March 2008

This year’s nature issue is made up of two stamps devoted to the Natural Park of the Hoces del Rio Duratón in Segovia and the region of the Montes de Toledo. Both stamps depict panoramic views of these.

Natural Park of the
Hoces del río Duratón

The natural park of the Hoces del río Duratón is located to the northeast of Segovia, in Sepúlveda. It has a surface area of 5.037 hectares. Its relief is a vast series of high gorges, canyons and cliffs formed by the River Duratón as it worms it's way around the harder rock and eating into the softer limestone in the area. As for its flora, we must mention the forests of Thuriferous junipers and junipers and the riverside forests of willows, ashes, poplars, elms and alders. It houses an important community of forest birds of prey and up in the rocks over the gorge, almost 500 pairs of Griffon vultures have built their nests, accompanied by a large number of Egyptian vultures, golden eagles and peregrine falcons. This area was declared Natural Park in 1989.

Montes de Toledo

In the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, in the region of Castilla-La Mancha stands a low altitude mountain chain known as the Montes de Toledo. To the north, it reaches the valley of the Tajo river, to the south the Guadiana river and the old lands of Calatrava, to the west the river Pusa and the town of Talavera and to the east the plains of La Mancha. This is an area of the highest environmental value, with vegetation that goes from a forest with holm oaks, maple trees, cork oats, to shrub land with rockrose, heather, rosemary, hawthorn lentiscus and lavender. The area is a sanctuary for species such as the, royal eagle, wild boar, deer, great bustards, little bustards, roe deer and king fishers. There is also a wide variety of amphibians, reptiles and fish.