Wetlands, River and Salt-pans
The massive deposits of silt brought down to the mouth of the Guadalquivir River at Sanlúcar de Barrameda has been changing the shape and size of SW Andalucia for thousands of years. The cause of the huge silt delta, created over thousands of years has been blamed primarily on the Roman occupation of Betica or Southern Spain. Huge forests were cleared for wood burning. Homes, spas and public baths were all heated by wood and the Romans insatiable appetite created barren, hills and ridges that stretched through the whole of the Iberian peninsula. The result erosion led to millions of tons of earth, silt and small stones being transported each winter down to the sea, resulting in the creation of the entire Coto Doñana area on the Huelva province and the marshes, and salt lagoons from a point south east of Seville near Los Palacios y Villafranca to the city of Huelva towards the border with neighbouring Portugal.
On this day tour, we travel across to the town of Trebujena, just NW of Jerez de la Frontera. Here we stop and sample a local fino sherry at the town's 'bodega' (included in the day price!). From the town we descend through the vineyards of this rich sherry area and into the lower basin of the Guadalquivir and look across to the Doñana system of parks. We follow the mighty river southwards passing the networks of fish ponds where Osprey, Red and Black Kites and Booted Eagles are usually present. Checking along the canals and flat salt marshes we'll look for Stone Curlews, Thekla and Calandra Larks, Common Kingfishers and and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. Continuing on to the Algaida and its large pine forest is where we take lunch at a local restaurant just on the edge of one of the Doñana's Natural Parks where White-headed Duck, Marbled Ducks and Black-necked Grebes and the scarce European Chameleon can also often be found during warmer months.
Butterflies can include Southern Swallowtails, Scarce Swallowtails, Spanish Festoons, Clouded Yellows, Brimstones and Cleopatra's as well as darters and dragonflies
After lunch we have permission and of course a key to enter and explore the salt-pans where thousands of salt crystals are 'harvested' each summer and where many exciting species of birds can also be found. Slender-billed Gulls, Caspian and other terns can be seen diving for fish and again this is a great place to watch Osprey hunting or sitting atop a pylon or tree eating a caught fish!
Most people remember the stunning site of the pink blur of hundreds of Greater Flamingoes and the brilliant white of Eurasian Spoonbills and Great Egrets that feed on the many brackish lagoons within this huge area. Pied Avocets and Black winged Stilts flash across the pools as Little Ringed Plovers scurry along the banks. From Autumn through to Spring this is also a wonderful place to watch the rare Black Storks, Bluethroats, Short-eared Owls and masses wader flock from Northern Europe.
