Portal de Turismo de Castilla y León

Welcome to the 'El Palomar' Park House.

As with the other park houses located all over the community of Castile and Leon, it is the recommended gateway to these natural areas. The monitors at this interpretation centre will tell you about the Nature Reserve, and help you plan your visit.

It provides information on iconic species and habitats to help you identify and appreciate the cultural and natural heritage in these places in a respectful way, and by doing so foster the conservation and appreciation of biodiversity and cultural heritage.

The "El Palomar" Park House is located in the municipality of Villafáfila, in the province of Zamora. The House is located in a building reminiscent of a traditional country dovecote.

This Park House provides information about the Villafáfila Lagoons and their flora and fauna.

The Villafáfila Lagoons are a wetland of great ornithological importance. With an area of 32,519 hectares, the reserve is located in eleven municipalities. This natural reserve is home to an enormous variety of sedentary and migratory birds all year round, including greylag geese, cranes and different species of ducks during the winter, and stilts, avocets, terns and lesser kestrels in the spring and summer, and it is a crucial refuge and feeding area on migratory routes. The reserve's agricultural areas are home to the world's largest population of bustards, and April is the best month in the year to see them. The lagoons have been designated as a Nature Reserve, which means they are currently protected.

Villafáfila is a small municipality located in the Tierra de Campos region. With an economy traditionally linked to agriculture and livestock farming, the municipality benefits from its proximity to the Villafáfila Lagoons. With only 458 inhabitants, the small town preserves its cultural heritage reflected in its churches, such as the Church of Santa Maria, and its rural architecture.

Tierra de Campos is a natural region that extends across the provinces of Palencia, Valladolid, Zamora and León. It contains large plains given over to agriculture, and primarily to cereals such as wheat and barley. The region has an inland Mediterranean climate. It is cool and damp in the spring and autumn, the summers are short and dry with high daytime temperatures and cool nights, while the winters are long, cold and slightly damp. The lower areas in the west such as Zamora tend to be dry, while towards the east, and in Palencia in particular, it tends to be semi-humid. The region's distinctive feature which gives it its name is the composition of its soils, which mainly consist of clay.

Enter the Park House and go through the hallway. You will enter an inner courtyard with a skylight.

On the right hand side, you will find a door leading to the reception, where you will be met by the staff of the Park House

You can purchase typical local products and souvenirs of your visit in our Green Store.

There are bustard tracks painted on the floor that mark the route you have to follow. Follow the tracks through the doors to enter the exhibition. Begin your visit in the area on the right.

These panels provide information about how the landscape in the reserve has changed. On the display counters, you will find the scientific and geological explanation for how the lagoons were created and how they have evolved over the years.

The network of lagoons is an endorheic basin, which means the water has no outlet to the ocean by means of a river. The bottom of the lagoons is composed of sedimentary materials such as clay. Geological data show that the most common materials date back to the Tertiary and Quaternary periods, covering other Palaeozoic materials that make up the base of the basin.

The lagoons are seasonal. The water in the lagoons only comes from rainfall, as they receive no water from underground aquifers. The clay soils prevent this rainwater from draining away to the subsoil. The lagoon basin occupies the lower part of the reserve, so the lagoons collect water from several kilometres around, which reaches the lower part as a result of surface runoff. This runoff brings various salts and minerals into the lagoons, which with the rise of other salts from lower levels soak into the tertiary sediments of the substrate and make the lagoons saline. The lagoons are shallow, at around 50 or 70 centimetres deep. The evaporation of water from the wetlands in summer leaves the beds cracked and covered with a crust of salt.

The largest lagoons in this network are the "Laguna Grande", at 192 hectares, the "Laguna de Barillos" at 118 hectares, and the "Laguna de las Salinas" at 70 hectares. The Laguna de las Salinas was restored by the Regional Government of Castile and Leon in 1989 after it was drained in 1970.

Follow the tracks. On the right hand side you will find four panels, made up of four photographs, showing each of the seasons of the year. The enormous contrasts that take place in the reserve during the year are shown here.

We are in a continental climate zone. The winters are cold and harsh, with temperatures reaching 15 ºC below zero. The summers are dry with extreme temperatures, with maximum temperatures of almost 45 ºC. These marked contrasts of temperature have created an arid zone with conditions that make life difficult.

