Del Estrecho

Fauna and flora

The vegetation is conditioned by the winds and a strong and historic human presence. The peaks of the La Plata and San Bartolomé mountains, where the Egyptian vulture, griffon vulture and peregrine falcon fly, offer little vegetation due to the abundance of rocky outcrops, with only the growth of low bushes, grassland and botanical endemisms. In the lower areas, with better soil, there are groves of cork oak, wild olive trees and reforested pine. On the rocky beaches and cliffs, under the influence of winds, marram grass, stone pine, juniper, camarina, sea juniper and many water birds - Kentish plovers, sanderlings and Audouin's gulls. Its sandy seabeds are home to dense meadows of phanerogams, such as sea grass. Further into the sea, where the red and brown seaweed, such as laminaria, form copses, we find marine fauna of great value. In addition to the whales, dolphins, loggerhead turtles, porpoises, tuna and sharks, there are several endemisms present: sponges, jellyfish, molluscs and crustaceans. The fauna increases considerably during the migratory steps to form a festival of life, as thousands of birds up to 300 species cross the Strait of Gibraltar to travel between Europe and Africa: black stork, black vultures, golden eagles, Montagu's harrier,… It is also the route of numerous sea mammals in their journeys between the two salt water masses.