More birdwatchers than birds

The evening after our trip to Palacios Acebrón, Gill got chatting to an English couple opposite. When they had passed the visitor center at the park gates, it was open and they had discovered way-marked 'ornithological' walks leading off from here. Next day we followed in their footsteps. About 3.5 km of wooden causeways had been built through various landscapes - wetlands, cork oak and pine forests, garrigue and reed beds. Every kilometer or so a causeway branched off to a small lake, here hides had been constructed with information boards so none twitcher types could spot the species.

The hides nearest the visitor center were crowded with birdwatchers, all eagerly pointing powerful binoculars at what appeared to be entirely avian free ponds. The hide furthest from the visitor center was deserted, here we managed to identify a spoonbill and some groups of glossy ibis. The information board also enabled us to identify the two large birds of prey that we had seen earlier as we walked across the open scrubland, spiraling high above us on outstretched wings, riding the invisible currents of warm air. They weren't eagles, as we had surmised. The first, a black silhouette, was a kite; the second, whose wings flashed silver as it wheeled around, was a harrier.

There were information boards every few hundred metres explaining the flora and fauna of the varied habitats that the raised wooden walkways passed through. The most interesting areas were the swamp and stream bed sections as these were not places you would normally wander through, unless you had packed a pair of waders on the off-chance you might be seized suddenly by an overwhelming interest in the varied genus of reeds. All of this was fascinating, but, as Gill observed, this is more like visiting a museum than going for a walk. Immediately the lyrics of Joni' s Big Yellow Taxi popped into my head "They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum!" At least, though, we did not have to 'pay a dollar and a half just to see 'em'. The bird walk, like a lot of places you can visit in Spain, was free.

Adacent to the visitor centre was a replica of a typical rural dwelling.

having visited the Palacio yesterday this small hovel was a sobering experience

everywhere, however it was the Romeria that seemed to dominate the local culture