Majjistral Park

Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park is Malta's only nature park and the largest managed protected area on the island. It was declared in September 2007 by Legal Notice 251/2007 and takes in the north-western strip running from Golden Bay to Il-Prajjet and Ix-Xagħra l-Ħamra, in the locality of Mellieħa. Its name comes from majjistral, the Maltese word for the north-westerly wind and for the north-western region. Management is entrusted to a federation of three NGOs, among them Din l-Art Ħelwa, together with the local council and government representatives.

Despite its small size, it concentrates a great variety of habitats: coastal and clifftop garigue, maquis, steppe, blue clay slopes, temporary freshwater rock pools, scree, farmland both in use and abandoned, and a sandy beach with its associated dune system. Geologically it is a good example of Maltese stratigraphy: the hard Upper Coralline Limestone rests on the much softer Blue Clay, which when saturated with water slides and brings down blocks of limestone, forming the cliffs of Rdum id-Delli and Rdum Majjiesa. The park adjoins the Rdum Majjiesa Marine Protected Area and its coast forms part of the Rdumijiet ta' Malta Special Area of Conservation, in the Natura 2000 network.

Around 430 plant species have been recorded, twelve of them endemic to Malta, such as the Maltese spurge, the Maltese sea chamomile and the Maltese sea lavender; since the declaration more than 1,300 olive, holm oak, carob and myrtle trees have been planted. Nine bird species breed in the park and many more use it on passage, among them the shearwaters that nest on the cliffs. Terrestrial vertebrates include hedgehogs, several bat species, weasels and rabbits. The cultural heritage is equally notable: prehistoric cart-ruts, dry stone walls, tombs of the classical period, caves, shepherds' giren and a restored military pillbox. In 2013 Legal Notice 217 restricted hunting and vehicle access, two of the park's long-standing problems.