Portal de Turismo de Castilla y León

Welcome to the "Riberas de Castronuño y Vega del Duero" Park House.

Before starting the tour, you should know that there are different spaces inside. This audio guide is divided into audio tracks with the information contained in the different rooms. The end of each track is marked by a single beep like the one you will hear now when the information changes:

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And a double beep when there is a space change. [SOUND SAMPLE] [SOUND SAMPLE]

After the beep, you can choose to skip to the next audio track.

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This Park House, as the rest of the houses of the park spread throughout the Castilla y León region, it is the recommended gateway to these natural areas. Here, the environmental educators welcome, inform and share with the visitors the natural and ethnographic values of the Reserve, which are many and very surprising. This interpretation centre has a viewpoint with a spectacular view and an exhibition on the natural space, with different interactive resources, a video that recreates a boat ride on the Duero River, and a live fauna observation camera.

The house is located at the top of La Muela de Castronuño, in the upper part of the village next to the Romanesque church of Santa María del Castillo, which dates back to the 12th century and is surrounded by the chimneys of the traditional underground cellars dug into the ground.

Did you know that the village of Castronuño originated as a defensive point on the Duero River in the 11th century? And it remained so until the 15th century, when Ferdinand II of Aragón demolished the walls after his victory over Joanna of Castile "La Beltraneja."

The "Riberas de Castronuño y Vega del Duero" Park House is a building constructed with the purpose of bringing cohesion to the environment in which it is located. Its design seeks to offer the necessary services for a public and functional use of the Nature Reserve.

On the outside, it is a sober two-storey building, with a stone façade at the entrance and above it some glass windows, which are the viewpoint overlooking the Duero River and the region’s landscapes. The entrance to the Park House has a gate, an open courtyard with a small garden on the left, with shrubs and a tree. In front and to your right, there is a rectangular vestibule attached to the wall.

A glass panel framed in wood occupies the left side of this entrance. To the right of the panel is a double glass door, also framed in wood. One and a half metres from this entrance, the exit wall of this vestibule has the glass panel on the right and the glazed door on the left.

When you enter the reception area, you will find the desk right in front of you. On the left-hand side, a shelf with information leaflets leads into a rectangular room. To your right, a display case contains the green shop and a corridor leads to a staircase. In the same corridor, on your left, are the toilets.

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Next to the reception, on a round table, you will find a glass-enclosed map of the Nature Reserve. In it, the topography of the area is described and the Duero River appears crossing the whole region.

Castronuño is the town where the Park House is located, but the Nature Reserve also includes a large part of the municipalities of Pollos, Torrecilla de la Abadesa, and Tordesillas, covering an area of 8,420 hectares. Curiously, this is the only Nature Reserve in the entire province of Valladolid.

The Nature Reserve is divided into zones according to their levels of protection. The Reserve area is the area of greatest environmental protection, where the most diverse habitats are found. Depending to their environmental features, different human activities or land uses are allowed in the areas. In these areas, there is agricultural land, extensive or intensive livestock farming, through which the paths of the Reserve run and where the populations and industries that are generated around them are located.

The main artery of the Reserve is the Duero River, which crosses the area from east to west. One of the characteristics of this environment is the San José dam, near Castronuño. It was completed in the 1940s and, instead of creating a large body of water, the river widened for thirteen kilometres, which had an enormous influence on the riverbanks’ vegetation. The Nature Reserve has a marked riparian vegetation and an important forest. However, in the areas of Castronuño and Pollos, in particular, there is an intermediate band between the river and the forest occupied by reeds. This reedbed became large and dense due to the widening of the river. Following this reedbed, irrigated fields are cultivated, mainly alfalfa and corn, which give way to yellow cereal fields, dotted with holm oak groves.

Reeds are plants that need moisture and moderate heat and require nutrient-rich soil, making them a good indicator of soil richness. Reeds live on the margins of marshes, lagoons, and riverbanks with slow-moving waters, forming dense communities known as reedbeds, which are very important for ecosystems because this is where many water birds live and nest. Reeds’ leaves are elongated and lanceolate, in other words, they are lance-shaped, and their spikes form very characteristic feathery plumes.

