Adventures and information on the Spanish Pyrenees
Adventures and information on the Spanish Pyrenees
The wallcreeper, with its bright scarlet wing patches, is one of the Pyrenees most famous birds and prized sighting for ornithologists. It’s being celebrated as the ‘Bird of 2025’ by SEO/Birdlife to highlight the dangers it faces and why this small bird is so special.
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...
Peña Oroel at 1769m stands just outside Jaca and it’s cliffs are home to dozens of Griffon vultures. Being slightly south of the main chain means that you get fantastic views across a vast number of peaks. In fact Aneto, Possets and Perdido – the three...
The Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) once roamed over most of Spain but has recently had the unfortunate label of the world’s most endangered feline. Numbers began falling at the start of the 20th century but in the last few decades numbers have fallen dramatically from...
The walking season is in full swing here in the Pyrenees and we’ve had a couple of great walking holidays already this June with a Lakes & Valleys and a Discover Ordesa walking holidays. We’ve had some fantastic hikes visiting high alpine pastures,...
Yesterday evening I went climbing at a venue called Coll de Ladrones north of Jaca near the French border. There has been a fort there since 1751 and before climbing I went for a bit of an explore. The original fort was built to defend the pass from France and had a...
La Cuniacha animal park near Piedrafita welcomed 3 new Lynx cubs this spring. Apparently they were born very early and the park wardens are concerned that they won’t make it through any cold spells. Keeping my fingers crossed for them as they look incredibly...
Thanks to Len, Phil, Julian, Peter, Alan and Trevor – our first guests of the summer. They walked a new village to village itinerary staying each night in different villages in the Valle de Tena. Hope you had a great week guys. Bit unseasonly cold at the...
I find Blacks Nature Guides really useful. Good mix of an identification fieldguide with interesting information about each species too. Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe covers most of the species we find here in the Pyrenees although misses some of the Pyrenean...
The mountains of the Valle de Tena are looking beautiful and bursting into life. Spring gentians, trumpet gentians and elder flowered orchids are covering the sunnier meadows around Ibon de Piedrafita and above the village of Sandinies. Elder flowered orchids...