The Lagunas de Ruidera are a group of small lakes in the Campo de Montiel, Castilla-La Mancha, between

Albacete Province Albacete ( es, Provincia de Albacete, ) is a province of central Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. As of 2012, Albacete had a population of 402,837 people. Its capital city, also called Albacete, is ...

, and

Ciudad Real Province The province of Ciudad Real () is a province in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. It is partly located in ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Most of the lakes are interconnected and their total water amount may reach 23.06 hm³, which is considerable by the standards of other lakes in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. The largest lakes are Laguna Colgada and Laguna del Rey. The area near the lakes is a tourist site, with small hotels, restaurants, camping sites and private villas, located mostly in or around Ruidera town. The area can be reached from

Ossa de Montiel Ossa de Montiel is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Albacete, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It has a population of 2,836 (2005). The Lagunas de Ruidera are located within this town's municipal term. Notable people

* Óscar Sevilla, Sp ...

Villahermosa Villahermosa ( , ; "Beautiful Village") is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and serves as the Municipalities of Mexico, municipal seat (governing county) of the state. Located in Southeast Mexico, Villahermosa is an ...

List of lakes

There are now 15 small lakes in the group:

Albacete Province

* Laguna Colgada * Laguna Batana * Laguna Santos Morcillo * Laguna Salvadora * Laguna Lengua * Laguna Redondilla * Laguna de San Pedro * Laguna Tinaja * Laguna Tomilla * Laguna Conceja * Laguna Taza. This lake was drained in order to build a

camping site A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using ten ...

Ciudad Real Province

*Laguna Cenagosa *Laguna Coladilla *Laguna Cueva Morenilla *Laguna del Rey *Laguna Blanca

Ecology

There are a variety of birds in the lake shores:

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

s, like the

red-crested pochard The red-crested pochard (''Netta rufina'') is a large diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek language, Greek ''Netta'' "duck", and Latin ''rufina'', "golden-red" (from ''rufus'', "ruddy"). Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes a ...

common pochard The common pochard (; ''Aythya ferina'') is a medium-sized diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin ''ferina'', "wild game", f ...

mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

and

tufted duck The tufted duck or tufted pochard (''Aythya fuligula'') is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek '' aithuia'', an unidentified seabird ment ...

, as well as the

Eurasian coot The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...

common moorhen The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World. The common moorhen lives around well-vegetated mars ...

great reed warbler The great reed warbler (''Acrocephalus arundinaceus'') is a Eurasian passerine in the genus '' Acrocephalus''. The genus name ''Acrocephalus'' is from Ancient Greek ''akros'', "highest", and ''kephale'', "head". It is possible that Naumann and ...

bearded reedling The bearded reedling (''Panurus biarmicus'') is a small, sexual dimorphism, sexually dimorphic reed bed, reed-bed passerine bird. It is frequently known as the bearded tit, due to some similarities to the long-tailed tit, or the bearded parrotbil ...

, purple heron,

little bittern The little bittern or common little bittern (''Ixobrychus minutus'') is a wading bird in the heron family, Ardeidae. ''Ixobrychus'' is from Ancient Greek ''ixias'', a reed-like plant and ''brukhomai'', to bellow, and ''minutus'' is Latin for "sm ...

and

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

s. In the waters of the lakes there are also endemic Iberian fishes like the ''

Rutilus lemmingii ''Iberochondrostoma lemmingii'' ( pt, ruivaca; es, pardilla) is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Portugal and Spain. It lives in the middle and lower reaches of rivers with slow current. Until recently, ''I ...

'', ''

Luciobarbus guiraonis ''Luciobarbus guiraonis'' is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in ''Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better considered a mere ...

'',

Iberian barbel The Iberian barbel (''Luciobarbus comizo'') is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in ''Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better c ...

, ''

Luciobarbus microcephalus ''Luciobarbus microcephalus'' is a ray-finned fish species in the family Cyprinidae. It is here placed in ''Luciobarbus'' following the IUCN, but that genus is very closely related to the other typical barbels and perhaps better considered a me ...

'', ''

Squalius pyrenaicus ''Squalius pyrenaicus'' is a species of freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae. It is found in Portugal and Spain. Its natural habitats are rivers, intermittent rivers, and water storage areas. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss Ha ...

'', as well as introduced species, like the

common carp The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

and ''

Gambusia holbrooki The eastern mosquitofish (''Gambusia holbrooki'') is a species of freshwater fish, closely related to the western mosquitofish, ''Gambusia affinis''. It is a member of the family (biology), family Poeciliidae of order (biology), order Cyprinodont ...

''. The ''

Procambarus clarkii ''Procambarus clarkii'', known variously as the red swamp crayfish, Louisiana crawfish or mudbug, is a species of cambarid crayfish native to freshwater bodies of northern Mexico, and southern and southeastern United States, but also introduc ...

'' is an introduced species of

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

that has caused great damage to the local aquatic fauna. Among the amphibians, the

European tree frog The European tree frog (''Hyla arborea'') is a small tree frog. As traditionally defined, it was found throughout much of Europe, Asia and northern Africa,Frost, Darrel R. ''Amphibian Species of the World''. Allen Press, Inc., 1985, p. 126. but b ...

Mediterranean tree frog The Mediterranean tree frog (''Hyla meridionalis''), or stripeless tree frog, is a species of frog found in south-west Europe and north-west Africa. It resembles the European tree frog, but is larger (some females are up to long), has longer h ...

and the southern marbled newt are present along the shores of the lakes.Atlas provisional de distribución de los anfibios y reptiles de la provincia de Ciudad Real
/ref> The protected area of the Lagunas de Ruidera Natural Park includes not only the lakes but also the tributary valley of San Pedro.

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

has included the natural park within the

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

Mancha Húmeda. The natural park acts as a

buffer zone A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them. Common types of buffer zones are demil ...

to the core area of the biosphere reserve, the

Tablas de Daimiel Tablas de Daimiel National Park (''Parque Nacional de las Tablas de Daimiel'') is a wetland on the La Mancha plain, a mainly arid area in the province of Ciudad Real. With an area of about 3,000 hectares, the park is the smallest of Spain's fift ...

wetlands.

References

External links

Lagunas de Ruidera - Tourism

Lagunas de Ruidera :: Blog

Lagunas de Ruidera :: Rural houses to rest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lagunas De Ruidera Ruidera Ramsar sites in Spain Biosphere reserves of Spain es:Parque natural de las Lagunas de Ruidera fr:Parc naturel des lacs de Ruidera