20 Jan 1989 - Arrabida

The Parc Natural da Arrabida comes with quite a reputation ‑ 108 sq km of limestone outcrops on coast, with steep shrub-covered slopes up to 500m. It is rich in western Atlantic plants, with over a thousand species recorded in the park.

Actually it is a whaleback of a mountain, about 55 km long, running parallel to the coast and falling in scrub‑covered cliffs to the sea. To the north are the low alluvial lands around the Tagus estuary. Just offshore are a group of islands which form a zoological reserve, the bree­ding grounds of a number of seabirds. Being close to the large urban centres of Lisbon and Setubal, the Serra is a popular recreation area, and attracts a great many visitors. Quarrying and second‑home developments are degrading some areas, and plant collecting is not uncommon.

A road climbs steadily to about 400m from sea level near Setubal. Along the highest part of the road there are pull off places and lookout points, and the scenery is beautiful. This is our first proper look at the Mediter­ranean maquis vegeta­tion, and Arrabida is considered the best deve­loped example in Portugal. There are few plants in flower at this time of year ‑ rosemary, straw­berry tree, kermes oak, sweet alison, french lav­ender and the ubiquitous bermuda buttercup. Most plants are evergreen shrubs that have to be identified by their leaves, among them phoenician juniper, Smilax aspera and various cistus species.

I don't think I’ve seen any plant here which I have seen wild in Britain, but the same can’t be said for birds. At our first stop we are surrounded by chiff‑chaffs, blue and great tits, green‑, gold‑ and chaffinches; the only 'foreign­ers' are serins, sardinian warblers, and a distant blue rock thrush. As the day wears on we see less and less birdlife, insects are limited to a few locusts, bees and a painted lady.

Mammals have been few and far be­tween, but the fox across the valley is worth waiting for. It looks a good healthy specimen, but definitely not red, except in name. It is mostly black and grey with some sandy colour on the head, flanks and shoulders, and, unfortunately, it is much too far away to be photo­graphed. Its progress through the scrub is punc­tuated with stops to scent mark territory and investigate anything that seems worthy of note.

To the east of the maquis is an area of cork oak where the ground under­neath has been recently ploughed and is providing a good supply of earth­­worms etc for cattle egrets, white wagtails and meadow pipits, and about 40 azure-winged magpies which look far more colourful and spectacular in the sun than when we first saw them in overcast conditions.

Later our attention is taken with hirun­dines flying over the hills ‑ crag martins. After hawk­ing for a while they fly over our heads and off into the sunset.