Category Archives: Responsible Tourism

Bird Place of the Month, Ecology, Nature, Responsible Tourism, Spain, Wildlife Reserves

Bird Place for Spring – Monfrague and the International Bird Fair

21 Comments

I must get back to the birds after a blogging break. So please join in if you wish with a link to your own special bird place. Monfrague is a national park in Extremadura on the mid to west of Spain. We visited once when travelling back overland from the UK. So when I saw the advert for this Bird Fair in the Spanish nature magazine Quercus I knew we had to make an effort even when there had been so much stormy weather.

We arrived in Plasencia on the Thursday with the possibility of more and more rain but were very lucky not to have downpours during the daytime. Plasencia is a walled city well worth a visit with its medieval square, cathedral, views and river. It is also quite near for visiting the Spanish National Park of Monfrague.

On Friday we drove the 20 minutes from Plasencia up into the hills to the International Bird Fair. The small peak tents were full of all the ‘optics’ you might wish to use if money were no object!

Plasencia Plaza
Vilarreal de San Carlos
Bird Fair tents and views over the National Park

We explored the village Villarreal de San Carlos in Monfrague that is mainly for the reserve with visitors centre and other museums, places to stay and lots of picnic areas. For the FIO ,Feria Internacional Ornotologia, there were many visitors and coaches bringing school students too.

It was the beginning of Spring as the swallows had arrived and also the Egyptian vultures which migrate. The Griffon’s and Black vultures are resident and this place is home to a range of raptors and vultures, including the endangered Spanish Imperial Eagle. I will put more on the birds in the next post with photographs from my camera.

It was good to explore this International Bird Fair and there was a lot of beautiful bird related art work but also lots of information about birds and nature throughout Spain. We found out that the cranes had not yet left for northern Europe so we wanted to try and find some just out of the mountainous area to the south. Extremadura province is a ZEPA for birds- a zone of extra protection.

The posters for each year were quite striking and artistic but real.

2025 poster features the swifts and the white rumped ones.

There were also lots of talks in a large marquee and art work and photography prize winners in others. Most interesting was the talk and video about the reintroduction of the Bearded Vulture known often as Quebrantahuesos in Spanish through the way it breaks the bones of its prey by dropping from a height. It is a magnificent bird but must be reintroduced with the acceptance of farmers in mountain pastures.

Study of raptor feathers
Introducing the Lammergeier to the Pyrenees
Bearded Vulture ,Gypaetus barbatus
Introducing the lynx and other endangered species
Watercolours
Ceramics

We took a tour to see the Griffon Vultures nesting along the river Tietar which flows into the Tagus in the centre of the national park. The Tagus is the longest river in the Iberian peninsular and is Tajo in Spain and Tejo in Portugal with the river mouth by Lisbon. More vultures can be seen further along the Tagus.

Nesting Griffon Vulture taken on phone through scope.
Tietar River

I have taken a break this April from blogging as so many visits arranged preparing a talk for a Quaker conference on Women’s Activism from different cultures.

I hope there will be some of you who can join me on the Bird Place posts with bird places of your own. I will be posting on Monfrague throughout May so join in when you can. Tag with Bird Place of the Month

Bird Place of the Month, Birds, Cañada de los Pajaros, Responsible Tourism, Travel writing

Bird Place of the Month and Review of Bird Places 2024 with lots of Bird Blogs

24 Comments

On the first of February 2025 we returned to Cañada de los Pajaros for their event for International Day of the Wetlands. The biggest change from the year before; WATER! Thanks to the rain and a project to divert water to this wetland sanctuary.

Here are some of the photos of 2025 and the birds are enjoying deeper waters.

For once good to queue as so many want to visit
Waiting for the release of the home raised rare species
!
Mandarin duck
Magpie goose
Ruddy Shelduck
White faced whistling duck

This sanctuary was also featured in September for the diversity of the ibis species found there with the aims of the centre for rescue and rehabilitation along with rare species breeding programmes.

Rare marbled teal can now be free to fly away.
Resident Flamingos
Wild stork nests and cormorants on the central tree

I am wondering whether to continue Bird Place of the Month but looking over the contributions and being able to share places over several continents I think it is good to show the important places for birds and nature. There is a great collection of bird places worth a visit.

My favourite London place as I grew up here and watched these wetlands being transformed out of the old reservoirs next to the Thames. Sarah has a great post she shared on this. And if you visit London come here for a very natural break from the busy city.

A wetland wonderland in London

Another bird place is in Toronto at the Tommy Thompson Park and all man made but now a great place to bird watch. For some reason the link is not working. But extract below.

