Portal de Turismo de Castilla y León

Welcome to Capercaillie House, in Caboalles de Arriba.

As with the other park houses located all over the region of Castile and Leon, this is the recommended gateway to these natural areas. You will be given information about the Nature Reserve in this interpretation centre and help with planning 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.

A pole sign with information about the capercaillie welcomes you a few metres before you reach the stone path.

Go down the ramp or down the stairs to enter the house.

When you reach the top of the stairs you will find the Cantábrico-Sur Hostel on your left. On the right hand side, there is a path that you must follow until you reach the entrance to the Capercaillie Centre.

Before you enter, on the wall to your left, you can find a stone bench on which to rest and on the wall, a sign with information about the traditional semi-circular houses of the Laciana valley, with a large poultry yard with a raised granary in the centre, facing south and with a rye thatched "teito" roof. The word "teito" means thatched, and refers to any roof made of plant material.

You will see a panel showing a forest in autumn when you enter.

On the right hand side, you can find the reception desk, and on the wall to the left, a display case with the green store, where you can purchase a souvenir of your visit to the Capercaillie House.

Right next to the counter, in the wall to the left, a door opens into the audiovisual and multi-purpose room, where a 20-minute video is screened about the natural area, the coal mines, and the fauna and flora.

Back once again in the reception area, the ladies' toilets are past the desk, while the men's toilets are on the upper floor.

Go to the left wing and go up the stairs. You can also take the lift you will find to your left if you prefer.

On the landing of the staircase there is a space telling the geological story of this area, where you can examine the model of a rocky mountain with a chamois, a model of the Laciana Valley Biosphere Reserve, some birds hanging from the ceiling and information about the river Sil.

The first panel summarises the evolution of the territory over 440 million years.

At the dawn of history, during the period known as the Silurian-Devonian, the planet was not covered in continents as it is today. Living beings only lived in water.

At the beginning of the Silurian era, like the entire Iberian Peninsula, the Upper Sil was part of the northern edge of an massive continent known as Gondwana, located in the southern hemisphere. During the Silurian and Devonian eras, this continent moved slowly towards the equator. The northern coast of Gondwana was bathed by a shallow sea. The sea bed, composed of silt and sand, was home to trilobites and brachiopods, while the waters were home to armoured and spiny fish swimming among varied colonies of graptolites, as well as a diverse community of microscopic acritarchs. Interestingly, all vertebrates living today are descendants of these armoured fish.

On the panel, there is a glass case containing the fossils that belong to this period.

The next part of the panel talks about the Carboniferous period, which lasted for about 64 million years. There is a model of the geographical layout of the globe at the top of the panel.

The island floated until it collided with another continent in the northern hemisphere - what is now the United States.

There was a very hot and humid tropical climate and the level of oxygen in the atmosphere was much higher, which led to the growth of large forests of ferns and many large insects. For example, a dragonfly could be up to 30 centimetres long. The vegetation was also very large. Ferns could grow to as much as 30 metres tall, with trunks that were a metre in diameter.

When they fell into the water, these ferns underwent an anaerobic process due to the lack of oxygen. This preserved them, and they were fossilised and carbonised when they came into contact with carbon; becoming the coal that is extracted from the mines today.

Several carbonised fossils of ferns and horsetails are presented in the display case.

The next two parts of the mural are devoted to the glacial Pleistocene and the interglacial Pleistocene. These eras lasted almost two million years, until approximately 8,000 BC.

At the top of the panels, there are two models of the globe showing the continents in their present layout, with the Iberian Peninsula at the foot of Europe and at the top of Africa.

Due to its location, mammals such as sabre-toothed tigers and mammoths begin to arrive, and live side-by-side with humans.

During these periods, the earth experienced glaciations in which part of the territory was completely frozen, which led animals to head south in search of warmer temperatures and food, which is why animals such as the capercaillie reached the Iberian peninsula.

There are several remains of these animals in the display case, including the femur of an ancestor of the horse, and the molar of a mammoth.

The Capercaillie House is located in the town of Caboalles de Arriba. This settlement is surrounded by mountains, with a predominant presence of oak trees on the sunny slopes and other species such as yew, holly, birch and hazelnut trees on the shady slopes. From the point of view of tourism, there are interesting routes that explore places of ethnological importance, such as the pastureland areas of La Collada and Fleitina, which contain the remains of coal mining and Roman gold mining. These pasturelands with high mountain meadows and huts are land reclaimed from the mountain for pastures, where cattle and shepherds went in summer to take advantage of these pastures.

The village is located at an altitude of 1150 metres, so it has a cold mountain climate, with plenty of rainfall, meaning that the animals living in this area are well protected from the weather.

An example of this is the chamois standing on a model of a rocky mountain.

