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Welcome to The Picos de Europa,

your complete English guide to these beautiful mountains of Northern Spain.

Here you'll find information on the area's wildlife in the nature pages Picos de Europa wildlifewhich are part species identification guides on plants and animals found around the Picos de Europa and part English translations of Spanish news regarding rare species such as the Cantabrian brown bear or threats to their habitat such as the San Glorio ski resort project. Check out the special interest holidays too, such as bear-watching and birdwatching.

Find a friendly place to stay in Picos Holiday Rentals from our selection of self-catering holiday houses and apartments to let in Asturias, Cantabria and Castile-León.

For planning excursions into the mountains you'll need to check current weather conditions and forecasts for the Picos de Europa.

Picos Rock and Snow
And in Picos Rock & Snow you'll find guided mountain activity holidays such as walking and trekking, snowshoeing and ski touring - plus trip reports as well as general mountaineering information. Catch up with the latest expeditions in the Picos Blog. Independent travellers can find trip packages, support and bag transfer services for self-guided routes.

We hope you enjoy your visit to the Picos de Europa, whether virtual or real!

 

Find a Place to Stay in Asturias

Find a place to stay in Asturias

Find a Place to Stay in Cantabria

Find a place to stay in Cantabria

Find a Place to Stay in Leon

Find a place to stay in Leon

Last Thursday the 7th of April Elías Suárez, a warden working for the Fundación Oso Pardo, was out on a routine patrol looking for signs of bear in the Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias Natural Park, Asturias.

He noticed a bear moving strangely in the bush so he moved closer to have a better look.  The second-year female had a deep wound on her haunch, apparently caused by a larger animal.

Click to enlargeDuring the second year of young bears' lives they are driven from their mother's territory to find their own. Females will usually set up camp bordering their mother's, a term known as philopatry, while young males will generally have to look further. This young bear's injuries could have been caused, I guess, either by an adult female seeing her off her territory or an adult male bear. These last will kill yearling cubs in order to bring their mother back into season (infanticide) and mate with her themselves but this young bear is in her second year so I don't know if that could be the case here. I also don't know if a wolf attack has been discounted.

The bear was nervous as Elías approached so he tried to calm her talking quietly "It's O.K. I'm going to help you". He called the rest of the patrol and a team from the NGO for help . tending_wounded_bear_environment_ministry_asturiasThis picture from the Asturian Ministry for the Environment shows the sedated bear and the team, including vets and members of Seprona, the wildlife protection unit of the Guardia Civíl, before she was moved to a veterinary clinic in Oviedo where she is now being treated before hopefully being reintroduced back into the wild.

She has been named Lara after the nearest village to where she was discovered, Larón, and is around 16 months old.

Word in the area has it that last autumn nearby in the vicinity of Degaña a female known to have had two cubs that year mysteriously disappeared. This poor thing certainly doesn't look as if she's spent the winter denning and feeding from her mother.............

News from La Nueva España, and a video of the events here on the Brown Bear Foundation's website.

Here's another video from Spanish news

 

Bear News

Bear or Dog?

Following the recent heavy snowfalls a photo has been doing the rounds on Spanish social media and even made it to the

The Picos Blog

Go to the blog

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