AN “ACCIDENTAL WILDERNESS”

In the early 1970s, it was clear that a site for port-related facilities wasn’t needed. By this time, however, the natural processes that had evolved during the planning and construction of the site had shaped the spit into a truly “accidental wilderness.”

In August 1973, the Province gave Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) “the responsibility of being the Province’s agent with regard to the proposed Aquatic Park [Tommy Thompson Park] and the preparation of a master plan”. In 1977, this was expanded to include not only the preparation of a master plan, but also development and interim management — including public access, nature interpretation and wildlife management.

And a sanctuary in Australia with wedge tailed eagles and many more in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. ( Hopefully the pexel is correct on this as I amnot likely to get to Australia)

https://www.zoo.org.au/healesville/whats-on/event-listing/spirits-of-the-sky/

Photo by Stephen Noulton on Pexels.com

Healesville Sanctuary near Melbourne Australia has a wonderful Birds of Prey display which visitors from all over the world and locally love. Having the wedge tail eagles flying over your head very low is an amazing experience. Next to that my country home on 25 acres attracts a wide range of birds from magpies, cockatoos, kookaburras, galahs, herons, tawny frog mouths, satin bower birds, blue wrens and honey eaters to name a few. Lynn Kianga https://kiangablog.com/about/

Back Yards

Donna is well worth a visit for lots of waterside birds but the one below is all about the warblers in her back garden.

https://bayphotosbydonna.com/

https://bayphotosbydonna.com/category/warblers/

An hour at a local pond

Estuaries and deltas offer great places for birds and these are Spain and Europe.

A winter day at Santoña Marshes
The Axios Delta National Park
A boat ride on Lake Skadar

For the previous 6 months I created a summary on this post. The places range from Africa, USA, UK, Spain, Finland, Portugal.

https://navasolanature.wordpress.com/2024/06/

If you visit some of these let us know your favourites but it will be a hard ask or you have another reason!

And if you want birds every week please try

https://anotherglobaleater.wordpress.com/      A new bird place for I J Khanewala full of bulbuls.

Indian Cormorant + Birds of the Week Invitation CIV

Lets celebrate this beautiful world and strive to protect it. Think Local first and look after that within community groups if all seems overwhelming.

Autumn, Butterflies, Culture, Gardens, Nature, Responsible Tourism, Travel, Writing

November in Seville, the Hot, the Cold and the Butterflies

20 Comments

November has been a hard month. It is becoming a mix of dates of friends passing and friend’s birthdays, including my own. Like the seasons the end of the year is approaching and the years go by. But while we are here lets do our best to enjoy and sow seeds for the future.

Butterflies in November in Seville
The Alcazar

I am in Seville for two nights. Our favourite and local city. It is just over an hour away from the Sierra Aracena. Somos turistxs hoy! I am also reading an incredible novel called Sugar and Snails by Anne Goodwin.

Autumn in the Sierra Aracena about an hour from Sevilla but much higher up and colder. Our home.

We are staying in the Hotel Simon, once a casa grande of a rich Seville family, probably shipping or merchant wealth. But from the 1930s became a hotel. Today for a reasonable price you can enjoy its tiled splendours. And just walk out into the centre of Seville and come face to face with the giant Cathedral frontage.

The cathedral and Giralda
Patio of Hotel Simon

Our walk today!

First past the market selling all kinds of figures for the nativity story of Bethlehem or Belen. This is quite a collection that builds up for people here. Some villages do a ‘living Belen’ as in a village near us called Linares.

Artisan figures and models for the Nativity

We walk up to the university which was the old tobacco factory of the Carmen opera fame. Now you can walk in and possibly through and feel student life all around you.

University life and lectures. Resistance, repression and survival in Seville in the 40s and 50s

From the University we cross the road by the main theatre where renovation walk is ongoing and then into the Plaza de Espana park. There is fun with the rowing of boats and serious commitment to women’s rights with the poster display for International Woman’s day.

Plaza de Espana and Recognition of Women’s Rights

We watch an attempt at a wedding photo shoot and am glad we asked. We thought she was an Indian bride dressed in the traditional red with all the bead work. No, it was for a Gitano wedding. And of course the romany and Spanish gypsy links are from long ago in the north of India and Pakistan. And listen in to the stamping footwork of flamenco.

