Main ecosystems

1. Rivers, Reservoirs and Ponds 

In an area where the summers can be really harsh, the presence of places where fauna and cattle ensure their water needs, enrich notably the landscapes. Valdeazogues and Alcudia rivers and Castilseras and Peña del Gato reservoirs are two of these places.

In almost any place of these calm waters, we will find the vestiges of the otters (their footprints and droppings). Egrets and Herons can also be observed, and it is usual to see them going up and down the river into small groups. Some nooks and crannies of these waters have secrets, some are the resting place of the Black Storks in their migratory journeys, others are backwaters where water lilies can be discovered, a native species from Castilseras, only found in some points of the Guadiana basin. This magic places will make us feel as if we were in tropical rivers.

In many places, the meadow gets close to the water, but almost everywhere riverbanks are covered by reeds, canes and bulrushes and the fluvial groves is formed by ash-trees, willows, poplars and tamarisks.

There is a part of the fauna that is linked more closely to the water, as they need to be able to lay their eggs: these are the amphibians.

There are several species that can be seen: the Natterjack Toad  (Epidalea calamita), the Perez´s  Frog (Pelophylax perezi), the Iberian Common Toad (Bufo spinosus), the Newt (Pleurodeles waltl), the Iberian Spadefoot Toad  Toad (Pelobates cultripes), the Iberian Midwife Toad (Alytes cisternasii), the Mediterranean Tree Frog  (Hyla meridionalis)…

2. Rocks and Cliffs

The reliefs of the mountains are mainly formed by quartzite, old sedimentary materials of ancient seas (over 400 million years), than in the later geological eras were raised and transformed into what is seen today. We can also find old volcanic materials (the most famous is the one that establish the mining area of Almadén). The lower parts of the mountains are made mostly from sedimentary materials of the degradation of old and distant layers, similar to the ones that form  the areas of sandstone and conglomerate.

The most abrupt areas of rocks and cliffs are used by a bird life specialists in these high rugged geography, from the Black Wheatear, the Blue Rock Thrush, the Rock Bunting, the Eurasian Crag Martin and the Alpine Swift.

The more inaccessible places are privileged nesting for species as striking as the Golden Eagle, the Bonelli’s Eagle, the Peregrine Falcon, the Egyptian Vulture, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl and the Griffon Vulture.

The large rocks are also observation points or resting areas for those birds. This fact makes well worth scrutinizing these areas from a distance.

Some hillsides, especially sunny ones, are areas to camp for one of the more specialized feeding eagles in Europe, the Short-toed Snake Eagle, that only eats snakes and lizards. Sometimes, we can observe this big eagle, looking almost white from below, suspended in the air thanks to its acrobatic flight capability that allows him to stay almost still in the sky.

3. The Dehesa

The Dehesa is one of the most characteristic landscapes of Castilseras, an ecological jewel that we can only find in the Iberian Peninsula all around Europe.

The Dehesa are the equivalent of the African Savannas, where instead of herds of antelopes, zebras and wildebeests, we have mainly sheep, cows and deers.

The Dehesa is the cleared part of the Holm-oak wood. There are places where the oaks, cork trees and gall oaks form closed masses. The natural evolution of these original forests makes larger trees to cause shadow where it will be very difficult to grow seedlings of the same species.

This clearing part of the wood of oaks, provoked by the own oaks, is increased by the action of the large herbivores.

The Dehesa is currently a landscape that we associate to cattle, but in ancient times, when no human had walked these lands, old grazers ( buffaloes, antelopes, rhinoceroses, elephants…) formed a very similar landscape to the current dehesa.

Because of their exceptional situation, Dehesa de Castilseras provide with pasture and acorns to livestock. Deers, fallow deers and wild boars take advantage of these pastures and acorns.

Traditionally, the dehesa in the south of Ciudad Real were the meeting point and winter supplying of large herds of north of Castilla, to where they escaped from the winter harshness from further north.

4. The cereal crops

Weather conditions, especially the rainfall and temperatures, make the crops in this area mostly dry-farming crops, particularly cereals and some legumes used for forage for livestock.

These open agricultural landscapes constitute what in recent years has come to be called Pseudo-Steppes, now that all the ecological effects of associated species, especially birds, behave like natural steppes.  Birds linked to these environments are Black-Bellied Sandgrouses,  Montagu´s Harriers, and Larks (Skylarks, Tekla Larks, Calandra Larks).