been allowed to take over with limited human interference. It is a haven for bird watchers, who can observe migrating birds of prey making a stopover and other birds which winter here. Buskett also hosts breeding birds, he said.
“It is also a oasis for studying nature in all its aspects, to search for its host of plants, insects, fungi and flowering plants,” said Mr Causon.
“Buskett gives the people its fresh air, that smell of mother nature, with the singing of the birds, the aroma of the flowers and the rustle of dry leaves being harvested by the hard working insects,” he said.
Mr Causon said Buskett is beautiful as it is, beautiful as nature wants it and has created it. It has been this way for centuries. Part of it has always been like this and we hope it stays like this, he said.
“Carrying out maintenance work in Buskett is not simply a job for gardeners. It is not an urban park with regimented planting, trees chosen for their geometry, leaves on parade and weeds exiled to elsewhere. This would destroy it. Buskett should be left free too grow as it feels, as nature wants it to,” he said.
He also pointed out that Buskett can be an asset for agro-tourism hosting walks, with talks on its birdlife, plants and trees from a Mediterranean perspective.
“It can host a small centre where organic produce and natural products can be viewed being produced and sold to the inquisitive visitors. Buskett’s greatest service to us will always remain its presence, a unique place, a special refuge, an experience not otherwise available in Malta,” Mr Causon
concluded.