Wedding Scenes

From here we walk through the park and have tapas away from the central tourist part. Rested and full of garbanzos, cerveza and ensaladilla we walk through the Plaza de Americas. The archeology museum is closed but the Museo de arte y costumbres is open. We rest with the butterflies and orange lanterna. Painted Ladies. It could be summer. Pigeons abound in one place for food and parakeets squawk about in the trees. Eucalyptus and parakeets and sunshine warmth. We really could be in the southern hemisphere. But the plane trees are changing colour and there is a chill on the shade and at night

We walk back by the river where Seville is ready with an ice rink and fairground for Christmas fun. And a strange glass container for eating churros and chocolate with the Torre de Oro in the background

Along the Rio Guadalquivir

Saludos from Sevilla with all its history, art, culture and natural beauty built up around the grand river Guadalquivir. From the Moorish power base of the Alcazar and Islamic rule, through the colonial Spanish architecture and build to impress, to the more nuanced post Franco Spain, a modern democracy with rights, values and standards at its heart. Ready hopefully to tackle the next global problem of climate change. Drought is not new to Andalucia and water is a blessing. However, the drought and high temperatures are longer and the water levels lower.

The rivers flowing by Seville and into the Atlantic and the Donana wetlands

There is such beauty on this planet created by human hand and by nature. Let’s enjoy while we can and leave this world safer for those who come next. Lets watch our water consumption and keep the rivers flowing for wildlife too.

Notice in our hotel bathroom. But in the Sierra where the water comes from many village water supplies ran dry this summer.

Time to celebrate too. I am attending the book launch of an anthology of short stories this Saturday in London. Evergreen is the title. ‘Until we are Ever Green’ is my story about a neglected silver fir Christmas tree.

The fir tree section of Kew Gardens

Lets hope The Call of the Wild Valley gets published soon too. It’s on the list!

Biodiversity, Birds, campaigns, Ecology, Green cities, Responsible Tourism

A song for the golondrinas and some of my House Martin Survey, Cabanas de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal 2015 to 2022.

13 Comments

 I began my house martin survey in 2015 and each year try to look around the once welcoming fishing village for signs of their nests. Of course now Cabanas is more of a tourist village by the Ria Formosa and the buildings are less kind for the ledges needed. Once there were more house martins on the ‘frontline’ but now most nests have been deterred or destroyed. In one place above various shops and entrances to the small indoor shopping area there were 35. This year there are about 5.

However behind the Spa shop there is a good stretch and the birds can build their mud nests there and avoid the complaints of a mess as a long platform was put up to protect the ground from the delicacies of house martin poo.

Building next, March 2015 Building nest March 2015
Close up, building nest, March 2015 Close up, building nest, March 2015

 

Cabanas Sunday 008

 The art of building a nest must somehow be passed on between the generations. Proximity to water and mud is important. Each beakful is carefully positioned ready to stick to the next.

House martins seem to like to choose the same spots and just refurbishing a nest site will mean that they can get on with the business of mating and laying the eggs from March.

High winds can delay their arrival and the parents to be will be pretty exhausted by the thousands of miles they have flown across Africa. So having to rebuild from scratch or search for another site delays their ability to breed. However many of the parents will try again for a second brood. If these can fledge and build up reserves before the end of September they might make the long journey back.

From the RSPB and SEO in Spain there are requests to help these birds by keeping nest sites in situ over the winter. Of course it is illegal to destroy any nest that is in use or being built.

This year in Cabanas I found 100 nest sites in the Spring. The school still provides for many under the eaves and also in the older part of town there are more. The town council appears to have an interesting extra wall front behind which there were quite a few.

But all the new builds seem very unfriendly to these Spring visitors. In our ‘beco’ there have always been a small community and the trad design of our flats does provide the ledging. But many are prevented from returning by netting and plastic hanging down. More unsightly than the nests.

Song of a small golondrina or andorinha ( spanish/ portuguese)

Dear humans, please leave our nests alone,

And like you

We do like to be beside this seaside.

The sand and tides turning help us out

With just the right consistency of mud

We build our homes close to the sea

Where we can almost have food for free

So many insects to shout out about

Making us and our young strong

And ready for the long flight back.

High above the many folk below

May sometimes stand and stare

In a kind of wonder at our flight

But know too little of who we are

And why we have to come so far.

From June through July and August the first broods gather on the phone wires as if at school all in a line and getting ready for the flight of their life.

From past reading there is little known about where these birds go back to in Africa and house martins might still be too small for satellite tracking.

We believe they flock together to fly together across the Sahara but we do not know if the parent birds lead the way.

