The Northern Bald Ibis territory and Barbate marshes

La Breña and Barbate marshes nature reserve is situated between the towns of Vejer de la Frontera and Barbate. Boasting a diverse range of ecosystems: sea, beach, marshes, pinewoods, etc, this natural park harbour a large avian community, among which stand out a population of the rarest and one of the most sought-after bird species in the Western Paleartic, the Northern Bald Ibis.

This privileged setting was selected by the regional council of Andalucía to carry out their reintroduction programme and the project, after hundreds of years since their extinction, is successfully putting the Northern Bald Ibis back on track on the sky and meadows of the province of Cádiz.

The Barbate estuary, with its meandering canals and scarce fresh water pockets, create an area of tremendously high ornithological interest with waders and water birds being most relevant. At the same time, the restoration of the land here, turning a former rubbish tip into an operational fish farm and extensive saltmarshes, has brought along the creation of diverse habitats that attract species such as Ospreys, Collared Pratincoles, Stone Curlews and Audouin´s Gulls, to name but a few.