September 1st saw a law change which increased the age from 14 to 15 for youngsters here being able to legally ride a 50 CC moped or scooter on the roads.

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The Sociedad de Cazadores (society of hunters) in Lanzarote have asked for the sale of poison to be regulated. The request came when several dogs died in the municipality of Teguise last week after discovering the poison when out hunting rabbits. It was the same news this time last year when a number of hunting dogs died at the beginning of  the season.

Local residents are also angry at the decision to penalise dog owners for walking their pets along Famara beach and are asking where is it safe to walk their dogs if the hills have had poison laid down. The poison doesn’t just affect the dogs but local wildlife including the protected Hubara bird.

Please if you have dogs in Teguise, Nazaret and Famara avoid walking your dogs off the lead in these areas for the time being.  read more »

As you can see from these photos taken at the weekend, the much loved Playa Flamingo beach in Playa Blanca has not been restored despite earlier promises it would be ready for use from the beginning of August.

It seems the current issue is deciding who is responsible for the replacement of the sand on this beach?

Tragsa won the project to restore the break waters (Proyecto de Rehabilitación de los Diques de Playa Flamingo) but they had not included any costs for the replacement of sand on the beach once the work was complete.  read more »

The Unión Sindical de Controladores Aéreos (USCA) confirmed that there will be no air traffic controllers strike in Spain during the month of August. The statement was made after an urgent three hour meeting following a request from AENA to confirm their action and dissipate the doubts of travellers. The Ministerio de Fomento  said the controllers had three choices:

Accept what has already been put on the negotiation table

Take the situation to external arbitration

Strike but establish which dates would be affected

El presidente del gestor público de aeropuertos asked the group not to take strike action and continue with negotations, the Asociación internacional del Transporte Aéreo (IATA) said that this is not the moment for strikes and the negative impact on the Spanish economy and the Spanish president José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero asked the air controllers to act with responsibility.  read more »

There was a shocking incident in Lanzarote at the weekend. A pack of dogs attacked a farm situated between Tahíche and San Bartolomé initially killing 40 sheep, although several more have died since as a result of the frenzy. You can see photos from the attack on the report from La Voz de Lanzarote.

The dogs are believed to be wild after being abandoned by their owners. The farmer Casimiro Hernández has detained one of the dogs, a Rottweiler and would like the owner to come forward. The farmer saw the Rottweiler and three Canarian Presas at the farm but believes there had to be more dogs involved due to the amount of animals attacked.  read more »

Ryanair announced this week that they will suspend flights to and from Bournemouth airport during the winter months of November, December and January. The Canary Islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife are affected with the winter closure, Ryanair have said they will restore these flights again from February.

Commenting on this announcement, Bournemouth Airport Managing Director, Rob Goldsmith said “We are obviously disappointed by this decision, but fully appreciate how tough it is for low-cost airlines to operate profitably, especially in the winter months. However we remain confident that this is a short term set back and that demand in our catchment area will soon pick up, and we look forward to retaining our long term partnership with Ryanair in the future.”  read more »

The Spanish President José Luis Rodgríguez Zapatero was planning to spend time in August at La Mareta in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote as per previous summers in 2005, 2006 and 2009. A press release confirmed today that this holiday has now been cancelled due to the economic crisis. Instead Zapatero will spend the summer at his residence in Madrid taking time out at the weekends to be with his family, he has a trip planned back to Leon where he grew up and Toledo. Additionally the President will take two trips to Majorca for the summer office with King Juan Carlos.

Francisco Martinez of the Asociación Insular de Empresarios de Hoteles y Apartamentos de Lanzarote said that it was bad news for the tourism promotion of Lanzarote. The island receives great press coverage when the president is staying in Lanzarote and this publicity is very important.

There hasn’t been a flurry of recent activity around the King’s house in Costa Teguise which gave some indication the holiday may have delayed or cancelled, it is good to understand that out of choice his destination was Lanzarote but work has kept him on the mainland. Zapatero's love for Lanzarote was recorded in a video released during his holiday in 2009.  read more »

I took my first drive down “The Strip” in Puerto del Carmen today since it re-opened after the change of direction at the weekend. This way round feels so much better, I always chose to drive from the North to the South along the front when it was both directions.

I thought you might like a couple of photos, they were taken as I was driving and through the windscreen so apologies about the quality.  read more »