The Valderejo Nature Reserve

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Valderejo

This area stands to the far west of Alava, on the boundary with Burgos. The Sierra de Bóveda and the western stretch of the Sierra de Árcena enclose and protect this valley, the rough mountain-tops of which mean that the only practicable way out is towards the Valdegovía valley. The crests of the Peña Karria-Arrayuelas-Recuenco and Lerón (1,238 m in height) alignment to the north, and of Revillallanos (1,283 m)-Santa
Ana-Vallegrull (1,225 m) to the south, meet to encircle the valley in the north-west.

It is in this same Sierra de Árcena that the river Purón has opened an extremely narrow gorge towards the south, an area that can be visited from the uninhabited village of
Ribera. A path will take us along the bottom of the gorge.

The reserve is entered through the Valdegovís valley, from the village of San Millán de Zadornil in the province of Burgos. The road will take us to the village of Lalastra, at the centre of Valderejo, home to the main services of the Nature Reserve, and the
information centre.

The meadows and cultivated areas of the valley give way to wooded hills: Scots pine, beech and holm-oak are the main species to be found on the steep mountain foothills. There are also a number, though dwindling, of gall-oak trees in the vast valley they used to virtually cover. The hillside woodlands are replaced by the typical vegetation of rocks and crests, where little plants manfully drive their roots deep into the fissures and cracks. But there are still some trees to be found in this area, a mixed forest of gullies and ridges comprising several species of trees and shrubs. One good example of this phenomenon is to be found in the already-mentioned gorge of the river Purón.

Perhaps the best known fauna in Valderejo is the colony of griffon vultures, the biggest in the Basque Autonomous Community. This species, which was in danger of extinction, is now experiencing a far more prosperous moment. The rocky crags crowning and enclosing the valley offer the perfect breeding habitat for this and other species of bird including the Egyptian vulture, peregrine falcon, royal swift and rock thrush. The goshawk flits among the trees of the forest, where there are also a number of mammals including quite a few roe deer, wild cat and martens. Wolves make the odd
incursion into this western strip of Alava.