BIRDS & MARINE HABITAT of Northern Portugal/Galicia

BIAXO MINO

SITUATION:

The entire section which consitutes the border with Portugal, municipalities of A Guarda, O Rosal, Salvaterra de Miño, Tomiño, Tui, As Neves, Arbo, Crecente, A Cañiza and Padrenda.

EXTENSION:

2.792 ha.

HABITAT:

The combination of fluvial and marine areas, together with other factors like the good temperatures and the high productivity of the water, explains the high diversity of the water. There are bank forests and marshy vegetation on the banks. As we are getting to the mouth, there are more habitats subject to the tide influence. The most important habitats are: the estuaries, the muddy or sandy flat areas which are not covered with water with low tide, the Atlantic saline pastures ('Glauco-Puccinellietalia maritimae'), the embryonic mobile dunes, the coastal mobile dunes with 'Ammophila arenaria' (white dunes), the steady coastal dunes with herbaceous vegetation (grey dunes) and the European dry heaths.

It is very interesting from the faunal point of view, because the estuary shelters a lot of water birds in the winter like the tufted duck ('Aythya fuligula'), the common teal ('Anas crecca'), the northern shoveler ('Anas clypeata'), the golden plover ('Pluvialis apricaria'), the grey plover ('Pluvialis aquatarola') and the lapwing ('Vanellus vanellus'). There are also interesting species of other groups of animals like the salamander ('Chioglossa lusitanica') within the amphibians, the rugged turtle ('Mauremys leprosa'), within the reptiles, or the muskrat ('Galemys pyrenaicus') within the mammals. The Miño has important populations of fish, among which we can point up the small spotted catshark ('Rutillus arcasii') and the dogfish ('Chondrostoma polylepys') and the allis shad ('Alosa alosa') and the allis shad ('Alosa fallax'). However, the most important species are the salmon ('Salmo salar'), which has in this river its southern limit of distribution in Europe, and the lamprey ('Petromyzon marinus'), traditional fish in this water. Other species are: the otter ('Lutra lutra'), the lizard of the bramble patches ('Lacerta schreiberi') and the dragonfly ('Oxygastra curtisii').

We must point up the following species: isoetes ('Isoetes boryana'), 'Jasione' ('Jasione lusitanica') and 'Tuberaria' ('Tuberaria maior').

DESCRIPTION:

The effects of the tides can be perceived up to the episcopal town of Tui, which is 30 km from the outlet of the Miño. Thanks to the flatness of the terrain, there are meadows on both sides of the navigable riverbed, with islands such as Goián or Canosa Island. Upstream, the river narrows among rocks and pesqueiras, man-built dykes for lamprey fishing. The area offers highly varied routes, such as the climb to the castro of Santa Tegra (A Guarda), the 36 windmills of O Folón (O Rosal), bird-watching observatories and numerous natural vantage points (See Monte Aloia). This is one of the best places in Galicia for watching water birds.