Here’s to the wonderful house martins of Cabanas de Tavira and the joy they bring some of us. I only wish more people would notice these incredible birds and make a stand for their presence here among the tourists.

* We think here in Spain and Portugal that golondrina or andorinha are used for both swallows and house martins. But in Latin – Delichon urbicum

Young house martins gathering in Cabanas de Tavira 2020.

—————–

Thanks too to Katharine Otto for making the first move to try and post by phone. This is my first attempt too. So apologies for not many photos but some recent ones from the phone! And oh, some more added from my library!

More on the survey later in the year. At present we await family for a holiday and have been enjoying nights out in Tavira with the free concerts. The band last night called SAL formed in the pandemic and this is their first year of playing live concerts. It is with great relief to find some of the normality and conviviality back again in our lives.

 

Feeding young in August

Feeding young in August

P1080939

High wire young ones in August
High wire young ones in August

P1080953

Algarve, Portugal, Responsible Tourism, Walks

A walk around the fort at Cabanas. Unwelcome Autumn Changes.

18 Comments

Some of my gloom in this ‘post truth’ world was not just the cloudy autumn weather in Cabanas,  Portugal but the very intimidating fence put up to prevent locals and visitors from walking along the small cliffs at the end of the Cabanas broad walk. It took some time and discussions with some exploration to find out about this no access fence.

These are photos I found from a sunny January a few years back where there had been open access and an established path along the cliff, around the fort and down to the far end off the beach by the majestic old pine trees. We have always enjoyed taking friends along this route too. It is part of the natural beauty at the edge of eastern Cabanas.

Along the Ria Formosa it is designated a nature reserve and national park but the edges along the cliffs do seem to be privately owned. We ventured cautiously along the fence and the cliff edge and came to more space in front of the fort. Here it was the path again but just past the fort there was a fence with big signs up again restricting the route along the top path by the pines.
At the end of the pines there is a route down to the beach area of the river lagoon and another leading back past a farmhouse. No one tends to use that path as there is a farm building and barking big dogs at the end of it! It seems it is the owner of this land who after many many years and at least 15yearsmfor us being in Cabanas, has decided to assert his territorial rights. There have been public meetings in Cabanas and there are also rights of access paths. Sadly, battle lines seem to be being drawn.


We walked by the prickly pear border and the fort and met the manager from the fort. The Cabanas fort has been renovated inside and is a delightful place to stay. We were shown around and I would recommend it as a holiday. The owner has a passion for these old buildings and it has been lovingly restored and the visitor rooms are in keeping but modern. It is also a safe place inside for children to play and have adventures.


As you walk out from the fort there is a way back along the road and back to the board walk. Here there are still the signs of the changes in Cabanas. A little old and neglected traditional house is still there. And behind it are the new but unfinished and unsold developments of a garden village. A swimming pool facility and garden was also supposed to be built. The scrub land provides some opportunities for the wildlife. This is also part of the Eco bike route from Tavira. It is worth walking or cycling from Tavira to Cabanas on this route. It then goes up and back to the main road and then back down to the coast to the charming old village of Cacela Velha.
It is also possible to walk along the beach but the closed path does mean you could get cut off when the tide is high. It seems there are some resolutions in place for this ugly and divisive fence to be moved back a bit to return access to the path in front of the Cabanas fort.

It seems a pity that the coastal cliff path has been broken up by landowners wishing to fence off to the cliff edge. Further up from the fort there are some developments with portocabins and fences to the cliff edge. It is near here that I once stood for ages watching a hoopoe preen itself. The natural world has to cope with the challenges of development, irresponsible tourism, our lovely dogs unleashed also can disturb birds and other creatures too. And the rubbish we leave behind.

Could this cliff path ever become a nature trail? Could it be looked after by conservationists and respected by walkers,dog owners, cyclists? The beach below is protected but the cliff edge awaits exploitation of varying kinds.
I have just experienced a very different kind of fence at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire in the UK and a triumph for the conservation of grey seals on the mudflats of the Humber estuary.
That’s for the next post as I arise from the gloom of wintry weather and political uncertainties for the planet. I have focused a lot of time on revising my novel and the chestnut harvest from our very fruitful old trees at Navasola.

Portugal, Responsible Tourism, The Azores, Tourism

Faial and Pico. Volcanic island Vacations

20 Comments

To arrive on the island of Faial in the Azores archipelago of nine islands you have to fly or take a very long boat ride.The low carbon emission way would be to sail there. For a land lubber like me who suffers from sea sickness it’s not an option. For those who live on the islands aeroplanes have brought prosperity and may just have halted total environmental degradation of the islands. Ironic , perhaps but tourism is now both important for the economy and for the natural protections needed. Marine research is also based here.

