Woodlife

S’Albufera National Park in Mallorca was originally a lagoon separated from the sea by a chain of sand dunes. Over the centuries, this has filled up with sediment to create an extensive floodplain and wetland area of Spanish national importance, harbouring a wide variety of wildlife.

The variety of the vegetation is dependent on the wetland area which in the main remains flooded most of the year. A large part of the water comes from rainfall reaching the area by seasonal streams and springs from subterranean aquifers known locally as ‘ullals’. Although the proximity of the sea water entering the area is relatively small, there is an impact of this on the flora and fauna alike.

The main vegetation is the reed and saw-sedge which grows to huge proportions. Amongst the smaller canals and ‘llisers’ (small lagoons) the fennel pondweed and hornwort grow while in the more brackish areas the rush and glasswort can be found. Amongst the dryer areas and woodland the white poplar, elm and tamarisk provide a haven for larger tree nesting birds. In the sandy areas the sea daffodil, and extremely rare ‘peu de mila’ and prickly juniper are found.

As for fauna, the fish and amphibian species do well with the eel, the Iberian frog and the European pond turtle in abundance. Small rodents can be found as well as 8 different bat species including the rare barbestelle bat. 300 moth species have been discovered as well as dragonflies, spiders and beetles.

The differing ecosystems are highly productive offering an abundance of bird life. To date some 271 species have been sighted with 61 species breeding in the area. It’s a popular wintering ground with large flocks of shovelers, teals, pochards and wigeon. Different species of heron and are among them. Other migrant species also visit such as swallows and sandpipers. The last group are ‘wanderers’ who make random visits such as cranes and the green ibis.

I started my ramble through the woods on the opposite side of the road and managed to enter through the ‘back door’ of the park. I was grateful of this, as I missed the noisy tourist entrance. I immediately started snapping away with the camera. By entering at the opposite side of the reserve it unfortunately meant that I missed obtaining the bird list at the visitor centre (until the end of the walk) and not having a Mediterranean Wildlife Guide book with me, I hadn’t a clue what I was photographing. I was however, able to sit and move on at peaceful leisure watching the antics of the wildlife on offer. It wasn’t long before I noticed a great white egret gracefully lifting from amongst the reeds closely followed by a purple heron. A later disturbance in far trees with a high branch almost bending in two could only have been a large raptor.

Speaking to one of the Rangers later, he said that it could easily have been a Marsh Harrier or even the escapee Golden Eagle that had been spotted recently. Unfortunately, despite watching for over half and hour and not managing to get closer because of one of the lagoons, I didn’t get another sight of what-ever-it-was.

I could go on and on about what I saw (at least what I thought I saw) but I wouldn’t be 100% definite on the sightings. What I would say is that this provided one of the highpoints of the holiday and I returned to base after walking about 11 kms around the reserve tired but satisfied. If like me, you find yourself on the on the island slightly perturbed by the prospect of overpriced tourist shops, beetroot-red North European visitors, and lack of significant Bushcraft time, I could only advise you to take time out to visit this wonderful area.

Pablo