Vehicle
asphalt and dirt track
Bird habitats you will find in this area:
We start in the town of Campanario, heading towards the Guadalefra River (o.p. 01) to look for Mallard, Little Ringed Plover, Green and Common Sandpipers, Common Kingfisher, White Wagtail, Little Egret, Little Tern, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls… We continue to a higher area (o.p. 02) where we can see birds perched on fences and quartzite outcrops such as Thekla Lark, Black-eared Wheatear, Iberian Grey Shrike, Corn Bunting, Eurasian Hoopoe, Little Owl and Red-legged Partridge.
We continue until the bridge over the Almorchón stream (o.p. 03), one of the branches of the Zújar reservoir, and look for Mallard, Little Ringed Plover, Green and Common Sandpipers, Common Kingfisher, Little Egret etc. A path on the other side of the bridge allows you to take a short walk upstream, where the scrub of broom and tamujos is home to species such as Eurasian Goldfinch, Common Linnet, Zitting Cisticola, European Stonechat, Rufous-tailed Bush Robin, Melodious, Spectacled, Sardinian and Western Orphean Warblers.
On the Golondrinas road we will do two small walks: the Puerto Mejoral trail (o.p. 04) and the Miguel Ríos path (o.p. 05) to locate Great and Little Bustards, Montagu’s Harrier, Pin-tailed and Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Calandra and Greater Short-toed Larks… and at dusk see or hear Stone Curlew and Red-necked Nightjar. In the small eucalyptus groves along the road, Lesser and Common Kestrels, Common Buzzard, Short-toed Eagle and European Rollers will perch. On the grasslands in winter important populations of European Golden Plover, Northern Lapwing, Hen Harriers, Meadow Pipits, Eurasian Skylark, White Wagtail and Common Crane, which roosts in small ponds, occur. On passage, Northern and Black-eared Wheatears, Whinchat, Tawny Pipit and Willow Warbler abound.
We continue to Almorchón to go to the Belén chapel and continue parallel to the train track until the forest limit of the Tiros mountain range (o.p. 06) whose holm oak and cork oak forests are home to Black Kite, Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Common Nightingale, Eurasian Jay, Iberian Magpie, Woodchat Shrike, Eurasian Wren, Common Rock Sparrow, Common Chaffinch and Hawfinch. Bonelli’s and Golden Eagles, Egyptian and Griffon Vultures, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Peregrine Falcon and Black Stork nest on the crests of the mountains. Finally we head to Castuera, paying attention to the steppe birds and farm buildings (o.p. 07) that serve as nesting places for Lesser Kestrel, White Stork, Little and Eurasian Scops Owls, European Roller, Western Jackdaw, Eurasian Hoopoe, Spotless Starling and even Red-billed Chough.
Interpretation Centre of La Serena and surrounding Sierras: in Castuera, next to the Turrón museum, a typical product of this town.
Elms of the Belén chapel: a group declared a singular tree, some of the few surviving from Dutch elm disease.
Castles: in Benquerencia de la Serena and Almorchón.
La Mata Site: protohistoric site of the Tartessian culture, around the 4th and 5th centuries BC.
Birds that remain in the territory all year round.
Breeding birds that stay in the territory during spring and summer, migrating to their wintering grounds at the end of summer.
Birds that do not breed in Extremadura but spend the autumn and winter months here.
Birds that use the region as a stopover area, migrating from their breeding grounds north of Extremadura to their wintering areas further south.
