Picos de Europa:
a naturalist's paradise - part 1

The Picos de Europa is a small but spectacular range of jagged limestone mountains in northern Spain, harbouring an incredibly diverse flora and fauna.

The Picos de Europa is one of those rare places in Europe today that combines magnificent scenery, a thriving rural economy and an enormous range of flora Ándara: the eastern massif of the
Picos de Europa © Teresa Farino and fauna, the traditional methods of livestock farming practised here allowing wildlife to flourish alongside mankind. A veritable pincushion of knife-edged ridges and pinnacles - the heritage of localised glacial activity and ongoing Bee Orchid
Ophrys apifera © Teresa Farino karstification - peaks at 2,648m (Torre Cerredo) and is split into three distinct massifs by precipitous gorges.

In part a parque nacional of 64,660ha, the Picos de Europa houses more than 1,400 species of vascular plant, 70-odd mammals and 154 butterflies, such that even a brief visit in early summer will make a lasting impression. In addition, the Picos de Europa supports healthy raptor populations, harbouring around 130 pairs of griffon vulture (plus numerous immature birds: a total of around 400 individuals), as well as several pairs of Egyptian. The eagles are represented by golden, short-toed and booted, the latter two in fair numbers throughout, while honey buzzard, goshawk and sparrowhawk are all common in forested areas. Breeding black kites are particularly abundant in Cabrales, hobbies occur in the drier habitats around Potes and peregrines are Griffon Vulture
Gyps fulvus © Kola Produkties regularly seen preying on choughs around Fuente Dé.

From May to early July, the haymeadows of the Picos de Europa are simply glorious: some of the richest temperate grasslands in the world, literally teeming with orchids and butterflies. Add to this the faunal and floral delights of the alpine rockgardens and the diversity of woodland types in the surrounding valleys - ranging from Mediterranean evergreen forests to cool, humid swathes of beech and sessile oak, from mixed deciduous canopies of ash, wych elm and small-leaved lime to extensive tracts of Pyrenean oak - and you have the recipe for the perfect natural history holiday.