Saja-Besaya Natural Park is

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

s largest natural park on the northern slope of the

Cantabrian Mountains , etymology=Named after the Cantabri , photo=Cordillera Cantábrica vista desde el Castro Valnera.jpg , photo_caption=Cantabrian Mountains parallel to the Cantabrian Sea seen from Castro Valnera in an east-west direction. In the background, ...

in West Central Cantabria,

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 ...

. Its hunting reserve is approximately 1800km², the largest and most important in Spain.

Geography

The Saja-Besaya Natural Park is located in the Western-central area of Cantabria, and is its largest park, covering an area of 24,500 hectares. It consists almost entirely of public land, with large amounts of native forest and about 568 hectares of private property. The park occupies six municipalities: Ruente, Cieza, Arenas de Iguñ, Cabuérniga, Los Tojos and Campoo de Suso. There are two mountainous chains and their adjoining valleys: the watershed of the Saja and Besaya rivers in a south–north direction and coming from the Cantabrian Mountain Range and the northern slope of the Cordillera and with the maximum elevations of the Natural Park in its southwest end, Pico Iján (2087 m) and the Cueto del Cordel (2040 m). At the foot of these mountains are the pastures of the ports of Sejo. The dividing line between the Saja and the Besaya is formed by mountains with rounded shapes of medium altitude which are gaining height upon approach of the Cordillera at its southern end with Campoo. The axis of the mountain range that limits the South of the park increases in altitude traveling in east–west direction. In terms of geology the conglomerates of "acastilladas" and reddish formations, called the "Molinucos del diablo" along Canal de Cureñas are some of the most visited points of interest. Morphological features include the fluvial with remains of glacial formations south of the Sierra del Cordel of the

Climate

The Atlantic climate is humid or oceanic temperate. There is regular rainfall, with an annual average of 1,500 mm, with less rainfall in the lowlands and in the Besaya mountains. The temperature is cool without seasonal abrupt changes, with a difference between winter and summer of about 10 or 12 degrees.

Flora

Peña Sagra y Polaciones desde la Fuente del Chivo

The main attraction of Saja-Besaya is its deciduous forest, the largest contiguous forest of the entire Cantabrian mountain range. A quarter of the park is covered by beech

Fagus sylvatica ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though more ...

and oak groves. The oak area of more than 6,000 ha. harbors three types, the most abundant is the common oak,

Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...

, but also

Quercus pyrenaica ''Quercus pyrenaica'', commonly known as Pyrenean oak, is a tree native to southwestern Europe and northwestern North Africa. Despite its common name, it is rarely found in the Pyrenees Mountains and is more abundant in northern Portugal and nort ...

and

Quercus petraea ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial embl ...

. The forest is characterized by a diversity of trees and associated shrubs such as chestnuts, ash, maples, hazelnuts, honeysuckle, and varied flowering and herbaceous plants. With increasing altitude between 700 and 1,500 m the beech appears under which few species are able to thrive, including eye-catching anemone,

Erythronium ''Erythronium'', the fawn lily, trout lily, dog's-tooth violet or adder's tongue, is a genus of Eurasian and North American plants in the lily family, most closely related to tulips. The name Erythronium derives from Ancient Greek () "red" in ...

or orchid species. Above 1,300 m. of altitude the holly trees ( Ilex aquifolium) and birches (

Betula pendula ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found ...

) take over. There are also some peat swamp areas of special ecological interest.

Fauna

Mammals include deer, roe deer, fox, wild boar, otter, wolf and sporadic brown bear. Among the native vertebrates of the oak and beech forests, the red-fronted dormouse, the ermine and the wildcat are common. The nature reserve is abundant with birds of more than 120 species, 100 of which are nesting. Migratory birds include the becada, the heron or the kingfisher. The royal owl inhabits the ravines the largest of the Iberian nocturnal raptors. The golden eagle can be observed in the high areas of the southern half. There are

griffon vulture The Eurasian griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus'') is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. It may also be known as the Griffon vulture, though it may be used for the genus as a whole. It is not to be confused with Rü ...

s and peregrine falcons. Among fish, the common trout is the dominant species The Iberian wolf is not very rare, and brown bears have been sighted, thus considering this zone as an important nexus of communication between isolated populations of this plantigrade. Other interesting species of animals that populate the area are: martens, badgers,

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine, Beringian ermine and ermine, is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Conc ...

s and

desman The desman, a snouted and naked-tailed diving insectivore of the tribe Desmanini (also considered a subfamily, Desmaninae), belongs to one of two Eurasian species of the mole family, Talpidae. This tribe consists of two monotypic genera of sem ...

Amenities

The park has a visitor center and six recreational areas named "La casa del Monte" in Ucieda, "Llano Castrillo" in

Bárcena Mayor Bárcena Mayor is a village nestled in the mountains of Cantabria, Spain in the municipality of Los Tojos, and is the only residential village within Saja Reservation within the Saja and Nansa valleys community. Overview The Argoza River cuts t ...

, "Cambillas" in Saja, "Cieza" in Cieza, "El Prauco" and "El Vaho" in Los Llares and the view point "La Cardosa", located on the CA-280 in direction of the port of Palombera, 4 km from the top at an altitude of 1000 meters. Ten hiking trails have been described.

References

External links

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Parque natural del Saja-Besaya
{{Authority control Natural parks of Spain Special Protection Areas of Spain Natural parks of Cantabria