Ahh, there we are. Pico's peak. All in a cloud change.
Ahh, there we are. Pico’s peak. All in a cloud change.

Whale watching instead of whale hunting brings a different kind of work.  EU support for restoration of biodiversity has also brought an end to the total decline of the very special island flora and fauna. It’s a fascinating place for botanists, marine biologists, and all those who love the sea, islands and the power of nature. To be honest, nature needs us to visit and help nurture all these projects as well as the people on these far off islands.

In the mid Atlantic these islands have  been formed from activity deep within the earth along the tectonic plates of the American and European continents. The last volcanic eruption on Faial was in 1958 and there was an earthquake in 1998 which caused damage. On our first full day on Faial and staying in the main town and trans Atlantic sailing harbour of Horta we were taken on a tour of the island by Alda from a local travel firm. As we had not hired a car we took a tour with her. She had grown up in the valley of Flamengos and showed us the local church that had been finally rebuilt after the earthquake. Her mother remembered the volcanic explosions in 1958. We visited the new volcanic land of Capellinos with her.

We also met an American Azorean whose family had left because of the destruction of their town on the North West of the island. His father had hunted whales and it had been the main industry there. 50 years or more later, his son, who was two when the volcano erupted,has returned. He helps tourists understand some of the many innovative projects that have been a part of Faial’s history; such as the transatlantic cables laid down across the ocean.

Tiles in memory of the victims of the Capelinhos volcanic eruption.
Tiles in memory of the victims of the Capelinhos volcanic eruption.

The capital Horta has been a very cosmopolitan place and welcoming port. Sailing and Peter’s cafe are part of the maritime history as well as the whaling museums of the whale hunting past.

A sailing tradition for good luck before sailing on from Horta. Paintings of boats are all over the harbour walls and floors.
A sailing tradition for good luck before sailing on from Horta. Paintings of boats are all over the harbour walls and floors.

The colonisation of these islands by the Portuguese navigators and explorers means that we were welcomed to Europe on one of its furthest points west. For me the islands are a microcosm of our recent colonial histories. All nine islands were discovered by the Portuguese from the 1400s. All were forested and had probably been undisturbed for millenia.

The birds, wind and sea had brought plant and other forms of life to these islands. Human beings brought axes and civilisation.The native forests were cut back and the rich brought exotic plants such as hydrangeas which were used as new hedges. Many types of farming have been tried.

Individual vegetable plots with high hedges to protect plants from the sea salt and wind.
Individual vegetable plots with high hedges to protect plants from the sea salt and wind.

Park in Horta with enmic Draco tree in background and the ubiquitous introduced hydrangea. Blue on iron filled soil.
Park in Horta with endemic Draco tree in background and the ubiquitous introduced hydrangea. Blue on iron filled soil.

Monoculture farming has had and is having its impact. There have been orange plantations but a disease destroyed those and at present it is mainly dairy! There have been changes and for many of the islands it has been tough surviving in these island paradises. But it has also been tough on the unique plants and creatures that first inhabited these islands and evolved here.

Imported Cow culture under endemic juniper tree .Each island produces tasty cheese for export.
Imported Cow culture under endemic juniper tree .Each island produces tasty cheese for export.

Can responsible tourism help restore the biodiversity and be sustainable? I think those who live on the islands would welcome this. Certainly we found everyone there very welcoming.

I shall try and create a series of posts about our trip to Faial and link in with our visit to San Miguel from last January . It was certainly a very welcome break and the beauty of Pico and Faial haunt us. We would like to return.

Andalucia, France, Responsible Tourism, Spain, Travel writing

The Journey. From one home to another through France, Basque Country, Extremadura to the Sierra Aracena, Andalucia.

8 Comments

With a long road trip ahead of us and the car laden with stuff to take, including all the wood carving tools given to me because of the sad closure of Heston Woodcarving Club, I was just a little bit anxious that our old car would make it. I was also sad to leave London, and all our family and friends but was also missing our little hidden valley in the South of Spain. Almost 2000km between us. I feel split between two worlds but am fortunate to have that choice.

