Penyal d'Ifac Natural Park (, ) is a natural park situated in

Calpe Calpe (; ) is a coastal municipality located in the ''comarca'' of Marina Alta, in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of and a population density of . The city lies at the foot of the ...

, in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The Penyal d'Ifac is a massive limestone outcrop emerging from the sea and linked to the shore by an

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

of rock

debris Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded waste, garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can ref ...

. It is home to numerous rare plants, including a number of endemic species, and over 300 species of animals, and a nesting site for colonies of sea birds and other birds. Rising to in height, the rock is a striking visual feature of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coastline. Historically it was known to the

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

as the Northern Rock, to distinguish it from its southern counterpart, the

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq , meaning "Mountain of Tariq ibn Ziyad, Tariq") is a monolithic limestone mountain high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a nar ...

.Fincal La Hometa website
, accessed 20 March 2011 Behind Penyal d'Ifac is a large lagoon cut off from the sea by strips of sandy beach and extending inland to the coastal mountains. The wetland area around the lagoon is all that remains of the formerly much more extensive wetlands of the Marina Alta. A protracted campaign to protect the site's natural diversity led to the area being granted natural park status in January 1987. With an area of , it is the smallest natural park in Spain, possibly in Europe. The park ranges from sea level to an altitude of 332 metres at the summit of the rock (''penyal'' in Valencian, ''peñón'' in Spanish). From the top of the rock there are views over the surrounding villages and countryside and on a clear day as far across the sea as

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

in the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

Plant ecology

The rock's sheer cliffs and rocky escarpments, exposed to the sea winds on three sides, have created a variety of microhabitats that have fostered a diversity of specialised plant species. At the lowest levels, relatively deep soils with higher moisture content in areas protected from the sea have allowed the development of a typical Mediterranean scrub vegetation community including dwarf palms, juniper, lavender and white pine. Higher up as soils become thinner and more exposed to the sun and wind alpine plant species have colonised cracks and gullies in the rock. The Ifac silene, ', a highly endangered species first discovered on the rock, has now disappeared from the locality; no more than 20 adult plants are thought to be left in the wild. ''

Phoenix dactylifera ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet #Fruits, fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across North Africa, northern A ...

'' palm species are naturalised in the area due for the massive public and private plantations from nearby.

Animal life

The rock face provides nesting sites for birds of prey including

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

s and

Eleonora's falcon Eleonora's falcon (''Falco eleonorae'') is a medium-sized falcon. It belongs to the hobby group, a rather close-knit number of similar falcons often considered a subgenus ''Hypotriorchis''. The sooty falcon is sometimes considered its closest rel ...

, seabirds including gulls and cormorants, and other birds typical of rocky habitats. There are also semi-domesticated cats that live near the peak.

Marine life

The seabed around Penyal d'Ifac is varied, with rocky, stony and sandy areas sheltering a very diverse marine community.

References

External links

Natural Park of Penyal d'IfacPenon de Ifach
at Beautiful World
Ifac silene photograph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penyal d'Ifac Natural Park Geography of the Province of Alicante Natural parks of Spain Natural parks of the Valencian Community Protected areas established in 1987 Protected areas of the Valencian Community Geology of Spain