Wed 25th May to Wed 2nd June: Monfragüe

Monfragüe is a National Park 150 miles due east of Aranjuez, about 50 miles from the Portuguese border. It is dedicated to the preservation of native Spanish species, especially birds. We went on an organised trip, and the following information is largely from our very knowledgeable guide.

The vultures are the most spectacular. Griffon vultures are the most numerous, and the photo above shows about 40 of them in this part of the sky alone. They have a wingspan of up to 9 feet, but the biggest is the black vulture, which can be a foot more. These are also here in the Park, and are the largest flying birds in Europe.
They are not fed by the Park, but rely on deer and pig corpses (and perhaps the occasional aged tourist!). If one of the smaller vultures spots, say, a dead deer, it will nip in quick and eat what it can, like the eyes. It will then hover above the spot to advertise the carcase to the black vulture that alone has a beak strong enough to tear open an adult hide. The black vulture having had its fill will leave the rest for the weaker birds.

Cork oak stripping (sounds like the latest voyeuristic trend like pole dancing) is another traditional industry, as shown below. Only the easy bark around the base of the tree is stripped and these days it is carried out by contract gangs about every 9 or 10 years.

A spin-off from all these oak trees is pork farming because the pigs eat the acorns. Acorn-fed pigs fetch the best price in the dry cured delicacy Serrano ham market. We haven’t acquires a taste for Serrano ham yet and long for a traditional British (probably Danish) bacon sandwich. The pigs themselves are small, dark grey and look very healthy.

Lastly, our pitch on the campsite: overlooking open fields with Jane’s birdfeeder attracting lots of birds, mainly the unusual azure winged magpies. We have enjoyed our visit here enormously.