School trip to As Pontes

General view of the area

Yesterday morning we went on a school trip to As Pontes, where we saw a forest. It is a special place because many years ago it was a highly polluted area.

We saw a roe deer and a wild boar in the middle of the forest and nowadays there is a lake where there used to be an open-aire mine.

We took samples of water from two different lakes to analyse. We checked the pH of the samples. It was a basic pH in both samples.

The lagoon the samples were taken from

Adrián got into the lake to get some invertebrates and water.

Later we ate in a picnic area next to a beach by the biggest lake.

We met some Mexican University professors and Agustín, a USC professor who was in charge of the project.

Checking the pH of the water samples

The project is the restauration of the area. In the past the area was full of waste from the coal mine. Now it is covered with earth, grass, trees, and bushes.They want to have a real, natural ecosystem.

We saw many tress such as chestnut, oak and pine trees, cypresses, birches, willows, etc., bushes, ferns, ivy, etc. and animals such as a wild boar, a roe deer, ducks, frogs, butterflies, snails, flies, mosquitoes, etc.

We held a photography competition and the winner should have the highest score.

Finally, we went to an artificial beach by the lake to eat a sandwich and later we returned to Guntín, but before that we left Álex in Lugo because he wanted to go to his football training session.

by Silvia Méndez, Patricia García, Antía Vázquez  and Ana Arias