About

The Hornachuelos Sierra, a succession of plateaus and rugged gullies, abundantly spills its waters in its search for the Guadalquivir, creating along its transit, orchards full of life.

The protected area of the Hornachuelos Sierra stands upon the Guadalquivir Valley in the northwest corner of the province of Cordoba. Waters precipitate from the north downward, channelled into three river axes - Guadiato, Bembézar, and Retortillo- causing along their path intense erosion, forming the shape of this part of Sierra Morena. Almost in touch with the valley, when you see the limestone as geological substrate, the waters calm down and filter into the subsoil, flowing back into the Guadalquivir.

Fauna and flora

The plateaus and foothills are dominated by a mixed meadow of cork oak, oak, and sporadically, gall oak, Andalusian oak that has its greatest example in the pure forest of Umbría de la Loma de los Jarales. It is a thicket comprising strawberry, kermes, mastic and, in the sun, cistus, gorse and lavender. Here are the game sought by hunters and characteristic of this area, as venison and wild boar, a large colony of black vultures and other valuable populations like the griffon vulture, golden eagle, imperial eagle and Bonelli's eagle, black stork, red kite, stag, weasel, ferrets, wildcat and medium-sized horseshoe bat.

At the bottom of the canyons is a riverbank vegetation in excellent condition: magnificent alder favour an excellent habitat for the otter or the white blackbirds, whose waters that contain a fish with little presence in the Guadalquivir, the jarabugo. Other interesting places along the riverbank are the Rabilarga stream, where an elm grove in excellent condition neighbours with rosemary, thyme and oregano, and the high course of the Bembézar river, where a notable tamarisk prevails. When arriving at the valley, we see the Chamaerops, the only palm tree endemic to Europe, carob and the splendid colour variety of the crops, now under the flight of Bonelli's eagle, Montagu's harrier and common kestrel.