Flora and Fauna

Located as it is, is it any surprise Andalucía is a birdwatcher's paradise and attracts ornithologists throughout the year. The best time of the year, however, is during the spring as this is when you can see many migratory species wintering in Spain together with those arriving for the summer months.
Not surprisingly, the Straits of Gibraltar is a key point of passage for raptors, storks and other birds migrating between Europe
Overall, northern migrations take place between mid-February and June, while those birds heading south will set off between late July and early November when there's a westerly wind. Gibraltar itself is generally good for birdwatchers during the windier months. When there is little to know wind, Tarifa is usually the place to go.
Andalucía also has a long stretch of coastline that touches both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. This makes it ideal for fishing by the sea, or if your inland by one of the many rivers. So as you can imagine that the cooking of the coastal regions is distinguished by a huge variety of seafood. The fish market is a great place to get acquainted with the local catch.
Away from the coast in the more remote parts of Andalucía, you can expect to see mountain goats, the doe deer, the ancestor of the domestic sheep, the muflon. There are also otters, genets, the ibex, the chamois, the mongoose and if your very lucky maybe a Iberian Lynx.
Also don’t be surprised to see a lot of pigs running around in some of the more remote areas during the autumn as farmers release them to gorge on the fallen acorns.
The diversity of the landscape provides perfect growing conditions for various species of trees and other flora.
Some examples of native trees are the ash and chestnut which like moist areas, the Spanish fir which prefers a drier soil, the carob which grows amongst the pines and produces long, sweet smelling seed pods, the gall, evergreen and cork oak, the wild olive, the juniper, the polar, the willow, the maple, the elm and the alder.
Some of the more common wild flowers found in Andalucía are dwarf and pink convolvulus, sea lavender, Italian sainfoin, crown daisy, purple vipors bugloss, prickly pear, barbary fig, star thistle, wild gladioli, broom, spiny broom, honeysuckle, sage, grey leaved cistus, bishops weed and milk thistle.

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