Villabellosa Rural House, excellent location to explore the EXTREME NORTH with everything ready.
By: Origin sport and nature, Iduna Tours, Sebastian Caballero and C.R. Villabellosa
A magical autumn, like the rest of the seasons, full of intensity and plenitude. A palette of colors falls on the canvas of the landscape, slopes loaded with trees that are dyed yellow, orange, red, standing out among the fading greenery of the oaks and ashes, supported at the base by oaks always of an austere, almost imperturbable greenery. A magical autumn that is loaded with flavors: those of mushrooms, nuts, chestnuts,… fruits of the land that follow the explosion of flavors of summer: fruits and vegetables among which the abundant cherries, strawberries, Aldeanueva del Camino peppers,… all bright red, like the refreshing rivers and gorges make us feel. In contrast to summer, winter, to the warmth of the fireplace when you get home, ideal for walking, under the comforting sun, paths through alleys, alleys of towns that, like Hervás, stand out for their traditional architecture, or like La Garganta, or Cabezabellosa, allow us to contemplate and feel the snow some days. And as the cranes march after the calm of winter, the explosion of spring, of the cherry blossoms, behind the almond trees, the race for life, of which we can be spectators and actors and actresses.
A landscape for walking, hiking and appreciating those meadows and orchards delimited by walls with dry walls, where we may be surprised by a water wheel, a country house or a mill that is given life by an irrigation ditch that lowers the water captured at the top of the mountain and which also served to cultivate those orchards that became the authentic pantries of basic products for the residents of the plain and these river valleys.
Ecotourism to enjoy mycology, cranes and a great diversity of birds and wild and domestic fauna, from the deer rut to the management of the Iberian pig in the dehesa, the flowering of fields and orchards… and an infinite number of paths and routesthat take us to extraordinary spaces.
In IDUNA TOURS We offer a specialized service of guided routes, through which you can discover the natural sites and the most emblematic species of our fauna. Check our activities.
The ancient Roman city of Cáparra, founded in the 1st century BC, is located in the region of Trasierra and Tierras de Granadilla, a few minutes from Plasencia. Surrounded by pastures and small lagoons, it presents a wide variety of Mediterranean birds, as well as an important wintering population of cranes and other more unique species, such as the emblematic black stork, which still has several nesting pairs in the area.
During this activity, focused on people who want to get started in ornithology, we will take a tour of some of the places adjacent to this ancient Roman villa, discovering some of the bird species typical of these environments.
Resident species: Gray heron, Nile goose, mallard, marsh harrier, little grebe, owlet, black vulture, griffon vulture, hoopoe, chaffinch, white wagtail, kingfisher, Iberian kingfisher, gray shrike, Moorish sparrow…Summer species: Black stork, white stork, booted eagle, short-toed eagle, black kite, European dove, bee-eater, cuckoo, little ringed plover, oriole, common shrike, European warbler, wattlebird…Wintering species: Red kite, hen harrier, merlin, common teal, black-headed gull, black-headed gull, black-headed pigeon, lapwing, common snipe, redshank, skylark, common pipit, reed bunting… Species in transit: Spoonbill, sandpiper, golden plover, musical chiffchaff, pied flycatcher, gray flycatcher, stonechat northern wheatear, gray wheatear… Other species: Otter, mongoose, long-tailed lizard, western Iberian lizard, ocellated lizard.
RETURN OF THE CRANES
High in the mountains, the Central System in the north of Extremadura, sliding towards the south in the Traslasierra Mountains, always embracing the landscape and the Alagón and Ambroz Valleys, sheltering a foothills rich in life. Below, the immense, infinite pasture, like a carpet full of history and stories, like that of the cranes that come every winter, or like a spine, the Cañada Real Soriana Occidental and the Vía de la Plata, which run through it from south to north, recalling past times of splendor and abundance. Between them, the gorges and rivers that flow downward like arteries that distribute life wherever they pass, the traditional paths that, like a labyrinth, draw a mosaic of meadows and orchards, fruit fields, olive groves, cherry trees… dotted with orchids and countless flowers in spring, mushrooms and colors in autumn.
