Aigüamolls de L'Empordà, Spain

Hola!

In early March a friend and I had a short break in Catalonia, in the north of Spain.  We stayed with my friend's daughter and one day she kindly took us to Aigüamolls de L'Empordà at Cortalet, a super reserve with reed beds, lakes and meadows near the coast. It has a visitor centre, plenty of parking, a picnic area, well maintained level pathways and several hides and viewing platforms.  If you are going to northern Spain for your holidays it is well worth a visit and there are other reserves to explore in the region too with various habitats.  An added bonus on this particular day was that the sun was shining and it felt like a summers day.  We didn't even need coats which was a treat for us English girls!

The many birds seen included white storks, flamingos, little grebes, shovellers, teal, three types of egret (little, cattle and great white), willow warblers and chiffchaffs.  The storks were very noisy with lots of beak clacking and were busy nest building and so forth!

We saw lots of butterflies including holly blue, red admiral, green veined white and speckled wood which is more colourful than ours, having orange markings rather than cream.  The wild flowers and blossoming trees were a joy to behold and we saw several types of orchid including giant orchid, Barlia robertiana.  Other wildlife inclueded turtles basking in the sun and deer hiding in the undergrowth at the edge of a pool.

We are looking forward to another trip in July and I'll tell you all about it when we get back.

Best wishes,

SB