Birding and Nature Trails in Sierra Morena. Andalusia

Right on the westernmost border of the Sierra Morena in Andalusia, onl y one-and-a-half hours from Doñana, lies the vast area called Sierra d e Aracena y Picos de Aroche (Huelva province). Its 300,000 hectares ta ke in several different sorts of Mediterranean landscape, such as rive rs fringed with Oleander and Bushweed, leafy oakwoods, Mediterranean h eaths, its trademark Chestnut woods, well-conserved riverside copses a nd vast dehesas that serve as perfect examples of what we call today t he ôsustainable useö of our natural resources. Nature lovers are spoil t for choice in the Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche. Ideally we sh ould just relax and give our curiosity free rein, trying to learn from every experience that might come along, ranging from the tiny file of ants marching along the forest floor to the huge Cinereous Vulture so aring overhead. Other fascinating sights and sounds await us round eve ry corner, like the sinister beauty of the Fly Agaric, the intricate b looms of orchids, the mantises and their lethal embrace, the night-tim e choirs of frogs and toads, a fleeting Mongoose flashing by, millenar y rocks weathered to incredible smoothness, the delicately tumbling le aves of a Chestnut Tree in autumn, the staggering beauty and power of the NightingaleÆs song in spring. This book, designed to be useful bot h for expert naturalists and rank beginners, pools 17 nature-watching outings of different types (car rides, walks, family-friendly strolls and fixed lookout points) and different degrees of difficulty. Between them all they usher us into the wonderland of wildlife, unspoilt coun tryside and local traditions that is Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroc he, including such standout species as the Black Stork, the White-Rump ed Swift, the Iberian Chiffchaff, the Rufous-Tailed Scrub Robin, the S hort-Toed Eagle, the Portuguese Helleborine, the Spanish Funnel-web Sp ider and even some endemic freshwater fish species. With this work, th e publisher Editorial La Serranía inaugurates the collection of guideb ooks titled ôBirding and Nature Trails in Sierra Morenaö. In this coll ection a total of four titles in Spanish and four more in English will be published in the following months, namely the Sierra de Aracena an d Picos de Aroche; the Northern Campiña of Jaen; the Cordoban Sierra M orena and the Sierra Morena of Seville. These eight volumes, together with the two books that have already been published on the Serranía de Ronda and the Sierra de Huétor, as well as the books on Fuente de Pie dra and the Sierra de las Nieves to which the final touches are being put, will mean that in a few months the Ronda publisher will boast a t otal of 15 titles on Andalucían ornithology.