# Wildlife



## lildav (Oct 6, 2013)

I have lived in Spain (Almeria) for over 2 years now and I must admit that I miss the birds and wildlife we had in England. I would not return to UK because of this but wondered if there was an area of Spain, preferable the south, where wildlife was plentiful and easy to see.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

lildav said:


> I have lived in Spain (Almeria) for over 2 years now and I must admit that I miss the birds and wildlife we had in England. I would not return to UK because of this but wondered if there was an area of Spain, preferable the south, where wildlife was plentiful and easy to see.


In most areas where there is a fair amount of vegetation and a climatic mix, you will find a fair amount of birds and wildlife (around here, I have seen, for the first time in the wild, golden orioles and hoopoes) including the normal sort of thing - green woodpeckers, eagles, and red kites, there are wild boar, huge toads and there are in some parts lynx, otters, etc.

One of the problems as far as most wildlife (especially birds) is concerned is hunting by the "if it moves, shoot it" brigade, so much wildlife stays out of sight.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

I keep a running list of birds I have seen in, or from, my garden here in Madrid. I'm up to 48 so far. I don't think I would have got anywhere near that number in the UK. The insect life is also far more numerous here, not to mention wild flowers; in fact there's just more 'nature' in Spain, if you ask me.

I believe Cabo de Gata in Almería is great for birdwatching, with resident and migratory birds, including flamingos.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

lildav said:


> I have lived in Spain (Almeria) for over 2 years now and I must admit that I miss the birds and wildlife we had in England. I would not return to UK because of this but wondered if there was an area of Spain, preferable the south, where wildlife was plentiful and easy to see.


I live on a major bird migration route between Africa and Europe and in spring and autumn we see a huge variety of birds, from bee-eaters to black kites, passing overhead. We also have resident populations of griffon vultures, lesser kestrels, white storks, owls and numerous songbirds. For six months of the year I am (happily) kept awake by nightingales.

Within an hour's drive we can see flamingoes, stilts, avocets, spoonbills and many other waders in the Bahia de Cadiz.

As for mammals; rabbits, hares, mongoose, red deer and roe deer are not too hard to find. The wild boar and genet are out there, but we never see them.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

The Crossbill Guides are brilliant, because they cover plants, birds, mammals and reptiles in one pocket-sized volume. I have the ones for the Andalusian Sierras and Doñana, but they also have guides for Extremadura and the Spanish Pyrenees. A bit pricey but well worth it.

Crossbill Guides Guidebooks | Crossbill Guides


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

If you happen to be a fan of the humble sparrow then you'll see loads of them in Spain, whereas they have all but disappeared from UK. And because of the increase in air temperature in the UK, butterflies are being wiped out, as are many species of bumble bees. The butterfly population in Spain is wonderful. As for other birds, we see many species here, the most common are sparrows, blackbirds, hoopoes, eagles, red kites, egrets, owls, vultures, bee eaters, house martins, swifts, swallows and finches. We also see a lot of wild boar here and foxes. And of course there are the many species of spider (black widow, funnel web, brown recluse, tarantula) and snakes and of course geckos and other lizards. The we have the cicada and a huge number of grass hoppers, and praying mantis and flies  Out to sea we regularly see dolphins and many species of fish. Where we lived in UK we often had red deer come into the gardens; we haven't seen any of those yet...


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## lildav (Oct 6, 2013)

Many thanks for the advice.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> The Crossbill Guides are brilliant, because they cover plants, birds, mammals and reptiles in one pocket-sized volume. I have the ones for the Andalusian Sierras and Doñana, but they also have guides for Extremadura and the Spanish Pyrenees. A bit pricey but well worth it.
> 
> Crossbill Guides Guidebooks | Crossbill Guides


Unfortunately, they have been rather narrow minded with their approach to Andalusian [sic] Sierras only dealing with the area between Málaga and Gibraltar but totally missing out the largest Natural Park in Spain - Las Sierras de Caziorla, Segura y Las Villas.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

lildav said:


> Many thanks for the advice.


