WILDLIFE

Any wildlife in this area is affected by the existing vegetation. Therefore, we may find mammals such as foxes, boars, rabbits and hedgehogs.

In fact, one of 69 ringing stations distributed throughout the Spanish national territory is located in the town of Aspe. From a scientific point of view, it has been demonstrated that the birds use Vinalopo river as a migratory path towards the African continent. And during the harsh north European winters, they use our river course to winter in milder temperature areas. Some of the bird species that can be observed are: streaked fantail warbler (Cisticola juncidis), great tit (Parus major), Eurasian reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), Sardinian warbler (Sylvia melanocephala), Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor), common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), red-rumped swallow (Hirundo daurica), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), common blackbird (Turdus merula), common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), cetti’s warbler (Cettia cetti), European serin (Serinus serinus) and European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis).

Some birds have adapted to urban areas, such as the common swift (Apus apus), the common house martin (Delichon urbica) and the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica).
Although these species would originally take advantage of the rocky escarpments and cliffs in the mountains for their reproduction, they have now become accustomed to urban areas. In the case of common swifts and common house martins, they have opted instead for central town areas using the ledges, roof tiles and holes in older buildings to establish their nests. On the other hand, the barn swallows prefer the crop fields, nesting in barns and country homes. A further urban species are the pigeons, descending from the rock dove (Columba livia).
In regards to the amphibians, we can find common toads (Bufo bufo), natterjack toads (Bufo calamita), common midwife toads (Alytes obstetricans), spadefoot toads (Pelobates cultripens) common parsley frogs (Pelodytes punctatus) and waterfrogs (Rana perezi).

In the case of the reptiles, the most commonly found are: common wall geckos (Tarentola mauritanica) Mediterranean house geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus); ocellated lizards (Lacerta lepida), Iberian wall lizards (Podarcis hispanica) and Spanish psammodromus (Psammodromus hispanicus). All five species of snakes found in the area are harmless to humans, such as the Montpellier snake (Malpolon monspessulanus), the ladder snake (Elaphe scalaris), the horseshoe whip snake (Coluber hippocrepis), the grass snake (Natrix natrix) and the viperine water snake (Natrix maura).