When there was no dam, the reedbed was a thin line. It is now wide and is home to a variety of water birds, such as purple herons, black-crowned night-heron, little egrets, and marsh harriers. The reservoir is an important ornithological site in Castilla y León for breeding birds. It’s also a place for migratory birds to rest and reorient their flight during their long journey.

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To the left of the hall, you can find a round platform, which you can access via a ramp. It simulates a small theatre, with the name "Riberas de Castronuño y Vega del Duero Nature Reserve" and contains drawn cut-outs. The background is a panel with a drawing of the banks of the Duero River.

Among these reed species, the purple heron stands out, which is the emblem of the Nature Reserve. The Reserve's logo is a circle enclosing a reed stalk with its plumes and a purple heron's head.

The purple heron is a large bird, which can measure almost 1 metre long and a height of 80 centimetres. It is a slender bird, weighing only about 750 grams. It has brown, reddish and grey plumage, a straight, pointed, yellow bill, a long neck curved in the shape of a beak and thin legs.

As for the reed, it is a plant that grows from rhizomes, which are submerged stems, forming long, flexible canes, with lanceolate or spear-shaped leaves. At the top of the stems, flowers appear in summer or autumn, forming plumes.

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If you go forward, you will come to two signs under a sliding window. They contain photos of birds in the natural space, such as, for example, the marsh harrier, a resident bird that nests in the reedbed.

It is a medium-sized raptor that lives in wetlands. It is an opportunistic hunter that feeds on a wide variety of prey, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. It is listed as a species of "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List, but its population is declining in some areas. It has a wingspan about 120 centimetres, with a robust body and long, narrow wings. Its plumage is dark brown in general, with a lighter shade on the head and neck. It has a large, rounded head with a long, curved beak. Its eyes are large and yellow. Its legs are long and yellow, with black claws.

In the Nature Reserve there are over 200 registered species of birds, such as the reed warbler and the great crested grebe, among others, because the reedbeds provide them with food, shelter, protection, and material for their nests.

The fragility and importance of the ecosystems generated by the construction of the dam led to its protection as a Nature Reserve. The dam was built to create the San José reservoir in order to generate electricity through a hydroelectric power station and also to build two irrigation canals; the Toro and San José canals, which transport water to land far from the river. In other words, the fact that the dam produced a large increase in biodiversity in its surroundings was an unexpected positive result of its construction, an infrastructure with a large visual and riverbed impact. This paradox illustrates human's transformative capacity.

On the window sill, next to the signs, you can find nests, nesting boxes, and feathers of the Reserve's birds.

On the windowsill is a nesting box that has no roof, is full of feathers and with a large entrance. Can you imagine how they build this entrance?

The architect is a woodpecker, in this case, a great spotted woodpecker, which, on discovering the perfect little hole in the nesting box, pecked at it and made it bigger so that it could get in. Once it managed to get into the nesting box, it saw that it is too small to nest in and had no insects, so it left, leaving the nesting box useless. Great spotted woodpeckers are insectivorous birds, with strong beaks, a reinforced skull and legs and tail that they use to rest on the trunk for extra strength when pecking.

Nesting boxes are placed to facilitate the nesting of small insectivorous birds such as Eurasian blue tit, finches, fringilla or European robins.

Sometimes, however, wasps take over the box and make it their home.

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If you reach the platform, you will discover a metre-high log with a hole in the top. It is covered by green wood. This one is also the work of a great spotted woodpecker, which used it as a nest. In the back of the trunk, protected by a transparent plastic, you will find the nest, as the trunk is cut lengthwise.

The bottom of the deep nest is filled with the softest material available to make it comfortable for the eggs and chicks. In this case, the background is made of moss and poplar fluff. As a curiosity, if the great spotted woodpecker were to find sheep nearby, they will use their wool to pad the nest.

The great spotted woodpecker is frequent in this Nature Reserve and it is common to hear it pecking at a rate of up to twenty-two times per minute. They use pecking to build their nest, to forage for food, and to attract the attention of females during courtship.

In the theatre there are special nesting boxes for bats. In Castilla y León there are more than 20 species of bats and they are all protected.

Bats are the only flying mammals in the world. They are small and light animals, varying in weight and size from species to species.