Travelling through the green of France made me really think France could feed the world. So much agricultural land and such an industry with tractor factories all over the place too! Later I read that France was going to pass a law about waste food in supermarkets. Ironic and sad in a time of food banks for many.We had decided to go on roads without tolls and although a bit slower it was much more interesting and gave me more of an insight into being in France. Hopefully, it was also more fuel efficient and would save at least 100 euros in tolls.
I know Northern France quite well and am always amazed by its peacefulness as we used to take school trips to the World War 1 battlefield sites: Vimy Ridge and Beaumont Hamel, the Canadian sites are both historic and a reminder of a Europe torn and devastated by war, a hundred years ago. We passed to the south of some of these but did pass some graves still immaculately kept in small villages. These places are an important reminder of those who fought and of how now we need to continue to fight for a better world for humans and all species to live in. So many died so young and of a similar age to my 17 and 18 year old A Level students. So we travelled through minor roads near the Somme and even further back in time to Agincourt and finally came to the land of the rich. We stayed at Chateaudun, just south of Chartres. Here is supposed to be the first chateau to be found when coming from Paris to the Loire region, famous for all its chateaux along the river. Holiday homes for the rich. And then the revolution and the French love of Egalite, Fraternite,Liberte and all things French, like good food and wine. On the good food and keeping the French language French, there are some popular eating places such as Macdonalds and Buffalo grill which seem to be doing well as fast food chains, though along with Flunch, a cheap way to self service French dining. We enjoy finding Flunch and can easily even share a meal there!

By the small Loir in Northern France.
By the small Loir in Northern France.

Chateau by Loir, without an e.
Chateau by Loir, without an e.

image
Tree lined road of planes near Dax in South West France.

image
A not so narrow road but well used by the big trucks avoiding tolls.

image
The only way to go in France, by bike!

image
The only traffic jam on all the N roads but with a view of the Pyrenees, near Spanish and French border.

The journey through the Basque Country of Spain was beautiful and there are now some amazing roads but the Spanish do charge on these new super highways with major long tunnels through the mountains. The amount of road trucking transport is phenomenal. It is times like this that I do wonder how all this will have to change and hope that by reading Naomi Klein’s book ‘This Changes Everything’ a bit more I can get some insight. It seems to me from the book that there is too much control and investment in the fossil fuels industries which has slowed down the technologies we could all be changing to now. Will these be the giants like the dinosaurs bringing us and other species closer and closer to extinction. Or will it be me, one little ant with a lot of emissions. Could I have been driving a solar powered car? Well, certainly the sun shone most of the way this time!
We then stopped in Salamanca, always worthy of a return visit and always something new to see.mthis time it was the historic Paza Mayor,made all the more interesting by a political demonstration by the new found voice of local people. Ganemos in some way connected to Podemos, the fast growing alternative to the big two party system that has run the show for so long in Spain.

image
Near Monfrague national park. Time to look out for vultures.

image
Long roads through hot and dry Extremadura.

image
The sandy track through the abandoned chestnut fields.

image
Inside Navasola and down my magical track!

Wild gladioli outside the gate to Navasola
Wild gladioli outside the gate to Navasola

Finally home in our hidden green valley. And was it green. I had worried more about lack of but had been told it was often raining in April! I had to rejoined ice in the exuberance of the wild things growing or despair as my vegetable area was covered in all types of grasses and vetches.some time will need to be spent finding the beans and fruit bushes. Time will also have to be spent in looking at all the wild flowers. There are so many will keep me busy for months but suspect they will not last into the heat of late June.

The journey without tolls was from Dunkirk to Chateuadun to Dax. (with some help from the AA non toll maps.)Dax to Irun and then we chose the highways to Salamanca,mfinally paying a toll near Burgos of 27 euros. We have done this section without tolls but the new autoroute is quite spectacular.

conservation, Responsible Tourism

Summer sun and sand in September. Conservation of Spanish sand dune coastline

3 Comments

Umbrella pines on the sand dunes.
Umbrella pines on the sand dunes.

Now that the summer seems to be really over and cool Autumn mornings have settled in here are a few photos of our short break at the beginning of September in Punta Umbria, Huelva in Spain. We were lucky to stay near the restored sand dunes and the natural beauty before getting onto the beach was an inspiration. There are many ways to have a beach holiday but the best must be when the beaches and habitats nearby are  full of natural beauty and not Costa Concreto. Along this stretch of  long sandy beach the sand dunes, flora and habitats are being restored.  Los Enebrales is the name of the type of Juniper found on the dunes.  This area of Spain is well known by the locals but this year did not have such a good turn out of  other tourists. It is near some very important conservation on sites such as the Marismas del Odiel and The Parque Donana.  Well worth combining the birds and the beaches! The future of habitats such as this is in our hands if we demand really responsible and sustainable tourism.

image image image