La Breña y Marismas de Barbate

Fauna and flora

Possibly Pinar de la Breña is the most important formation. This impressive forest alternates stone and Aleppo pines, together with small woods of junipers and a scrubland which varies according to wind exposure. Clinging onto the vertical walls are bramble and fig trees and a plant population typical of saline environments. In the gorge's gaps breed many birds, as cattle egrets, jackdaws or peregrine falcons, with birds of prey flying above, among the ospreys and common kestrels. But the birds multiply in marshes and lakes, because it is area of nesting and migrating with presence of mallards, coots, grey herons or Eurasian cranes, the last remaining nesting population in southern Europe. When the course transforms into steppe, the presence of the tawny pipit can be highlighted, a rare bird in this habitat. Other fauna are the presence of otters and other carnivores as badger and stag, sheltered in the forest that surrounds a wetland where reptiles and amphibians are still found. Among the sea population, worth mentioning are the existence of molluscs, as the dwarf winkle and limpet, and a wide range of species.