There are two small viewers in the central panels. You can look through them and see images of the lagoons in summer and winter, and the contrast between one season and the other.

Press the button to the right of each viewer and you will be able to smell the scents of these places in each season.

You will also find two circular openings in these panels. Put your hand inside and you will be able to feel the soil of the lagoons.

Continue forwards.

The next section focuses on the flora and fauna that populate the network of lagoons.

Spring marks the beginning of the lesser kestrels' arrival, and the shoveler duck can be seen in greater numbers. Spring is also the season when numerous waders pass through, including stints, plovers and sandpipers. This period is also the bustards' mating season.

The great bustard is the world's largest bird which can fly. During the spring, male bustards perform a complex mating ritual, called "the wheel", in which they display themselves to females. They puff out their throat and chest feathers, turn their wings around to show the white underparts, and walk around imposingly to intimidate other males and attract the attention of females. The Villafáfila lagoons reserve is home to the world's largest population of great bustards, with about 2,500 specimens during the spring, and their conservation is a concern due to their status as a vulnerable species.

In winter, the Villafáfila lagoons are home to a wide variety of migratory and resident waterfowl. These species include the common goose, common crane, mallard and gadwall, teals, grebes, and in recent years, significant numbers of shelducks and avocets. These birds use the lagoons for shelter and as feeding grounds during the winter.

The stilt is often seen in spring at the Villafáfila Lagoons. It is a wader species, recognisable by its long, slender legs, long neck, and straight, slender bill. These birds feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates, insect larvae, worms and small fish. They are migratory birds, and travel considerable distances between their breeding and wintering areas. At the Villafáfila lagoons, the stilt is part of the varied population of aquatic birds that find refuge and food during their seasonal migrations and during the breeding period.

Bird migration is an amazing and essential phenomenon, in which birds travel between their breeding and wintering areas. It is driven by the search for food, reproduction and the search for more favourable weather conditions. Migratory birds follow specific routes, often crossing continents and oceans. They use various mechanisms for navigation, including visual patterns, the earth's magnetic field and their memory of landmarks.

Many migratory birds, such as geese, fly in specific formations, primarily the "V" formation".

Flying in this way reduces wind resistance, meaning they save energy on long flights.

It enables members of the group to communicate with each other and helps them find their way, as the geese can visually follow the V-pattern.

Taking turns to lead the formation also means they share the effort, which means that the group can fly for longer distances with no need to land and rest, and ensure a coordinated and sustainable flight throughout the journey.

By the way, did you know that these lagoons were once home to as many as 40,000 geese? There are no more than 1,000 specimens here today. This is because as a result of the rise in winter temperatures in much of Europe due to climate change, they can now find food and good weather conditions in other areas of Europe including Denmark, Belgium, France and the Netherlands in particular. This is considerable savings of energy, due to the shorter migration route.

The consolidation of plots of land led to the disappearance of almost all the boundaries and shrubs left in the Reserve. Furthermore, the burning of stubble and shrubs at the end of the summer, which was a common practice in the area for many years, almost entirely wiped out the few bushes in the boundaries that survived.

There are some small poplar groves on the riverbanks and near the villages, consisting mainly of white poplar (Populus alba), black poplar (Populus nigra) and field elm (Ulmus minor) trees. Some specimens of tamarisk (Tamarix sp.) were preserved naturally in the areas around the lagoons. The Regional Government of Castile and Leon attempted to increase the numbers of tamarisk in the 1990s by carrying out a small-scale campaign to repopulate the species, which must have been extremely plentiful in the Reserve in the past.

The most important habitat in the Reserve is located in the grasslands around the lagoons, known as salt grasslands. This type of vegetation is very scarce in the European Union and very valuable, due to the communities of halophilic plants, i.e. plants that have adapted to saline conditions that survive here. This area contains species that are more commonly found on the coast than in inland upland areas. The central 4,000 hectares of the Reserve were declared a Site of Community Importance (SCI) due to the importance of these plant formations.

Inside the lagoons, the most characteristic species is sedge, or "castanet" as it is known in the area, due to the appearance of its bulbs or rhizomes.

