The Dehesa (meadowlands) is considered to be a System of High Nature Value (High Nature Value farming and forestry, HNV) by the European Union, as it gathers together traditional and sustainable production models, to which discernible environmental values are attributed.
Conservation consists of patient work and requires endless tasks throughout the year and constant occupation of the area by the livestock, be the same the Ibérico pig, cattle, sheep or the Spanish Fighting Bulls (Toro Bravo). At Sierra de Codex we have been working in #LaDehesaViva (the live meadowlands) as an agricultural and livestock raising system to achieve its maintenance as an essential ecosystem for the survival of a multitude of wild species that inhabit this system.
If we consider the Dehesa (meadowlands) as an area that is exclusively made up by Holm oaks, Cork oaks and Oaks, then we find ourselves with over 4,000,000 hectares of land in the mid-south and western part of Spain, representing the approximate area of the entire country of Switzerland. This also turns it into the country’s vital lungs, absolutely necessary to maintain the quality of our atmosphere, which is currently negatively affected by CO2 emissions.
Now with spring underway this is one of the moments of the year when we can truly appreciate the natural value and environmental quality that dominates our estates. Already we have welcomed the Eurasian hoopoe, Common cuckoo and Black kite, and now we will gradually start to see the arrival of the Barn swallows and Common house martins, the European bee-eaters and a multitude of species that choose the Dehesa (meadowlands) as their own paradise to celebrate the coming of summer and in most cases the occurrence of their chick rearing season.
Imagen original de SEO birdlife
Imagen Jilguero © Francis C. Franklin / CC-BY-SA-3.0
