Eastern La Mancha wetlands

Europe, Spain

Overview

This entry gives general information and an index on several groups of shallow wetlands located in the corner between the provinces of Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo, about 150 km SW from Madrid.

Associated to the Eastern Mancha aquifer, most of them were in origin endorheic shallow lakes (laguna in Spanish stands for a shallow inland lake, so it has a different meaning than the English term lagoon, which sounds similar but indicates a coastal one), drying out completely during summer and developing saline or hypersaline ecosystems, although other wetland types as riverine flood areas were also found (i.e. confluence of Gigüela and Záncara river near Alcázar de San Juan). Size do not exceed 200 Ha for the larger ones.

Some of them are located close to small towns and now receive some amount of their treated sewage having lost as a result most of their saline character, developing a fringe of Phragmites reeds instead of the prairies of Salicornia ramosissima, Salsola soda, Suaeda sp and several Limonium sp and becoming more permanent and eutrophic. In some places Tamarix bushes have been planted in the shore. The more extreme develope extense salt pans during the dry season.

The degree and extent of inundation changes from year to year. Some are managed to dry out to avoid botulism. In a normal year you can expect to find all of them dry from July until October (the smaller ones may dry out sooner), with the exception of Laguna Grande and Laguna Chica at Villafranca de los Caballeros, Los Charcones at Miguel Esteban and perhaps Laguna de la Veguilla at Lagunas de Alcázar.

The area is designated Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO since 1981 and includes around twenty lagoons grouped into the following groups, which are treated individually:

Sites covered

Lagunas de Lillo

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Lagunas de Quero

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Lagunas de Miguel Esteban

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All of them are protected under Natura 2000 network Three of them: Laguna de Manjavacas, the group of Lagunas de Alcázar and Laguna de Pedro Muñoz have been also designated as RAMSAR sites.

History and Use

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Areas of Interest

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Access and Facilities

The whole area is roughly encompassed between three highways: A-4, CM-42 and AP-36 (toll), and a national road, N-420, making access easy by car from Madrid in about 1h 30 min. The roads in between are well paved and signposted. Alcázar de San Juan is the bigger town in the area (pop. 35.000), and is also linked by railway to Madrid, Albacete, Ciudad Real and Jaén.

While binoculars may be enough at times at Pedro Muñoz and the two inner hides of La Veguilla at Alcázar de San Juan and at Los Charcones of Miguel Esteban, a scope is invaluable for all the other wetlands, as distances involved are usually large.

Accommodation is available in Mota del Cuervo, Belmonte, Alcázar de San Juan, Pedro Muñoz and there are hotels in surrounding towns.

External Links

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Content and images originally posted by Fernando Alonso (fdokykcu)