There are three species of sedge in the Reserve: Scirpus maritimus, littoralis and lacustris, which have experienced significant setbacks due to the consumption of both the upper part and their nutritious bulbs by common geese. The sedge has begun to recover on the shores of the lagoons in recent years, due to the protection campaigns carried out by the Castile and Leon Regional Government and the decline in the numbers of geese wintering in the Reserve.

Other species typical of wetland areas also grow in the lagoon area, including cattails (Typha angustifolia and dominguensis) and reeds (Phragmites tenuisimun).

As it is an arid steppe area, the plants have adapted to cope with the lack of water in various ways. The most common strategies include long, deep roots to reach water in the deepest layers of the soil; smaller leaves, to the point where they have practically become flakes to prevent evaporation due to the effect of the sun on the leaf's surface, as in the case of tamarisks (Tamarix sp.); closed pores to reduce water loss, and the development of hairs and waxes on the surface of leaves to minimise water evaporation. In other cases, the leaves have thickened and store water during the winter, in order to withstand the summer drought, as in the case of the seablight (Suaeda vera). These adaptations enable the plants to conserve and use the water available efficiently, helping them to survive in extremely dry conditions.

In this area of the tour, which is also related to the flora and fauna of this region, you will find a wide large display of species, from mammals and birds to insects, plants and reptiles.

Press the buttons you will find in some of the boxes to reproduce the sound made by the animal shown in each box. The image of a specific animal will appear in the central panels when you press the button.

Among the species on display in this case are the partridge, the owlet, the grey heron, the fox, salicornia and poppy.

Salicornia, also known as "sea asparagus", is a genus of plants that grow in saline soils, like the soil in these lagoons. They have fleshy, jointed stems, and this succulent plant plays a vital ecological role in saline habitats, providing stability in the soil and acting as a shelter and source of food for various species of fauna adapted to these environments. In some coastal areas, its tender shoots are appreciated in gastronomy, and consumed raw in salads or cooked as a garnish.

Two specific trophic pyramids can be found on either side of the display: the one in the steppe region on the right, and the one in these lagoons on the left.

The trophic pyramid is a basic graphical representation in ecology that illustrates the hierarchy of energy or biomass transfer in an ecosystem.

The producer organisms are on the lower level, and are consumed by the higher levels. Each tier in the pyramid must produce enough to support itself and nourish the next level.

It is a tool for assessing the health of ecosystems by showing the interconnectedness between organisms, and the potential impacts of the changes in one trophic level on the others. The trophic pyramid is crucial for understanding the dynamics and sustainability of ecosystems.

While the trophic pyramid of the steppes contains a wider variety of species, you will mainly find birds in the lagoon zone, on both the predator and consumer levels. However, a common feature of these two pyramids is the fact that the main predator is the human being, which occupies the highest place in the pyramid.

The next space summarises the main assets that have made this natural area a unique and extraordinarily rich place. It is a summary of some of the aspects that have already been explained on the visit, such as the enormous botanical and wildlife wealth richness of this environment, its geological interest due to its brackish lagoons, its importance as a feeding and resting place for thousands of birds on their migratory routes, and how this wealth has led to different types of protected status at both regional and international level: as a nature reserve, a regional game reserve, a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA), Wetlands of International Importance (according to the Ramsar Convention) and a Special Conservation Area (SCA).

On the left of this section you will find two benches, where you can sit down and enjoy a small audiovisual presentation projected on the panels to your right.

Continue the visit.

On the screen, images in real time of the lagoons behind the building are displayed.

On the top of each display counter there is a lever which you can use to move the camera, and two buttons to zoom in or zoom out from the images that are shown on the screen.

Leave the room and turn right to continue your visit.

On the right wall you will find a tall wooden display case.

You can see several pellets from barn owls on the first shelf. On three small black slate bases, there are also several bones, skulls and jaws extracted from these pellets which belong to voles, field mice and shrews.

The pellets are compact pellets of bones, hairs and skins that nocturnal predators regurgitate when they cannot digest them. Here you can see three pellets containing the remains of voles, field mice and shrews. Pellets provide important information not only about the diet of the birds that regurgitate them, but also about the other animals that inhabit the area.

