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 […]
Archive | Autumn
Autumn in Doñana
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 […]
Small migratory beauties
At this time of year, for a few weeks, we can enjoy in our forests and marshes the presence of a large number of very graceful and delicate and often very bright colored little birds, which visit us in their annual migration. They spend the spring in northern Europe, where they breed, but when […]
The beast among the leaf litter
The larva of our largest ant lion, the palpares hispanus, is an insect in the order of neuroptera, whose adult is very reminiscent of dragonflies, although it does not show their flight abilities. Its four narrow and elongated wings propel it slowly and awkwardly and are folded along its abdomen when they are at rest […]
Autumn pictures of Doñana
Below you will find some of the photos we have taken over the last few weeks during our tours to the forests and marshes in the north of the Doñana National Park. We normally start in the Coto del Rey pine forests where we try to spot our iberian lynx and get it some days. […]
Sea onion, a miracle of nature
The sea onion (drimia maritima) is the first flower that decorates our meadows just before the arrival of autumn; this survivor to extreme conditions dares everything and opens her precious spikes of white flowers defying the heat of September, breaking with her beauty the beastly austerity of summer landscapes. From among the dry meadows in the pine forest, […]
Stork whirls
Thousands of storks concentrate these days at Dehesa de Abajo Lagoon, it is a must see place in the Doñana area. Apart from that, flamingos, spoonbills, avocests, stilts, godwits, glossy ibis and other waders and several species of ducks can be found there. Among then we counted up to 10 marbled ducks. Storks rose in […]
From dawn til dusk
A whole day watching birds I met Robin, Richard and Ed, three keen American birdwatchers, just before sunrise at their hotel in El Rocío with the intention to spend the whole day birdwatching in the Doñana area. Just after leaving the hotel we had just light enough to see a couple of penduline tit, several […]
The European Far West
As expected, we’re having a beautiful spring in Doñana after the abundant winter rains. It came later than usual and we can see that clear now especially in regard to insects and reptiles that are not yet as abundant as normally this time of year. Only now is increasing the number of butterflies, dragonflies and […]