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Author Archive | José Antonio Sánchez Iglesias

Yellow carpet of crucifers under the wild olive trees

Spring like winter in Doñana

This spring like winter brings changes to Doñana. The nature of our park does its best to adapt to the changing and unusual weather conditions. Plants and animals of the park try to find the best way to complete their biological cycles in an environment that is transforming very quickly, mainly due to the consequences that man’s actions have […]

Sunset at the marshes

Nature 4×4 tours in Doñana National Park

If you want to have a true and satisfying experience in nature, what you need is one of our nature 4×4 tours in the Doñana National Park. Doñana is one of the last wild and undisturbed areas in Europe and is home to a wide variety of ecosystems and species. From the beaches and dunes in the […]

Pinar al amanecer con el cielo azul y el suelo verde

Green Doñana

The autumn rains have brought back the green Doñana. After the long dry season, where everything turns yellow and ocher, rain transform the landscapes very quickly. Seeds of a wide variety of plants, which have been dormant since last spring, or even for several years, waiting for favorable conditions, suddenly germinate. The meadows in the forest […]

a herd of red deer

Doñana in Christmas

Come to visit Doñana in Christmas. The Doñana National Park and its region offer you an unparalleled natural environment, a very rich gastronomy, dreamlike landscapes and a wide range of hotels. Doñana is also a perfect option to spend a few quiet days with your family or friends and enjoy activities such as 4×4 tours, wildlife observation, […]

Pair of bee-eaters

Bee-eaters, have you seen them passing?

Like every year, there are tens of different species of birds that come back from Africa at the end of their wintering season to breed in Europe. From the giant griffon vultures, to the tiny willow warblers, thousands of them fly every day over our forests, countryside and cities. The vast majority of them go unnoticed to most of us, but […]

El Rocio Sanctuary with flamingos and horses

Good nature experiences in June

That Doñana is not going through its best moments is an evidence for everyone; that the last few years have not been good and the marsh has not been flooded properly seems clear; that our emblematic national park is threatened by multiple problems is not something new, it has been like that since its creation and for […]

Barcaza de Sanlúcar de Barrameda

Ferry Sanlúcar de Barrameda

The company Cristobal Anillo is in charge, in addition to other services, of offering transportation for tourists and workers across the Guadalquivir River from Sanlúcar de Barrameda to the beaches of the Doñana National Park. Phone number: +34 956 96 07 66 These are the current prices: There is also a special price for cyclists in summer […]

Sun breaks through the mist in the forest

Doñana, a vital dose of nature

A foggy morning in Doñana ensures that you will always have your camera handy to keep for ever the amazing landscapes that will surely delight your senses. Your eyes rejoices with unusual shapes and colors, your ears with the penetrating sounds of silence, your nose with the intense aromas of the awakening of life in the forest and your soul […]

Road going across the flooded marshes

Doñana in December

At this point in December, we have had normally enough autumn rains for the marshes to be properly flooded and to appear before our eyes like a great expanse of water that continues without an end up to the horizon line. It is not rare to have a rainy, cloudy or windy day but we […]

Harvested rice field full of storks and gulls

Doñana in November

November brings us cooler but sunny days, alternating with gray and rainy ones, that transform Doñana without taking off its beauty but only changing the background of a nice scenery. El Rocío Marshes, which have been flooded by the first rains, attract many birds like flamingos, spoonbills, storks, herons, geese and many species of ducks […]

Greylag geese flock

Doñana in October

Autumn has just started and is now in October when the rainy season usually starts, with them many thousand anatidae, cranes, waders and other wildfowl come to Doñana after a long journey from northern Europe. Among them stand out for their number around 50,000 geese that choose Doñana as their wintering area each year. The almost magical […]

Red deer rutting in the forest

Doñana in September

September is for for all the beginning of a new calendar year in Doñana, especially regarding rain. It is now when we start to count the accumulated rainfall of the year and when we all start wondering how the coming year will go. This is an important question that we face every year, whether we […]

Large flock of flamingos in the marshes

Doñana in July

In July temperatures rise and harden living conditions for all inhabitants of Doñana, including us, humans. With a bit of luck maximum temperatures stay below 30° and without it they may go over 40° El Rocío Marshes often keep some water and turn into one of the most attractive spots in the Park, good numbers of herons, storks, glossy […]

Sunrise light breaking through the pine trees

Sunrise in Doñana

The nature of the Park is revealed in all its splendor at this magical time of day and we, who are fully aware of this, are encouraged to start our nature tours half an hour before sunrise. Today, around 6:30 on the clock, we stop after crossing the Ajolí Bridge to enjoy the melodic songs of several nightingales singing […]

Front of male pintail sandgrouse

Doñana in June

The dry season starts in June. Rain becomes unusual and dry areas begin to dominate over flooded ones in the marshes. Bulrush and tule rush go yellow and in grasslands and meadows the green turns into ochre. In wet years the process is delayed but the unstoppable rise of temperatures will eventually give Doñana its parched […]

