UNESCO World Heritage Site Doñana National Park is an extraordinary natural paradise located in Andalusia, just an hour from the cultural and culinary wonder of Seville.
Bordering the northern bank of the River Guadalquivir where it reaches the Atlantic, Doñana boasts a beguiling array of landscapes, ranging from shifting dunes and scrub woodland to vast pine forests, lagoons, marshland and untouched white sandy beaches.
Doñana is one of the most crucial centres of biodiversity in Europe; its wetlands are a sanctuary for wildlife, including 360 different species of domestic and migratory birds who use it as a stop-off point whilst travelling between Europe and West Africa – the Iberian Imperial Eagle, Marbled Teal, White Headed Duck, Black Tern and the Crested Coot all call the park and its woodlands and wetlands home.
The park is also home to one of the world’s most endangered cats, the mystical Iberian Lynx, amongst almost 40 different mammal species, another 40 reptiles and amphibians, and over 1,000 terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates.
Beyond its incredible animal residents, over 1,400 species of flora have been identified in Doñana, signifying 114 families of superior plants, some of which are endemic – found nowhere else on Earth – and new to science entirely.
As one of the largest surviving wetlands in Europe, with salt and freshwater marshes covering over half of the surface of the entire park, Doñana’s complex network of different ecosystems is entirely dependent on a steady water supply, both from the Guadalquivir itself, and an extensive underground aquifer system.
But with this incredible array of wildlife and flora dependent on a fragile and delicate array of complex ecosystems, the Park and the creatures that inhabit it are vulnerable, to climate change, habitat loss and other pressures.
Back from the brink: the Iberian lynx
The sandy Mediterranean scrubland, brushwood and open forests of Doñana make for an ideal habitat for the Iberian Lynx, but sadly this elusive feline is gravely endangered, its fragile habitat under threat from illegal farms and wells, mining, and river dredging.
In 2002 there were fewer than 100 left in the wild, leaving it incredibly vulnerable to extinction.
Led by the WWF, park authorities and supported by other conservation organisations, a network of camera traps have been installed to track the species and understand its habits and distribution, whilst radio collars are used to follow individuals; as elusive as it is, the lynx might now claim to be one of the most closely monitored species in the world.
Rabbits account for 90% of the lynx’s diet, but with disease ravaging the rabbit population and over 30 species in the park relying on rabbits as their primary food source, competition has intensified and lynxes and other forest species declined in number.
Efforts have therefore focused on boosting rabbit populations, in order to save the lynx and ensure growing populations remain viable.
In addition, through a successful countrywide breeding programme, captive-bred lynxes have been reintroduced into the wild, both in Doñana and other hand-selected areas across Spain and Portugal, enabling new populations to establish and survive while they are protected from threats posed by poaching, poisoning and road accidents; bridges have even been built across roads that cross the park and surrounding areas to help the lynx avoid traffic.
These concerted efforts have led to a growing hope that this species has a bright future ahead of it. Numbers have increased to about 1,600, and the lynx has begun to disperse throughout the Iberian peninsular beyond designated conservation areas; a remarkable recovery for this endangered species and testament to the hard work of dedicated conservationists in Doñana and beyond.