The chamois is a herbivorous mammal, similar to a goat. It has short, sturdy legs, hooves designed for climbing and a dense greyish-brown coat that helps it to blend in with its surroundings. These animals are social creatures that move in small herds in search of mountain pastures. Interestingly, it develops a second coat of fur in autumn and winter, as do dogs, foxes and wolves, in order to protect itself from the cold in the mountains.

Models of other birds that are able to avoid the cold hang from the ceiling of the room.

The first is a yellow-billed chough, a bird with black feathers, named for the yellow colour of its beak. Next to this model, there is another chough, which also has a yellow beak. They are both common in high mountains. They both belong to the crow family, so they are commonly confused with crows, as they are the same colour. These species normally live in the higher parts of the mountains, but they descend to lower and warmer levels when the temperatures drop. Hence the local saying: "cuando el grajo vuela bajo, hace un frío del carajo" - "When the rook flies low, it's bloody cold".

Another of the models shows an Egyptian vulture. It is one of the smallest species of vulture, with a length of about 85 centimetres from beak to tail, a wingspan of about 1.70 metres, and an average weight of two kilograms. It is a bird native to Africa, which comes to these climes in summer when the weather is good, but it returns to Africa when autumn comes and the temperatures turn colder.

At the foot of the model of the mountain, you will find a panel with information and images of other animals that also adapt to the cold, such as the brown bear and the Pyrenean newt, which hibernate when the weather gets cold.

The panel also presents some plants that adopt different strategies to survive in extreme conditions. For example, lichens with roots that are so strong that they get inside the rock and attach themselves to it.

Other plants have become smaller to make them less vulnerable to wind and rain and adopted a stunted, rounded shape to be more aerodynamic.

Although it rains and snows a lot, it is a dry climate because the water does not soak in, and runs off the rocks. One plant has managed to take root despite this drought: the evergreen. This plant behaves like a camel. When it has water it stores it in its leaves and gradually uses it up. It is also a plant that withstands very cold and very hot temperatures, hence its name.

To the left of the rock model is an image of the River Sil and a book with information about the fauna and flora that live in it.

The river Sil is the main tributary of the Miño. It is 234 kilometres long, and flows through Castile and Leon and Galicia. Despite being a tributary of the Miño, it exceeds it both in length and volume, which is why people in the area say: "The Sil has the water and the Miño the fame."

Among the varied and rich fauna that inhabits the river is the Iberian desman. It is an aquatic species, with a body like a mole, 14 to 18 centimetres long, with a hairless tail like a mouse and an elongated snout with sensitive hairs. It has very small eyes so its underwater vision is very poor, so it uses the sensitive hairs on its snout to study the ripples in the water to guide it and track its prey. It has webbed feet, with membranes between the toes, but it also has claws. It is known as the platypus of the Iberian Peninsula, because its body is a mixture of parts of other animals.

This animal is a catalyst, and an indicator of water quality. If the water becomes polluted, the animal has to move. The desman used to live in the river Sil until mining began in this area. This led to all the impurities from the mine and the waste from the larger population centres reaching the water and forced the animal to move to streams where the water was purer and cleaner.

The desman is a creature that needs very pure habitats far away from humans, as shown by the life project, which recently conducted a study and catalogued a large number of desmans in the village of Lumajo, a hamlet with about 70 inhabitants.

Move on to the next panels.

Peatlands are soils with constantly stagnant water, where low temperatures, acidity and low oxygen levels significantly restrict microbial activity. This leads to the organic matter there decomposing extremely slowly, resulting in peat gradually building up over the years, and sometimes reaching a thickness of several metres.

The sundew, a carnivorous plant that feeds on flies and insects, grows in this area. As the soil in these areas lacks sufficient nutrients, these plants have developed the ability to obtain them by capturing insects.

There is a model of the topography of the Laciana Valley Biosphere Reserve in the centre of the room.

This a mixed valley, with U-shaped valleys created by glaciers and V-shaped valleys created by rivers.

Leave this room and continue up the stairs.

Now you will come to a corridor where the men's toilets are located behind a wooden door at the end. Remember that the ladies' toilets are in the reception area, at the back.

The entrance to the capercaillie room is on the left, if you have taken the stairs, or straight ahead if you are coming from the lift. In the centre, there is a life-size model of a piece of forest with a capercaillie, showing a roost, the place where a capercaillie's mating rituals take place during the mating season.

The forests in this area are mixed forests. A forest is considered mixed when it contains more than three different species of trees. As a result, this area has different colours in the four seasons of the year.

You can find two trees in the model at the centre.

The first is a silver birch. This tree can reach a height of 10 to 30 metres. It is easily recognisable by its white bark and heart-shaped leaves with serrated edges.

The silver birch produces seeds, and the tender shoots of its leaves provide food for the capercaillie and other forest animals.

