All the latest news and articles on the remaining Cantabrian brown bear population of northern Spain. News is translated from the Spanish. Also included are articles on bear ecology, problems of habitat conservation and more.
The Picos de Europa and Cantabrian mountains are home to a very special selection of European mammals. From the shy and rare Pyrenean desman to equally shy 400lb brown bears, there are some 70 species of notoriously elusive mammals in our area including the Iberian wolf and 21 species of bat.
News on birdlife around the Picos de Europa. From sub-adult Lammergeier incursions from the Pyrenees and the possible reintroduction programme to Avocets and Little egrets on the Costa Verde. Also included here are personal observations of resident and summer-visiting birds.
Articles on reptiles living around the Picos de Europa. Among the pages here you'll find the largest lizard found in mainland Spain and which snakes to give a wide berth.
Any botanist out studying in the field can't help but witness the closely symbiotic relationships that exist between so many different species of the insect and plant worlds. The huge current interest in macro and digital photography provides close-up views of previously unseen invertebrate life.
Articles on the more than 150 species of butterfly currently identified in the Picos de Europa.
Also included here are some of the species found futher afield in the vicinity.
Articles on moths found in and around the Picos de Europa.
Dragonflies and Damselflies in and around the Picos de Europa.
Articles on any interesting beetles found.
One of the reasons the Picos de Europa was made a National Park, and more recently a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, is its hay meadows. Flowers abound in these traditionally-managed pockets of colour before they're cut in June. From April/May to September/October botanists can also head higher to the splendours of the alpine pastures and natural rock gardens to find the myriad flowers there among the limestone peaks. Some plants are endemic to the Cantabrian mountains and a few to just the Picos de Europa themselves.
See also Orchids
It's not only pollinating insects that are attracted to the Picos de Europa in spring by the array of colourful, ingeniously developed orchids growing here. Botanists from all over the world come to study the hay meadow habitats that contribute to making the Picos de Europa so special. N.B. Groups are advised not to walk through the middle of hay meadows when these are about to be cut. Please keep to the edges so as not to flatten the crop!
From the first exhuberant, early-flowering displays of Giant orchids in March through to the more diminutively demure Autumn lady's tresses in September, orchids can be found, however, not only in the most commonly-known months of May and June, nor only in the hay meadows. The different soil types around the Picos, from alcaline calcareous to acid, provide the ideal growing media for a variety of orchid species. The range of altitudes from about 100m - 2,000m+ further explains why around 50 terrestrial orchid species have been recorded so far in this compact mountain range.
Following is an alphabetical list (common English names) of the Orchidaceae species that I've seen. Delving further you'll find descriptions, photos, scientific and common English and Spanish names of each, when they exist. In an effort to avoid the taxonomic jungle and to give the latest, generally accepted scientific names, I have followed Flora Ibérica, Castroviejo, S. (2005), Royal Botanical Gardens (CSIC), Madrid.
As I make the ferry crossing fairly regularly between Santander and Plymouth (Brittany Ferries) I thought it would be nice to keep a record of my pelagic wildlife sightings here.
Articles on our (sadly not too frequent) wildlife trips around the rest of Spain.