Very confusing; the AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) is a high speed train but the word also means bird.
It is the artemia salina, a crustacean typical of hypersaline waters which, together with mosquito larvae that provides the staple diet for the large population of birds on the salt lagoons of Torrevieja and La Mata. Amongst the hundred species which have been recorded; there are flamingos, black-necked grebes, black-winged stilts and avocets.
Those of you who have been past the salt lagoons recently will have noticed the return of the flamingos which are here for the breeding season. You will probably see more on the lakes near to Santa Pola and the lakes near to San Pedro than on the lagoon at Torrevieja.
Incidentally did you know that there is no natural connection between the salt lakes and the sea? A man-made channel brings sea water into the lagoon at Torrevieja where it is warmed by the sun. It is then transferred to the lagoon at La Mata by further channels. The drying out of the water at Torrevieja produces the crystalline salt which is gathered for use in the chemical industry.
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