Beauty of The Beasts

Away from Spain's major cities, in the wilds of Catalonia we fi nd an alien and beautiful landscape populated by even more beautiful and exotic creatures.

Away from the bars of Barcelona, the Catalonian countryside off ers a capsule of fl ora and fauna few travellers know about, says James Parry, who visits the Ebro Delta. Photography by Tim White

Think of wide open spaces, yellow grass plains stretching to the horizon, of soaring peaks, capped with snow, where the wind is so fierce that the trees are reduced to bonsai. A place where rivers churn their way through deep gorges and run for nearly 1,000km before spilling into the sea via a maze of emerald-green rice paddies.

Welcome to Spain, but definitely not as you know it. For this is Catalonia, one of the country's autonomous communities, with its own fiercely proud identity.

In the race to the beach resorts and mustsee cities like Barcelona and Madrid, overseas visitors have largely overlooked Spain's rural interior. Yet here's a country twice the size of the UK, with only two-thirds of the population, and much of the land wild and unspoilt. If you want to get off the beaten track and enjoy some of the best wildlife-watching anywhere in Europe, then this is the place to come.

I arrive in the small town of Seròs and meet Maria Angeles Lacruz. Since 2008, she has been the manager of the birdwatching and nature tourist office here, working to promote the grassy plains or "steppes" around the city of Lleida – about 160km west of Barcelona – as a destination for wildlifelovers, walkers and cyclists.

"The steppes used to be regarded as a wasteland," says Lacruz, "but now local residents appreciate that very special types of wildlife live here, and people want to come and see the unusual birds in particular." These include the Little Bustard and Black-bellied Sandgrouse – scarce species that have lost out elsewhere to the relentless march of mechanised farming and pesticides.

This winter, after a long, hot summer, the landscape looks parched and devoid of life. But we stop near an abandoned farmhouse, where I get out and, to my amazement, the air is full of birdsong. Larks and a Hoopoe flutter out of the tinder-dry grass at our feet, as a flock of choughs, glossy black members of the crow family with wax-red beaks, wheels above our heads. Further away, riding a thermal above a distant ridge, a golden eagle soars. It's heart-stirring.

In this otherwise arid landscape, humans and birds alike are thrown a lifeline by the mighty Ebro, Spain's most voluminous river. From its source in the Picos de Europa, the Ebro flows for 928km before reaching the Mediterranean, south of the coastal city of Tarragona. I follow it closely by road, enjoying its twists and turns before arriving at the Sebes Nature Reserve near the town of Flix. Here, the riverbanks are cloaked in lush vegetation that's teeming with bird life. Reserve warden Matthew Bullock, originally from England, takes me to see some of its most important inhabitants: a group of white horses.

“They are a natural way of improving the environment,” he says, “because without them we would have to cut the invasive reeds back by hand or machine. The horses eat and trample them, which allows other plants to come up and create different habitats for wildlife.”

It’s not all about animals, though. An excellent small museum at the reserve gives a fascinating account of the river’s human history. For centuries, the Ebro provided the best means of communication and transport between the coast and the interior. As recently as the mid-20th century, men still dragged heavily laden barges along the river using ropes pulled by their bare hands. Today, their chants and exertions sing on only in a video presentation, but you can still see the towpath that they toiled along.

The Ebro has seen its fair share of war and turmoil through the years, and its strategic importance is nowhere more obvious than at the fortress of Miravet. Perched high on a picturesque bluff and accessed today by a simple car ferry over the river, the castle was built by the Knights Templar. Don’t miss the cavernous church in which they worshipped, and the climb up to the ramparts for one of the best views in the whole Ebro valley.

From Miravet we drive south along the river to Tortosa and then head west, drawn to the vast mass of white rock that looms up above the plains: the Els Ports Natural Park. This huge chunk of limestone is capped by the peak of Mont Caro, accessible by a steeply winding road that passes through woodland, scrub, meadows and rocky scree before emerging onto the windswept summit. Gusts of 150km/h are not uncommon here, and centuries-old pine trees grow almost horizontally across the rock, forced into submission by the wind. The views are breathtaking – literally, as you are almost 1,500m up at this point.