Bats bodies are adapted to flight. Their wings are formed by a membrane that extends from the fingers to the toes. This membrane is reinforced by bones and muscles that give it rigidity and strength. They have a large head, with an elongated snout, small eyes with night vision and developed hearing for orientation and capture of prey, including insects, fruits, flower nectar and small fish, mammals, and reptiles. Bats play an important role in controlling insect populations. They are nocturnal animals that hunt at dusk. Their flight is silent and agile, allowing them to approach their prey undetected.

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Continue until you reach a display case divided into four spaces with three shelves. Here, you can find a sample of the tracks left by the animals that live in the area, for instance, moults from Montpellier snakes and ladder snakes, pellets, nests, nibbled almonds, feathers, and eggs. There are also animal remains such as skulls and antlers. All this demonstrates the existence of a great biodiversity, which, although most of the time invisible to humans, leaves clues to their presence in the area.

You can also find pieces of charcoal from the Mediterranean scrubland, where charcoal makers used to make charcoal from holm oak wood.

The work of the charcoal maker was a hard and laborious activity dating back to ancient times. Charcoal makers were responsible for the extraction and production of charcoal, a fuel used for cooking, heating, and lighting. The charcoal-making process began with the selection of suitable wood, usually oak, holm oak, or cork oak. The wood was cut into metre-long logs and transported to the place where the charcoal was to be made.

Once on site, the logs were stacked in a pyramid shape. Stacking was carried out carefully so that the wood was well compacted. A layer of earth or dry leaves was then placed on top of the wood.

The next step was to light the fire. The fire was placed in the centre of the pyramid and left to spread for days.

Once the wood was charred, it was stored in sacks and transported to the markets.

The trade of charcoal marker disappeared in the 20th century, due to the development of coal mining, but there are still some charcoal markers keeping this tradition alive.

In this display case, the nature of the environment can be found, but indirectly, through its traces. Sometimes, it is difficult to find a Montpellier snake or a ladder snake, but their presence is evident thanks to their moults.

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On your left, you can find a room with an interactive game, a map and information panels describing the natural areas of Castilla y León.

The interactive feature contains general information about the Nature Reserve, which can be delivered via a touch screen, with games for children.

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The six panels on the wall are dedicated to the Palencia Mountains. They refer to the presence of bears, in a more mountainous ecosystem than this plateau.

The Montaña Palentina area, declared a Nature Reserve in 2000 for its natural, scenic, fauna, and botanical value, is the natural habitat of the brown bear and the Eurasian capercaillie. The vegetation includes oaks, beeches, holm oaks, and junipers. With a complex geology, it has an extremely modelled relief, the result of the action of both karst and glacial phenomena, which is reflected in cirques, valleys, and lagoons, such as the Lomas Lagoon, the Ves Lagoon, and the Curavacas Well.

With this information, you are welcome to discover other landscapes in the community.

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Walk to the back of the room, to a wooden hut under the name "Observatory of the Reserve." Here you will find a screen where the images of the Nature Reserve recorded by the live camera are streamed.

This hut is one of the most important resources of the Park House, thanks to the live camera, located in the reedbed on the river bank, within the Nature Reserve zone, which is fully protected. The camera is operated by turning the knob on the pedestal in the centre of the room.

The camera makes it possible to follow the animals living in the river and the reedbed in real time. It has continuous recording and night vision. With these recordings, an important collection of sightings is collected, which can be shown during visits. Otters, purple herons, and nesting grebes, among others, have been recorded.

The camera has recorded how they pair up and incubate eggs, how they start feeding the chicks when they are small and how fast they grow. The camera has also witnessed the creation of stork's nests, kingfishers diving, birds of prey perched in the trees, turtles and crabs.

On the wall where the screen is located, a sign near the ceiling reads: "Search with the help of the camera for different inhabitants of the Nature Reserve."

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Exit the observatory and go to the upper floor. To do this, you can use the stairs or the lift across the hall.

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Once upstairs, you will find an elongated room with an interactive feature attached to the right wall, underneath a map of the Nature Reserve. Attached to the left wall is a table with a model of the Park House, with Braille numbering in all the rooms and a legend associating room numbers and name, also in Braille.

The map on the right-hand wall summarises the characteristics of the natural area. In the interactive feature you can consult characteristics, villages, nature, and cultural resources; as well as information on how to organise a visit to the Reserve, photos, and games for children.

