Donana Park :
Spain's Foremost National Park.

Donana Park, Spain.

The National Park of Donana is situated in the south-eastern corner of the province of Huelva and consists of 50,720 hectares of protected land in which there are vast wetlands and forests of stone pines and cork-oaks.

For hundreds of years it was the royal hunting grounds where kings, queens and other notable dignitaries would come to enjoy their sport. Then, in the early 1960's, a part of the land was purchased to aid the conservation of the area and in 1969 it was declared as a national park. More land was added over the years until it became what it is today. In 1981 certain areas of Donana park were turned into Biospheric Reserves and in 1988 it was given the status of a Special Protection Area for birds. Finally, the park was declared as a World Heritage Site in 1994.

Various ecosystems exist within Donana Park which include the sand-dunes and lagoons, the forests and surrounding scrubland and, perhaps most importantly, the marsh areas, which are considered by many to be among the finest and most ornithologically important in Europe.

Donana park is now managed by the Ministry of the Environment of the Spanish Government and entry into the park is restricted to conducted tours (either by boat from Sanlucar de Barrameda or by safari bus from the El Acebuche Visitors Centre) operated by licensed companies. The Safari bus tours, which are the most popular, are of four hours duration and cover some 80 kilometres of trails along the Atlantic sand-dunes and inside Donana Park proper. Unfortunately, as good as these tours are, they are not an ideal way to watch birds as the drivers are on a schedule and cannot stop just because you may have caught a fleeting glimpse of a rare bird that you would like to investigate further. The constant motion of the vehicle over fairly rough terrain makes the use of binoculars (and therefore birdwatching) almost impossible.

Donana Park is further protected by a buffer zone of some 84,200 hectares of surrounding natural parkland and by the Atlantic Ocean to the south, where 35 kilometres of deserted sandy coastline forms the boundary. This buffer zone, The Parque Natural de Doņana, also benefits from protected status, but not to the same strict degree as the national park. Entry into these areas is largely restricted but there are various visitors centres with nature trails where the general public are welcomed. Most of the bird species and the other wildlife that exists within Donana Park's boundaries can, generally, also be found at these sites.

The importance of Coto Doņana Park as a conservation site cannot be over stressed. Millions of wintering birds, mainly wildfowl and waders from the north, flock to the area each year and many millions more use it as a feeding station during the migration periods. It is also of major importance as a breeding ground for some of the most endangered bird species in Europe. Over 250 different species are regularly seen here and rarities are very often recorded. The area's geographical position means that it is likely to attract any vagrant or accidental species that may wander, or be blown, into the region.

There are five visitors centres within the Parque Natural, three of which are very easily accessible and should form part of any birdwatcher's visit here. A fourth centre, The Ice Factory, can be found at Sanlucar de Barrameda, on the east bank of the Rio Guadalquivir, in the province of Cadiz. The fifth centre, the Jose Antonio Valverde Centre, is many kilometres out into the Marismas del Guadalquivir and access is extremely difficult. It is, however, of great interest as it is a major nesting site for colonies of Glossy Ibises, Black-crowned Night Herons and Squacco Herons. Directions to the last site can be obtained from the other Donana Park visitors centres, but, the directions are not as clear as they could be and most local maps of this area are wildly inaccurate.

Apart from the areas above and the excellent marsh areas and the Spanish Ornithological Societies bird observatory at El Rocio, the average visiting birder will leave without having set foot in some of the best birding areas that Donana Park has to offer. These sites are mainly in the northern marsh areas of both Huelva and Sevilla provinces and although access is not easy the quality and quantity of the birds that can be found there will make the time and effort spent getting there well worth while. This is the area that I refer to as "the hidden Donana Park" where sites such as Dehesa De Abajo, which has the largest breeding colony of White Storks in Europe, can be found. This area is also a regular breeding site for Crested Coots, Black Kites, Hoopoes, Bee-eaters and Purple Swamp-hens.

Close to the Dehesa de Abajo there are many other sites, such as Entremuros, Isla Cristina, Brazo de la Torre, Isla Mayor, Casa de Bombas, Caņo de Guadiamar, Caņo de Rosaliman, Veta de la Palma, Lucio del Lobo and Lucio del Cangrejo. All of these are major wetland areas where many attractive bird species can be found, either as breeding species, residents, winter visitors or passage migrants. These regularly include Marbled ducks, Great White Egrets, Purple Herons, Little Bitterns, Red Kites, Black-shouldered Kites, Marsh, Hen and Montagu's Harriers, Booted, Short-toed and Spanish Imperial Eagles, Collared Pratincoles, Whiskered, Black and Gull-billed Terns, Great Spotted Cuckoos, Crested, Short-toed and Lesser Short-toed Larks, Stone Curlews, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Black-eared Wheatears, Greater Flamingos, Crested Coots, Spoonbills and many species of geese, ducks and waders.

Large areas of this region are agricultural, mainly rice production, and the almost permanently flooded fields offer many opportunities to stop and watch numerous bird species at very close quarters. It is not unusual to see Little, Cattle, Great White and Squacco Herons, White Storks, Grey and Purple Herons, Black-winged Stilts, Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwings and many smaller waders, all feeding together in one field, whilst eagles, buzzards, kites and other birds of prey pass by overhead.

As many of these sites are very hard to find you may decide that you need the assistance of a Bird Guide who's local knowledge and experience can lead you quickly to the very heart of this birdwatching wonderland and show you the sites and birds of "the hidden Donana Park" that you may otherwise miss. There will, of course, be a financial outlay, but the professional guides in the Donana Park areacan, without doubt, be a very small investment in your quest to find some of the scarcest birds in Spain and Europe.

Read impartial reveiws of places to stay at, and trips to Donana Park at the TripAdvisor.

Note: Parts of this text have been reproduced from John Butler's book "Birdwatching on Spain's Southern Coast".

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