Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Travellers' Nature Guide: Spain

Teresa Farino and Mike Lockwood. Oxford University Press. 2004.

The attractions of Spain's great outdoors are an open secret among nature enthusiasts and others who prefer fresh air to smog. Although it is true that much of the Spanish Mediterranean has been swallowed up by tourist development, its other coasts (Atlantic, to the north and south of Portugal, and Cantabrian) have been far less affected, and the country's unique geography and historical and social circumstances mean there are vast areas of its interior which are quite unspoilt and harbour a wealth of wildlife. In addition, Spain's landscapes and climates are enormously varied, the only common factor they all share (except the coastal areas, evidently) being altitude - Spain is the second highest country in Europe. Its flora and fauna reflect this variety, and "this diversity of habitats contains more than 7000 species of vascular plant, 85 native terrestrial mammals, 500-odd birds cited in the past century, 70 native reptiles and amphibians and 227 butterflies... with a high level of endemism in most groups." The richness of Spain's nature has not gone unnoticed, and thousands of foreigners visit Spain every year, not to toast on the beaches of the Costa del Sol or dance till dawn in the clubs of Ibiza, but to walk in Majorca's Sierra de Tramuntana, birdwatch in Coto Doñaña, hike a part of Spain's great pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago, or scuba dive or snorkel in one of Spain's marine nature reserves. In parallel, a number of guidebooks have been edited to cater to this market, walkers in particular being well catered for, and there is an extensive specialist literature for zoologists and botanists with an Iberian interest. But a complete guide to Spain's flora and fauna for the interested, informed layman or amateur naturalist has been conspicuous by its absence. Until now.

The Spain volume of the OUP Travellers' Nature Guides series begins with an indispensable, extensive overview of its subject matter: Spain, its geography, climate, history (Man, after all, being an environmental conditioner), habitats and vegetation and the wildlife itself. The book's meat and potatoes, though, is the following section, which deals with 158 sites of interest to naturalists, without counting the places under the different "Also in the Area" headings. Each chapter begins with an introduction to the region covered, perhaps one of Spain's autonomous regions, or perhaps a geographical grouping of them. This presentation includes a map of the area, and covers essential background information such as the local geology and types of terrain, major river basins and mountain ranges, and flora and fauna. The individual sites covered might be national parks, or one (or more) of the bewildering plethora of types of nature reserve found in Spain, or simply places of outstanding interest. Each site is presented with a succinct, italicised sentence, then described in detail in two or three pages, illustrated by photographs and attractive line drawings. Practical matters like access (opening and closing times, whether a a permit is necessary and how it can be obtained, etc.) and information points are dealt with in a bottom bar, and nearby places of naturalist interest are also mentioned and described in enough detail to make them appetizing.

This is not a book about Spanish wildlife, but sticks to its remit as summarized in its title. If you want to know why a black satyr is so called, you will not find it here. If your curiosity is piqued by the discovery of the existence of something called a hoopoe, look elsewhere to satisfy it. Spain - Travellers' Nature Guide tells you where to go and why, what to expect when you get there and what it is doing there.

Although highly readable, in general, the book's style is so robust, factual, and to the point, without verbiage, travel agency hyperbole, or oohs and aahs, that you notice when it slips a little ("the views over the Saja-Besaya parque natural are simply out of this world"). This does not mean it lacks life, on the contrary - it oozes the enthusiasm of its writers in every paragraph. It is not aimed at specialists (though they will undoubtedly find its depth of information of inestimable use), but The Travellers' Nature Guide to Spain is not for the scientifically faint of heart, either. It does not talk down to its readers, but assumes that if you are confused by a term, you will be interested enough to find out its meaning. Galicia and Asturias thus "lies on Palaeozoic bedrock," while the Serrania de Cuenca's pine forests leave "room for a diverse calcicolous flora with fascinating cushion communities." The glossary included is helpful, but not really big enough to satisfy the, in my case, botanically disadvantaged.

Unsurprisingly, lists abound, and their poetry was something of a literary rediscovery for me. To my biologically semi-literate eye, it is often like reading the menu of a very classy restaurant dealing in an unfamiliar but superbly smelling cuisine. Unusual "records" (I think that's birding talk for "species spotted") in the paddy fields of the Ebro Delta, for example, have included "spoonbills, squacco heron, osprey, booted eagle, black-winged stilt, Kentish plover, Temminck's stint, slender-billed gull and whiskered tern" (and perhaps this is the difference between naturalists and the rest of us - while we are made happy by the discovery that something as entertainingly named as a Temminck's stint exists, they need to see it).

The few weak points of the Travellers' Nature Guide to Spain pale in comparison to its strengths. I suspect myco-enthusiasts might feel that short thrift is given to their beloved mushrooms and toadstools, but I am probably wrong. Linguistically, the determination to use place names in the local language (Basque, Catalan, etc.) is defensible, but could create occasional problems for the reader, such as the fact that the official names of national parks, which are centrally administered, are always in Castilian Spanish. I did think an index of species crossed against location was missing until I calculated that it would probably have required an extra hundred and fifty pages or so for vascular plants alone (I still think it would be feasible and useful for, perhaps, birds and mammals).

More than a field guide, this 464-page book would be the naturalist's bedtime reading and planning assistant, and considering the density of the information it provides and the richness of its photographs and illustrations, its retail price of £16.99 or $23.00 is, frankly, a steal. In short, if you have any kind of serious interest in Iberian nature, the Travellers' Nature Guide: Spain is a must-have.