Just when it seems that nothing warm- blooded could live here, a female Iberian ibex strolls by with young kid in tow. Hardy, high-altitude members of the wild goat clan, the ibex live happily on the steepest of slopes and you stand a good chance of spotting them here. Meanwhile, in the forests below I can hear mushroom-pickers calling to one another as they forage. Over 100 species of fungi have been recorded in Els Ports, but only half a dozen or so are edible – you’ll need to know your chanterelles from your death caps before picking any!

Back down on the plains, we rejoin the Ebro river as it snakes its way onwards, entering the Mediterranean via a vast delta covering 320km2. Here you are in a land of eels, shimmering reeds and flamingos. The tangle of natural and man-made waterways not only carries the river to the sea but also provides the conditions required for the delta’s most famous product: rice. The key ingredient in paella, rice was introduced here in the 19th century and now covers over 75% of the delta’s land area.

We drive along lonely dykes, the paddyfields on either side sparkling with snow-white egrets, busy hunting for frogs. The rice has just been harvested, and at El Moli de Rafelet in the town of Deltebre I watch it being processed by hand – the last mill locally where the traditional techniques are used. The current owner, a third-generation miller, explains how the delta is shrinking. Dams built upstream have reduced the flow of both the water and the silt on which the delta depends. Salinity levels are rising, which will have a serious effect on future rice crops. Meanwhile, the wildlife here is abundant and flocks of ducks whirr above the lagoons before settling down for the night. Some will have come here all the way from Scandinavia for the winter.

The Ebro Delta is not an obvious choice for a trip to Spain. When it comes to the vibrant cities and gorgeous beaches available here that’s understandable, especially on short trips. However, the Ebro Delta in this dramatic corner of Catalonia is a feast for the eyes and unbeatable for a few days away on the wilder side of Spain.

Fast facts

GETTING THERE:

Ryanair flies direct to Lleida airport from Frankfurt (Hahn) and Milan (Bergamo); and to Barcelona (Reus) airport from Brussels (Charleroi), Düsseldorf (Weeze), Eindhoven and Marrakesh. For more details, visit www.ryanair.com. Hertz (www.hertz.com) is Ryanair’s exclusive car rental partner and provides special rates for Ryanair passengers.

STAYING THERE:

Seròs is a charming town and a great springboard for exploring the Lleida countryside. One of the best places to stay is the self-catering house Mas Les Forques (tel: +34 620 544 344).

For dinner in Seròs, try restaurant La Font. Further down the Ebro river in the town of Tortosa, the restaurant worth stopping for is Lo Llaüt (tel: +34 977 500 223, www.llaut.es).

When you get to Deltebre, check into the wood-beamed and welcoming Delta Hotel (tel: +34 977 480 046, www.deltahotel. net). It makes a great base for exploring the Ebro Delta. Meanwhile, eatery L’Estany (tel: +34 977 261 026, www. restaurantestany.com) offers outstanding Catalan food in a superb location. Ask the staff here about hiring a punt to explore the local marshes.

FOR MORE DETAILS ON SEROS, CALL THE BIRDWATCHING AND NATURE TOURISM OFFICE ON +34 973 780 009; SEBES NATURE RESERVE HAS EXCELLENT FACILITIES AND TRAILS, TEL: +34 977 265 112, WWW.RESERVANATURALSEBES.ORG; FOR MORE ON ELS PORTS, VISIT THE PARK INFORMATION CENTRE IN ROQUETES, TEL: +34 977 504 012; FOR MORE ON LOCAL WILDLIFE AND CULTURE, SEE DELTEBRE’S ECOMUSEUM, TEL: +34 977 489 679, AND RICE MILL, WWW.MOLIDERAFELET.COM