The cirque of Rincon de Balsera

Explored the remote Ibon de la Sierra and was rewarded with great views and wildlife including a lammergeier, chamois, kestrels and my first marmots of the season.

It’s an area of the Valle de Tena that I’d wanted to hike in for ages but never seemed to get round to it. It’s a long walk in but really worth it as you get to some really wild valleys lying under the imposing peak of Punta Escarra.

Stemless Gentians - one of my favourite early flowers

The weather’s been beatiful the last couple of weeks and the spring flowers are really starting to come out. Saw my first orchids of the season – elder flowered orchids. These come in both yellow and purple but both are the same species and can be seen in their thousands in June. In sunnier spots gentians were out too – mainly spring gentians but a couple of patches of lovely stemless gentians.Where the snow had recently melted a few alpine snowbells were coming out too – these are fantastically delicate and spring out of the ground as soon as the snow cover has gone.

Alpine snowbell

The marmots have come out of hibernation and I heard lots of warning whistles and saw plenty of them grazing on the fresh grass.

My first marmot of the season

Also saw a group of Chamois – one of which posed silhouetted on a small peak nearby.

Chamois posing on a ridge

When I got to Ibon de Sierra I was quite surprised to find it covered in ice which was a bit surreal as I was hiking in sorts and t-shirts. I was even more surprised to see several fully grown frogs swimming under the ice – they must survive all winter under there.

Ibon de la Sierra

The wildlife highlight of the day was a lammergeier flying close overhead. I could really see it’s colours and get an idea of it’s huge wingspan (which can be over 2.5 metres). Its always a delight to see these vultures.

Great day out and a good new area discovered that I’m sure I’ll be visiting again this summer.

A Griffon Vulture (Gyps Fulvas) flying close overhead

March 8th is women´s day in Spain and we celebrated by taking a relaxing walk in the snow. Along our trail we saw Griffon Vultures, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Red Kites and pine processionary caterpillar nests.

After all the wind and snow we´ve had recently here in the mountains we were happy to wake up on Sunday morning to bright sunshine. So Phil suggested we go snow shoeing.  We packed a small bag with a picnic, flask and plenty of suncream and jumped into our recently Spanish registered right-hand drive car. We put the cats out the window (it´s OK we live on the ground floor) and headed off up the small winding road towards Aso de Sobremonte a couple of kilometres from Biescas. Half way up the road the trail is marked to the right. 

The trail was blocked by snow so we tucked the car in off the road and headed off on our snow shoes. We walked along a wide sun-dappled, snow covered track lined with scots pine and beech trees. We found various tracks probably from deer, wild boar and fox. Overhead we stopped to watch a passing group of griffon vultures take advantage of today´s thermals and a large group of red kites circling high above us.  We were lucky enough to snap some rather energetic great tits and long-tailed tits flitting from tree to tree. Some reptiles were emerging from their slumber, warming themselves slowly under the suns rays.  

We had our lunch perched on a rock that had fallen into the path which gave us great views down the valley to the sierra de guarra in the south and over the tendeñera to the north.

Views of the Sierra de Tendenera

There were lots of great tits in the woods that we were walking through