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Below, there are several panels. The first is entitled "Diversity of Landscapes, Diversity of Life." It shows the main ecosystems of the Nature Reserve, with the river as the main axis of the landscape and the diversity of the environment.

The Duero River is the aquatic ecosystem and, next to it, the riverside vegetation. Riverside forests, also called gallery forests or copses, are deciduous forests that grow on both sides of rivers. They are characterised by the presence of plant species that need the humidity of the river to survive. They are important for the environment, as they are refuge areas for wildlife, provide shade and coolness on river banks and help regulate water flow.

This is followed by the reedbed, which is often flooded. As you move away from the river, the biodiversity changes and the landscape becomes Mediterranean forest, characterised by the presence of pines and holm oaks, as well as rainfed crops, which are home to species such as great bustards, little bustards, and stone curlews. In this Mediterranean area, species other than those closest to the river coexist, such as the badger, the dormouse, the Iberian eagle, and the deer. As a curious fact, it is worth noting that most of this area of Mediterranean forest belongs to private estates dedicated to big game hunting.

These Mediterranean forests play an important role in the environment, as they are refuge areas for wildlife, help regulate the water cycle and protect the soil from erosion.

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The next panel in front of you consists of three sections. At the top, you will find a display with pictures of birds and samples of them, with which you can interact with the magnifying glass that can be found on the pedestal and discover a butterfly wing, a feather, a millipede, a fly, or whatever is on display at the moment.

Initially, this magnifying glass was designed to observe the micro-organisms present in the river water, but the intensity of the light dried and heated the water, causing the micro-organisms to die.

Just below the screen, in the central section of the panel, there are four viewfinders showing images of steppe birds such as the stone-curlew, great bustard, little bustard, and the calandra lark.

These birds are found in areas with dry climates and sparse vegetation and can survive extreme conditions.

These birds are large to medium-sized, with long, pointed wings, allowing them to fly long distances in search of food and water. They also have dull-coloured plumage, which helps them camouflage in the environment.

Steppe birds feed on a wide variety of prey, including seeds, fruits, and small mammals, and help control insect populations.

The third part of the panel is dedicated to plants from the reedbed, thus completing an interactive experience that combines information on birds, feathers, and specific flora of the natural environment.

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Continue to the next panel, which is also divided into three parts.

The upper section shows information and drawings of birds that populate the trees around the river. Pressing the pedal on the ground will show which animals inhabit these forests in summer and winter. The central part, entitled "The mountain: birds of prey, rockroses, and holm oaks", proposes a game that pairs photos of birds of prey with silhouettes of birds of prey in flight by means of buttons. In the lower section, there are drawings of trees.

When identifying raptors it is important to consider the silhouette, as these species are usually studied in flight. They can also be identified by how they fly, in what environment they fly and by their colours.

The panel depicts the silhouettes of a short-toed snake eagle, a goshawk, a black kite, and a booted eagle. The silhouettes of these birds in flight are characterised by their outstretched wings forming a broad "V" shape. Their pointed tail extends backwards and their heads with a sharp beak tilt slightly forward. Their legs stretch backwards as they flies, conveying an image of power and agility in the sky.

They are all diurnal birds of prey; therefore, they hunt during the day. They have sharp claws and a curved beaks that they use for hunting.

All are relatively large, with long wings and a short tail. They also have dark-coloured plumage that helps them blend into their environment.

In addition to those represented on the panel, red kites, buzzards, griffon vultures, some black vultures, and the Iberian imperial eagle are common in this area.

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Keep moving to your left, a corner panel narrows the way to the next room. To the right of this panel, which forms an acute angle with the wall, there is a window from which one can spot the parish church of the village, built in the mid-13th century in the late Romanesque style with Gothic touches. Interestingly, the roof of the church does not have tiles but stone slabs.

To the left of the panel, you can access an irregular room with panels on the right wall. These panels contain old black and white photographs of the villages and inhabitants of the Nature Reserve, which have been donated by the residents themselves.

This room is dedicated to the local population who lived along the Duero and whose life developed around it.

In the past, the farm labourers worked on the estates, charring the holm oak, working the land, tending the herds, and hunting rabbits. As a curious fact, each labourer could take home half a rabbit out of every ten he hunted and the rest were sold.

