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Flora & Fauna (II)
In the marsh two extreme ecosystems or habitats can be distinguished:
a dry Doñana or dry marsh, situated in high areas, which show a predominance of woodland masses of cork oak,
strawberry tree, Mediterranean scrub (white rockrose), stone pine, common juniper, savin juniper and wild olive,
and which grow on the so-called "monte blanco" ("white" common, so called because it is dry);
and a wet Doñana or flooded marsh, situated in deeper areas, which presents to the sight predominant species such
as the alkali bulrush, pond water-crowfoot, common reed, common club-rush and other species, distributed according
to the diverse physical and chemical factors of the place, and occupying the so-called "monte negro" ("black"
common, referring to the wetness).
Here, throughout a large part of this Mediterranean woodland, survives the threatened Iberian lynx, which is
emblematic of Doñana. This place - well populated by birds of prey - is also one of the last sites where the
Spanish imperial eagle can take refuge. Moreover, we can observe the short-toed eagle, regarded as a specialist
hunter, sharing the pine and cork oak trees with the marsh harrier, the booted eagle, the barn owl, the black
and red kites, the griffon vulture and the Eurasian eagle-owl; and, fairly frequently, one can catch a glimpse
of hares, badgers, wild boars, ichneumons, polecats, weasels, wildcats and roe deer - together with fallow deer
bucks, which in autumn fill the woods with their roaring and lowing; and red deer stags, which likewise bellow in
their own particular way.
But if there's one place which stands out from the rest for its great ecological wealth, it's the line where the
sands of the forest reserves and the dunes meet the clayey soil of the marsh, known as "La Vera", which is
regarded as the boundary or transitional zone between two ecosystems (the Mediterranean woodland and the marsh)
and where species from one and the other intermingle. It's impressive for its great diversity of fauna: red and
fallow deer, wild boars, cows and marsh mares. Here in spring it's amazing just how teeming with bird life the
old cork oaks can be - so much so that they're known as Doñana's "open aviaries" (pajareras). In the topmost
branches of the trees, the birds form colonies according to their genealogical branches: egrets, herons, spatulas,
night herons, storks, avocets and booted eagles. Here, the day is filled with the clamouring of the chicks in
the nests asking for their food, and the coming and going of their parents. And when the trees reach a venerable
old age, and their lower branches break off, the opportunity to set up home in the hollows in their trunks is
seized by the lynx, the genet, the garden dormouse, the European rabbit and the Western curly-tailed lizard; the
occasional fox may even lie in wait beneath the tree on the off chance that one of the chicks might fall out of
the branches.
And in the ecosystem of dunes and beaches there are 32 kilometres of virgin beach within the National Park - which
is another of the most changing landscapes, where the buffeting of the wind from the south west, according to the
time of year, is the leading actor on nature's stage. As the dunes run from the Atlantic coast inland, they form,
grow, change and advance. This is Doñana's shifting dune system.
The remains of crustaceans, cetaceans, molluscs, etc. which accumulate on the beach attract gulls, terns and
other individuals with cute movements such as dunlins, whimbrels and ringed plovers, in addition to the occasional
fringe-fingered lizard; and, further away from the water, there grow marine plant species such as sea rockets,
small cordgrasses, Portuguese crowberries, prickly thrifts and sand stocks, which are small obstacles to the wind
and will gradually give rise to larger build-ups of sand. This is the process which forms the so-called "trenes
de dunas" (dune trains) - or sandbars - which, as they advance, steadily bowl over and destroy the trees and other
vegetation which they find in their path. Some pine and juniper trees survive and will put down roots again after
the dunes have passed over them - and, until the next dune train arrives, years or decades later, in between two
dune fronts "corrals" will form; in these, scrub and pine woods will grow, only to eventually succumb to the sands
after being slowly smothered. These pine trees fossilized by the sand are known as "Doñana crosses", and are the
foremost feature in one of the strangest and most characteristic landscapes of these parts.
Outside the park, in some areas of the beach, one can come across signs of some shellfish-harvesters and fisher
folk who live in the place, as well as the remains of some beacon towers, called "almenaras", from the 16th
century (they were planned during the reign of Felipe II, but built under Felipe III and Felipe IV). They
served as an early-warning system to guard against Turkish boat crews and Barbary pirates raiding the coastal
settlements. These remains of towers which the sea has not yet managed to swallow up by now, serve as a place
for the robust and corpulent female peregrine falcon to lay her eggs and raise her brood.
Out of Doñana's 70 km of coastline, over 50 km are Atlantic beach, and they stretch from the mouth of the River
Guadalquivir to the Huelva Estuary. Of this 50 km, over 30 km are virgin beach with fine white sand.
Throughout the length and breadth of this stretch of beach there is an abundance of fish, molluscs, crustaceans,
seagulls, oystercatchers, whimbrels, stints, terns, plovers...
The configuration of this wonderful, radiantly-lit landscape is marked by the ocean's action as it continuously
washes up sand, which the prevailing wind from the south west then blows inland together with a share of the
vegetation. All this takes place within an intensely dynamic process that incessantly modifies the profile of
the beaches, giving rise to the shifting dune system.
Hence, Doñana's coast is in constant motion. The dunes and sandbars created by the continuous washing up of
sand from the sea bed, which initially gave rise to numerous small islands that gradually joined to form bigger
ones, began, six thousand years ago, to close off the former estuary of the River Guadalquivir, thus forming the
Ligustino Lake (called Lago Ligur by the Romans), which - from the 4th Century onwards - was progressively silted
up until it became a marsh.
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