Every year Monfragüe undergoes the passage of the four seasons, each one of which leaves us with unforgettable, but distinct, experiences, and of course not one of the four is wasted when we live through them in this wonderful natural museum of the Mediterranean flora and fauna in its virgin state.

The spectacular rutting calls of the red deer; the arrival of the migratory birds in springtime; the aquatic birds that visit every winter from other parts of Europe; as well as the explosion of colour with the masses of flowers in spring; the smells of the autumn; all play their part.

There are, too, vast pastures with oak trees, both holm and cork; always green with their typical round and stunted shape, and whose acorns make an essential contribution every autumn to the diet of our famous black Iberian pigs.


  

The heather blooms ushering in the spring. Everything takes on a frenetic rhythm; everything bursts into flower, covering the fields with multicoloured blossoms. Rockroses, lavenders, thymes... millions of scents and colours surround us.

The small birds: goldfinches, blue tits, long-tailed tits, all begin the frenzy of breeding time. The migratory birds: the swallows, black kites, Egyptian vultures, and our own great rarity, the black stork, arrive exhausted after their trip from Africa.

Observe with us as our birds return to clean up their nests, preparing them, and themselves, for breeding. Enjoy the spectacular courtship flights of the raptors: Bonelli's eagles, griffon vultures, black vultures. Watch as the eagle owls feed their growing chicks continuously, day and night, for not even darkness brings them get any respite.

Learn the characteristics of all these animals and of the relationships that they have had down the years with our ancestors.



  

Do not let the heat frighten you, because everything suffers, like the chicks that hatched out at the end of spring, and who are fed by their parents, looking for food desperately so that their little ones survive.

Enjoy the amount of water that flows through our rivers, the Tajo and the Tiétar, which are continuously fed by the springs that flow down from mountains in the Sierra de Gredos.

The red deer stags feed, their antlers covered in velvet, as they prepare for the autumn, while the hinds graze in herds as their hormones are gradually stimulated.

Listen in the fields to the music of the bells on the cattle, sheep, and goats as, every June, the cowboys and shepherds drive their animals along the traditional paths of the transhumancia to the cooler, greener pastures in the Gredos mountains.


  

The summer dies away and the red deer stags have the new points on their antlers, ready to fight and to defend their harems. Then, at last, we hear the long-awaited rutting call of the stags.

Neither eating nor sleeping, they bellow and bellow day and night, marking out their territories; their bodies lose weight rapidly, and their underbellies are dyed black from covering all their females, which cross the highways and byways as they respond to the calling of the males.

Enjoy with us the pleasure of listening to the bellowing in the heart of the forest. Alone, just us, the stags, the hinds, and their sounds.

Watch, as the aquatic birds return from northern Europe: ducks, great and little crested grebes, cormorants, and many more. See the foxes sniffing along the banks of the rivers in search of a little food forgotten by the fishermen.

The trees are dressed in their autumn colours of ochre, orange and yellow, and the smell of damp earth fills the air.



  

There is no need to fear the cold of winter. Monfragüe, in spite of being in an area half surrounded by mountains, does not itself experience very low temperatures.

Cranes cross our skies in formation, and fill the meadows and the forest with their loud calls and gurgling noises, eating vast amounts of acorns every day.

Huge black clouds of wood pigeons that seem to fly without any sense of direction help the cranes to finish the acorn harvest.

We invite to you to come and get to know our park in winter. You will not regret it.