You are, of course, most welcome...


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

baldilocks said:


> Unfortunately, they have been rather narrow minded with their approach to Andalusian [sic] Sierras only dealing with the area between Málaga and Gibraltar but totally missing out the largest Natural Park in Spain - Las Sierras de Caziorla, Segura y Las Villas.


True, because as it says on the cover, it's a Guide to the Andalusian Sierras _between Málaga and Gibraltar_. I'm sure they'll be down your way if and when they get the funding.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

This webpage is helpful
Wildlife in Spain
If you know anything about birds I believe Spain is a hotspot for birdwatchers. See this website
SEO/BirdLife

I too have seen wild boar here and hoopoes amongst other animals

And also this, which apparently you can see in the UK, but I never have









It's a Macroglossum stellatarum aka a hummingbird hawkmoth.

Anybody else seen these?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> And also this, which apparently you can see in the UK, but I never have
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, we have them here. The locals swear they are hummingbirds, but they are moths.


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## Guest (Oct 6, 2013)

*Not your preference, but...*



lildav said:


> I have lived in Spain (Almeria) for over 2 years now and I must admit that I miss the birds and wildlife we had in England. I would not return to UK because of this but wondered if there was an area of Spain, preferable the south, where wildlife was plentiful and easy to see.


We live in the Asturian countryside and are surrounded by small farms like ours, but also there are many forested areas, some of which are filled with pine, chestnut, oak, and other native trees. We take walks everyday on fairly untraveled paths/roads and see much wildlife... a small family of local deers just yesterday. We can sit outside our small farmhouse and look up into the field & forest above and always see birds and butterflies in abundance.


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## JaneyO (Sep 24, 2012)

Pesky Wesky said:


> This webpage is helpful
> Wildlife in Spain
> If you know anything about birds I believe Spain is a hotspot for birdwatchers. See this website
> SEO/BirdLife
> ...


What a lovely photo! We have a lot of these moths in the Balearics, they love the plumbago and lantanas. Pretty spectacular, though they freaked out my insect hating visitors.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

baldilocks said:


> Unfortunately, they have been rather narrow minded with their approach to Andalusian [sic] Sierras only dealing with the area between Málaga and Gibraltar but totally missing out the largest Natural Park in Spain - Las Sierras de Caziorla, Segura y Las Villas.


What's [sic] about Andalusian?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

jimenato said:


> What's [sic] about Andalusian?


We always use the Spanish (correct) spelling of Andalucía. They used Sierra so why not use the Spanish spelling for both rather than mixing English and Spanish. They could have said Andalusian Mountains, if they'd wanted to use English. In fact my British English spell-checker red underlines Andalusian.


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## Jumar (Mar 14, 2012)

We are in Murcia, not too far from Almeria. We have resident Kestrels and Little Owls and Hoopoes all year in the garden. In spring we see Bee Eaters and Red Necked Nightjars. In the sierra behind the house are Booted and Golden eagles. We have also seen foxes, wild boar and mouflon and sometimes Griffon Vultures. We see many more species here then we ever did in Britain. Keep looking you never know what you might see.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

We saw a toad in our yard last night, completely baffled as to how it got in here in the first place and it's not as if there is any water anywhere around us apart from peoples pools.

I can't be certain what type it was, it was green. Possibly a Natterjack but not Bufo Bufo.
Do they bury them selves in the ground for summer and reappear later in the year?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pazcat said:


> We saw a toad in our yard last night, completely baffled as to how it got in here in the first place and it's not as if there is any water anywhere around us apart from peoples pools.
> 
> I can't be certain what type it was, it was green. Possibly a Natterjack but not Bufo Bufo.
> Do they bury them selves in the ground for summer and reappear later in the year?


Yes they do sometimes bury themselves and "estivate". Frogs don't do this though, they have to find another water source. Toads can live without water for much longer because their skins are tough and dry.


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