Birdwatching Portugal & Spain Tour - 5 Days

Arrival at the airport / station / meeting point and transfer to the hotel in the Sierra de Aracena. Depending on the schedule, you can make stops along the way for bird watching in the countryside and the beautiful town of Zufre. Accommodation and dinner followed by a presentation about the trip.

It is time to stretch your legs and take advantage of one of the many walking itineraries that the Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park offers us, a true paradise for hiking lovers. Depending on the time of year, we can start by visiting the castle of Aracena, in whose ruins some wintering birds take refuge.

In addition, the hill where the castle sits is a watchtower that allows us to enjoy beautiful views and scan the sky to observe the awakening of the first raptors. Afterwards, our walk continues along one of the centenary trails that start from Aracena, in this case towards the town of Corteconcepción along the 4.4-kilometer El Tornero road that will allow us to travel through a great diversity of landscapes; from holm and cork oak forests, to chestnut and olive trees and fruit orchards, passing through some stretches of riverside vegetation associated with the nearby Fuente del Rey stream.

Today we cross the border to visit the ZEPA of Moura and Barrancos. This site presents a mosaic of open-zone habitats with extensive cereal fields, meadows and mountains of holm oaks (Quercus ilex) and cork oaks (Quercus suber). Of the water courses, among which the Ardila River stands out, they have margins with riverside vegetation and some rocky outcrops. Sheep and cattle grazing abounds, and there are relatively small properties with olive groves and vineyards in scattered populations.

In the morning, we visit the Noudar Nature Park, where a vegetation cover is maintained close to what would be original, as if there had never been any human intervention. They are rich, steep and difficult forests, which still keep Noudar's greatest secret. The richness and diversity of this territory results from its geographic isolation, low human density and because it is located in a transition zone between Spain where the landscape of the Sierra Morena and the vast fields of the Alentejo plain mark the landscape. Stop for lunch in Barrancos.

In the afternoon we will visit Herdade da Contenda, a public estate with restricted access where a local guide will accompany us. In this place there are more than a hundred species of birds inventoried, being an important area especially for many birds of prey, with an emphasis on vultures and large eagles. Transfer to accommodation and dinner.

On our last day in Portugal, the day begins with a visit to the Guadiana Valley Natural Park, a protected area characterized by flat terrain where the vegetation cover is dominated by holm oak meadows and extensive areas of scrub and rainfed crops in which The inlaid valleys of the Guadiana and its tributaries are hidden, with a great diversity of small forest birds and cereal fields.

After lunch we visit the Castro Verde Biosphere Reserve, classified by UNESCO for the values ​​resulting from the harmonious relationship between man and nature, whose historical process of evolution of the occupation and use of the land has created an agroecosystem of high conservation value. Among the extraordinary biodiversity that occurs here, a structured and diversified bird community stands out, with around 200 species, where the emblematic steppe birds stand out.

It's goodbye, but if the departure time allows it, we could visit some other point of interest back to Seville, such as the Aracena reservoir. The Valle de las Buervas, the place where this artificial wetland was created, is of great interest to birds.