Introduction
The Gola del Ter is the current mouth of the river Ter in the municipality of Torroella de Montgrí. At the start of the fourteenth century, the Ter used to flow into the sea some 10 km further north in the municipality of l’Escala. This changed because of the struggles between Ponç-Hug IV, Count of Empúries, and Jaume II the Just, King of Catalonia-Aragon and Count of Barcelona. As the Count wanted the river to belong to his county and Torroella was part of the County of Barcelona, he cut the river off where it passed through Verges (which was part of the County of Empúries) so it would flow into the sea in l’Escala and finally be his property. This did not last for very long as in 1311 a strong flood restored the original route of the Ter and its mouth returned to l’Estartit. At the mouth of the Ter, there is a great variety of birds. The birds that can be seen here include the Sandwich tern (Sterna sandvicensis), the great-crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus), the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), and many others.