Flock of flamingos in flight

Doñana in May

May is Undoubtedly one of the best months of the year for birding in Doñana. The influx of birdwatchers is not as numerous as that in April, temperatures are better and the chance of rain much lower, although you should take in account not to coincide with the celebration of El Rocío Annual Festival, when […]

Cranesbill meadow

Wonders of Doñana in winter

Winter is technically over. Mild temperatures, plenty of sun and shortage of rain are modeling an inusual beginning of the year. Bird migration has already started; good numbers of swallows and martins can be seen flying over El Rocío marshes and pallid swifts are back now in our cities.   Large numbers of flamingos can be seen feeding […]

Purple swamphen in flight

Doñana in February

February is a time of big though gradual changes. Weather conditions are again of vital importance in the calendar of events. It is an interesting time of year because it usually offers the opportunity to observe most of wintering species and at the same time provides the first chances to see some of the breeding species back from Africa. […]

Sunrise at El Rocío

Doñana in January

The first barn swallows are back from Africa, what they eat during these first cold weeks in January is a mystery to me because insects are still very scarce. Yet temperatures are usually pleasant compared to northern Spain and northern countries in Europe, and we enjoy abundant sunny days with excellent visibility, ideal to practice nature photography. […]

Snail cluster on a wood fence post

The long nap of the snails

Why do snails cluster in summer on top of plants and fence posts? We will try to explain it to you below. Our land snails are mainly nocturnal, since at night the presence of predators decreases and the environmental conditions are more conducive to them, by significantly increasing the humidity of the environment. During the […]

Female red deer with fawn

Summer in Doñana’s forests and marshes

Summer in Doñana’s forests and marshes also offers rewarding experiences in Nature. When we enter Coto del Rey Pine Woods early in the morning, we always hope to meet one of our Iberian lynxes. When we do, we realize the cubs continue to grow day by day thanks to the loving care of their mothers.Female […]

cano-guadiamar-verano

Recommendations to visit Doñana in summer

The good temperatures and the typical clear skies of summer become the ideal conditions to spend a few days in Doñana, enjoy its beaches and spend some time getting to know the National Park a bit. The Mother of the Marshes, next to the Rocío, normally still keeps a good amount of water in June and offers very good conditions […]

Marsh landscape with a fence and yellow flowers in the background

Yellow marshes

The marshes at El Rocío are a great birding spot these days. A good level of water attracts good number of birds including flamingos, spoonbills, ducks, herons, egrets and waders. A walk along the promenade produce a long list that includes collared pratincole, Savi’s warbler, sand martin, bee-eater, great reed warbler and whiskered tern. Forests […]

Two Kentish plovers on the beach with the sea in the background

Two little plovers at Santa Pura

These are Chiara and Alex, a pair of Kentish plovers. They arrived at Santa Pura Beach in La Antilla (Lepe) a few days ago. They very like did not meet here, but at the nearby Marshes of El Catalán, where they spent last winter. They have already declared their love with peeps and cuddles and now, […]

Flooded marshes with clouds

Doñana in March

Forests and marshes burst into a beautiful symphony of colors as temperatures begin to rise in March. If the winter brought us enough rain, our marshes look with splendour. The green of the bulrushes that covers large parts of it begins to get decorated with lots of white patches of the small floating flowers of the water […]

El Rocio Marshes under a cloudy sky

Hope in difficult times

El Rocío Marshes continue to compose a perfect postcard every day, with the inestimable complicity of the Sanctuary. Both in a morning with skies covered by grey clouds through which the warm rays of the sun sneak in, or under the blue skies of the midday that enliven colors and cheers hearts, Doñana shows optimisms. More swallows and house martins than […]

Group of vultures next to a dead mare

Doñana in August

Summer progresses in August and with it living conditions in the park for animals and plants becomes even harder. Mammal activity concentrates in the first and last hours of the day. The bellowing of the stags can be clearly heard early in the morning, even from El Rocío; in the woods these animals become less […]

Juvenile Spanish Imperial Eagle

Young although amply prepared

In July, an army of young although amply prepared birds colonize the skies, forests and marshes of Doñana. Immature imperial eagles begin their first gliding flights in the vicinity of their birth area. They will still take several months to become independent, so a period of learning and surrounding exploring begins, during which it is not rare to see […]

Familia de somormujo

Busy parents at the end of spring

Temperatures rise, grass wither and the marshes dry out. In the pine forests partridges protect their groups of 8-10-12 little chicks, the yellow rockroses still decorate the cork oak woods and female deer feed their fawns along the marshes edges. In the Hinojos Marshes, small puddles support the last families of black-winged stilts, lapwings and […]

Marshes with white clouds reflected and El Rocio Sanctuary in the background

The beauties of Doñana

Two months later I return to Doñana today. Two months of confinement playing to imagine a Doñana that only the oldest have lived. Anxious, nervous and expectant, this is how I feel when arrive at El Rocío in a cold morning, under a sky covered with high gray clouds. The distant silhouette of the Grazalema Ranges adds […]

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