The wood is very soft and easy to cut, so it has always been used for buildings in contact with water and to make clogs.

Another tree in the model is the oak. There are three types in these forests, which are intermingled with each other. Its fruits are acorns that are eaten by capercaillies, bears and wild boars.

Oak wood is very hard and resistant, and is the wood of choice for making charcoal stoves. It is also used to make beams and boats.

The most important plant in these forests is the holly, as it is the only evergreen, besides the yew, but the yew is very poisonous.

The holly tree is the only one that stays alive in the forest during cold weather, providing capercaillies and other forest dwellers with food and shelter.

There is a cock and hen capercaillie in the model at the centre.

The capercaillie has considerable sexual dimorphism in terms of size and colour. The larger males weigh between 3 and 6 kilograms, have a wingspan of 75 to 115 centimetres and dark grey to dark brown plumage, with metallic green patches on the chest. They have feathers under the beak like a beard, a fan-shaped tail and red tubercles above the eyes.

The females are smaller, weighing about half as much, with a body of 55 to 65 centimetres, a wingspan of about 70 centimetres and brown plumage mottled in black in the upper parts, which lets them disguise themselves in the landscape to protect themselves and their offspring from predators using camouflage. Both sexes have feathered legs, white spots on the shoulders and broad, short toes.

The chicks are camouflaged with plumage similar to that of the females, and acquire their distinctive colouring after three months of age.

The capercaillie has a kind of spike on its toes that help it to walk through the snow and avoid sinking into it.

Despite being similar to a hen, it can fly, but is clumsy when it does so. Another very important difference is that hens can lay up to one egg a day, while a female capercaillie only lays between 5 and 9 eggs a year.

Walk around the model in the centre to a panel on the wall on the right as you enter the room. Here are some images of the capercaillie and explain the main threats to this bird.

A study published in 2022 shows the difficult situation the capercaillie is facing. Researchers estimate that there are only 191 capercaillies left in the Cantabrian Mountains. With this figure, the research shows a reduction in the population range of 83% since the 1970s.

The decline of the Cantabrian capercaillie population, which had been known for decades, led to a permanent ban on hunting in 1979. Although this decline is generalised, it is notably less pronounced in the Upper Sil than in other areas in the Cantabrian mountain range. These forests have become an example for the preservation of the species today. The Cantabrian capercaillie, a highly endangered species, requires active measures for its conservation. In the Upper Sil natural area, the Castile and Leon Regional Government has been carrying out population studies and forestry projects for years in order to adapt the habitat to the capercaillie's needs.

The main reasons for the decline in their population are:

The fragmentation of the forests it inhabits, as it needs continuous and extensive forests, rather than small fragmented patches resulting from forestry activities with little commitment to conservation.

Competition with large herbivores such as deer and wild boar that eat the tenderest and richest branches and shoots.

Hunting and winter beating disturb the species at these delicate times.

Forestry and activities in forests must be subject to conditions that are suitable for the capercaillie and do not disturb or alter their habitat.

Forest fires can quickly destroy areas that are vital for the species.

Leisure activities, such as adventure sports or hiking, can have a very negative impact at certain times of the year if they are not properly regulated.

And finally, climate change, which is changing insect populations and vegetation, leading to a decline in the food available for the chicks in June, when they hatch.

Now look at the panels on the opposite wall.

These panels are dedicated to the Cantabrian brown bear in the four seasons of the year.

When the weather improves in the spring, the bears come out to deed in the meadows and forest clearings.

Interestingly, forest rangers witnessed a bear cub being killed by a male in June 1996. This is normal behaviour in this species, and is aimed at bringing the females on heat.

It relaxes in the summer, wandering in the shelter of the mountains, on the steep slopes where there are plenty of fruits and berries. This animal has a sweet tooth, and cannot help attacking hives with honey.

In the past, people built circular stone fortifications to provide protection against bears. These housed beehives made of cork or hollowed-out tree trunks.

In autumn, the mountainous landscapes are filled with activity. While humans are busy chopping wood and tending livestock, bears scour the trees for nutritious chestnuts, acorns and wild apples on the ground. This food will help them to accumulate the necessary fat under the skin to face the winter, and this is crucial for their survival.

In the winter, while the snow gradually covers everything, humans and livestock take shelter in the villages of the Upper Sil. The bear is lonely and hungry. In the absence of other food sources, it eats the carcasses of other animals killed by the cold. In the harshest weather, they sleep in dens, where they survive the cold and hunger. This is also where the females give birth to their cubs.

Protruding from the panel are two bear tracks that you can touch and compare with your own hand. The footprint on the left is from the front leg and one on the right is from the rear leg. The bear is a plantigrade, which means it rests the sole of its foot flat on the ground, which enables it to stand upright.