Small rodents are extremely important in this ecosystem. Several species of voles and mice inhabit the reserve. The most plentiful are the field mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) and the vole (Microtus arvalis). The latter are the most well-known, because of the regular blights they cause in cultivated land, leading to enormous damage to crops. Other than these periods of explosive growth and blight, the best way to find out which rodent species inhabit a specific territory and in what proportion is by examining the pellets from birds of prey. The pellets of owls and kestrels usually contain skulls that are almost intact and a large number of bones from the voles, mice and shrews that they have eaten.

You will also find information about bats here. They are the only mammals that can fly. All bats in Spain are insectivorous. An interesting fact about these animals is that they are capable of consuming up to one third of their weight in insects every day, which makes them magnificent pest controllers. But the most striking thing about them is that they are capable of emitting ultrasound waves, which they use to obtain a spatial idea of the area around them. This is called echolocation, and works like radar or sonar on a ship, and they use it to move around at night and capture prey. Contrary to what most people think, bats are not blind.

On the lower shelf you can see the moult from some reptiles, including the Montpellier snake.

Snakes need to shed their skin completely in order to grow. To do this, they create an opening in the old skin near the head, and simply slide out of it, leaving it behind them in one piece. This is what is known in Spain as the snake's shirt, and in the case of the Montpellier snake it can be 2.20 metres long, as it is the largest snake of all those that inhabit the Iberian Peninsula. The moulting process in reptiles is called ecdysis.

Continue down the corridor. At the end, you will find a wooden door leading to the audiovisual room.

Go up the stairs next to the audiovisual room. These stairs lead to an upper gallery where the viewpoint is located.

Walk through the gallery. You will find a ledge where the viewpoint is located on the left. These windows overlook one of the lagoons, located at the back of the Park House.

Continue along the gallery until you reach a staircase leading down. It will take you to the reception area.

Leave the reception area and turn left. Walk down the corridor until the end. Here you will find a large wooden pole sign with screens showing an audiovisual presentation about the Network of Natural Spaces of Castile and Leon.

Turn right and enter the inner courtyard. Start exploring the area at the first display counters on your left. They will tell you about how salt was extracted in the area.

Excavations in the network of lagoons carried out by the University of Valladolid have discovered that salt began to be extracted in this area in prehistoric times, dating back to around 2,000 years BC. In the first display case you will find a reproduction of the small reddish clay bowls used by the people of the time, who used the boiling technique to obtain salt.

This technique involved heating saline water in earthenware bowls until it boiled. As the water evaporated, the salt concentrated in the remaining solution and eventually crystallised. These salt crystals were harvested, providing crude salt. This technique is still used even today, although the instrumentation is more advanced.

In the next three display cases you will find some archaeological remains - a prehistoric to-and-fro mill and two hand mills, all made of stone. These instruments were found by a farmer from Villafáfila and donated to the Park House for exhibition.

Prehistoric to-and-fro mills were tools that were used to grind grains and foodstuffs. These mills had a back-and-forth mechanism instead of a rotary motion, and were operated by hand. The mill was made mainly of stone, pottery or other locally available materials, and the top moved back and forth on a flat surface or in a concave vessel. Although old, this system is still used in many countries in Africa.

The next panel provides information on the development of the mining in this network of lagoons. You will also find a timeline showing the stages in the regulation of salt production in the Middle Ages.

The next display case contains a model of the buildings used during the Middle Ages for salt mining. The ovens where the water from the lagoons was boiled to extract the salt were located inside this building.

Next you will find the memory corner, with several colourful panels dedicated to the residents of several villages in the area, such as Villafáfila, Villarrín de Campos and Manganeses. In these panels you can see images dating from the end of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, showing life in the region. Among them is a photograph of a little girl next to the body of her newborn brother who had just died.

Post-mortem photographs or mortuary photographs were once a way of preserving the memory of deceased loved ones. These images often presented the deceased in a calm pose, sometimes surrounded by items that were symbolic or related to the family. Post-mortem photographs could be the only image left of the deceased person, and were considered a way of remembering and honouring them.

Finally, in the large rectangular display case you will find next, you will see various old tools and implements, such as an ironing board, shears for shearing sheep, and a hand blender.

This audio clip concludes your visit to the "El Palomar" Park House, in which you have been able to learn a little more about the landscapes, flora and fauna of the region, as well as the life of the residents of this area.

Please contact the reception desk or ask any of the staff at the Park House for more information.

Thank you for your visit.