There were also those who worked on the Duero. The fishermen used to go down to the river bank on mules to where they moored their boats in the place still known today as the harbour.

Another important post was that of the boatmen, who were responsible for ferrying labourers and flocks of sheep in large barges from one shore to the other. On them, hundreds of people crossed the river daily for years.

The images on the posters capture festive moments, landscapes, bicycle races, slaughter celebrations, children in first communion attire, and various aspects of the life of these neighbours.

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Then follow the right wall to a large, almost ten-metre long, continuous window.

This is the viewpoint of the Park House. In the background is the large Mediterranean forest ecosystem. You can see the windmills of San Pelayo and Torrelobatón, the vineyards of Toro and the slopes of Tordesillas. This point is one of the best places to study the Castronuño Meander. Did you know that this curve is considered one of the largest meanders in Europe?

This is a middle section of the river, where the speed of the flow is not very high and carries a lot of suspended matter. That is why there are no trout or salmon in its waters, but carp and barbel. For this reason, at the foot of the railway bridge there is a sport fishing stand, where domestic championships are organised.

The river flows from your right to your left and in front of you is the San José reservoir.

The Nature Reserve is a landscape that doesn’t change throughout the year, because the holm oaks and pines are evergreen and do not change seasonally. However, the riparian vegetation is mostly deciduous, and the change is more evident. In the summer the reeds become stronger and greener.

In addition to the natural landscape, the surrounding group of chimneys, which correspond to the cellars excavated on the top of La Muela, is also striking.

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A niche in front of the window contains excrement, pellets, and footprints.

Pellets are compact masses of non-digestible remains such as bones, hairs, feathers, and even insect exoskeletons, which certain birds, such as nocturnal raptors, regurgitate after ingesting their prey.

The pellets are an important source of information on bird feeding. All birds that eat micromammals, such as mice, voles or fish, ingest parts that are not well digested. These parts are regurgitated through the beak in the form of hairballs and bones. Thanks to the remains found in the pellets, it is possible to identify the species. For instance, eagle owl pellets are huge and herons are made up of scales and spines. Interestingly, the presence of the Algerian mouse in the Nature Reserve is only known thanks to the identification of its jaws in the pellets.

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Go through the double wooden door and you will enter the audio-visual room. On the left, you will find a wooden footbridge, which imitates river piers. On the right, you can sit inside the boat. The audio system, projections and a system of fans will create a montage in which you will feel like you are taking a boat ride on the Duero River.

The audio-visual content projected at the end of the visit explains with images and audio the whole tour of the Reserve.

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The "Riberas de Castronuño y Vega del Duero" Park House is an open window to the Nature Reserve, where you can explore the geology, fauna, flora, and history of the area, through models, interactive games, posters and views from the viewpoint that underline the importance of conservation and appreciation for the ecosystems of the Nature Reserve.

To conclude, we will read a text by writer Valentín Herrera:

If you have come to Castronuño, to enjoy La Muela,

you will, unintentionally, see great things.

I would like to remember some places to admire

in the village, believe me it’s no dream.

Cuesta, Cartago, Cubillas, and part of La Ribera,

the entire Duero Valley, La Calda, and Las Laderas.

To La Salud fountain we go down for water,

with the jug on our shoulder, our head, or our hip.

From La Salud fountain through to Teso

I walk down to the olive groves and over to the pass.

From the pass to the viewpoint, I climb calmly and happily,

and when I get there, I can’t believe my eyes:

The Mucientes viewpoint is real, not a fairy tale,

enjoying this landscape is an event.

Few places like that can be seen today,

to admire it, you have to come here.

From the Mucientes viewpoint, I go to La Cal furnace

and when I get there, I see something special.

From La Cal furnace, to Peñarrubia I go

to enjoy the scenery if I were to climb to the viewpoint.

Of all these places, which I wanted to mention,

I think there are very few places that can match it today.

At the Nature Reserve House, you can get more information,

they will show you things with great kindness.

And so I want to say goodbye, without ever bidding adieu,

so you come often if you have the chance.

With this audio track, the visit is over. To exit, go back to the entrance or the door at the back of the room, which connects to the room you have reached on this floor. Here, you can use the stairs or the lift to go down to the lobby.

Thank you for your visit.