Move on to the next panel. It talks about the differences between the leaves of the different trees in the forest.

Dry leaves of each specimen are displayed on the shelf that protrudes from the panel.

Go out into the corridor and through the opposite door.

Move on to the next room. Everything exhibited here has been donated by the residents of the village.

Go to the corner at the back, where there is a life-size hut. It is a construction of stone with a thatched roof that used to be built in the pasturelands in the high mountains, so that the shepherds and livestock could shelter there.

The thatched roof is called a "teito". Normally, it was made with rye straw, but since this was a poor material, it had to be repaired from time to time and it had to be completely replaced every 13 years. The numbers of thatchers are also in decline, and thatched roofs are being replaced by slate, which is more resistant.

The hut is on two levels. The shepherd sleeps at the top, and the livestock sleeps below, at ground level. This provides heating, as the heat rises.

There is a worn-out clog in front of the door of the hut. These clogs are worn with slippers at home, so that when a person arrives home, they take off the clogs and leave them outside. It is a warm and comfortable shoe, although it is difficult to walk with them until you get used to them.

On the wall, next to the door of the cabin, there is a carder for horses' manes and a trap to catch moles; sticks for driving the cattle, a sifting rope, a cowbell and a tool for thatching the hut.

To the left of the hut is a sign that talks about the Leonese butter cow.

Cattle known as "the national breed", the Serrano cow, which was what the Leonese butter cow used to be called, originally predominated in this region. At some point, this variety was crossed with the Mirandesa from Portugal, the Tudanca and the Avileña, creating a new breed called the Leonese butter cow. It was a robust and unique native breed, highly valued for its stamina and the quality of its milk, which it produced in limited quantities but which was rich in fat, meaning that it produced good butter. Thanks to the work done by the Sierra y Pambley college to foster the value of this product, considerable economic development is taking place in north-western León, which produces the leading fine butter in Spain, and has even obtained European prizes for the best butter.

However, in the middle of the twentieth century, the Leonese butter cow began to be replaced by a foreign breed, the Swiss Brown, due to the better financial results it provided, as the amount of milk was taken into account rather than its levels of fat. In recent years, veterinarians from the University of León have collected several specimens of the Leon butter cow and are working on the selection and restoration of the breed with a group of breeders.

The next panel on the left shows an image of the fields, and displays some agricultural tools such as a rake for grass; a hooked stick for the hay in haystacks; a scythe for mowing grass; a sickle to reap rye; a hoe for making dams, and watering and a container known to carry a sharpening stone.

All the grass and crops were transported by wagons pulled by cows. Interestingly, these carts had a registration number and had to pay taxes, as did bicycles.

Go to the opposite corner.

Here is a model of an outsera /ouchera/. It is a stone construction that was built over a cool fountain (the water running underneath keeps the area cold, like a cellar for preserving milk and food in the same way as a refrigerator. After the cows had been milked, the milk was boiled and the pot was taken to the outsera, where it was kept cool.

In the centre of the room, there are pedestals displaying a feridera, which is a kind of metal drum the size of a demijohn, used to make butter by stirring the cream inside it vigorously for 10 to 15 minutes.

There is another, much larger butter dish next to it. It has an internal paddle mechanism, which churns the cream into butter when a crank is turned.

The next one shows a typical butter dish, similar to a wooden bowl.

There is also a wolf collar that mastiffs wore to prevent bears and wolves from attacking them.

Next are some cowbells, a scratcher, to scratch the cattle and finally, a bitichu, which is an implement with three spikes that was fitted to the snout of the calf, to prevent it from suckling; when it was fitted, when it approached its mother to suckle, it hurt her, and she gave it a kick.

Finally, on the previous wall, next to the entrance to the room, there is a panel that talks about the dialect of the region, patsuezu, also known as Asturleones.

Asturleonese is a dialect or series of linguistic variants spoken in a specific geographic region covering parts of Asturias and León and some neighbouring areas in Spain.

Although it is similar to Spanish, patsuezu has distinctive features that make it unique. It is a Romance language that has preserved archaic characteristics of colloquial Latin and is influenced by the pre-Roman languages spoken in the region.

The use of Asturleones has declined over the years, as it has been displaced by Spanish as the dominant language. Nevertheless, some work is being done to revitalise and preserve this linguistic heritage. Local organisations and communities work to promote patsuezu through teaching, literary and musical production, and raising awareness of its cultural importance.

This audio clip concludes your visit to the Capercaillie House, in which you have been able to learn about the bird, where it lives, what it eats and the hazards that endanger it. You have also learned about the history of the Upper Sil region and the lives of its people.

To leave the house, go out into the corridor and down the two flights of stairs to the reception area; you can take the lift if you prefer.

If you would like more information, please contact the reception desk or ask any of the environmental educators at the Park House.

Thank you for your visit.