Laguna de Tíscar Natural Reserve
One of a series of inland wetland sites in southern Cordoba province, the seasonal saline Laguna de Tíscar and its protected environs covers 191ha. There is a bird hide near the lake.
It is one of six wetland sites in southern Cordoba, all of them natural reserves. The others are: Laguna de Zóñar, Laguna del Conde, Laguna de Tíscar, Laguna de los Jarales, Laguna Amarga and Laguna de Rincon.
Information
The Centro de Visitantes Zóñar is at the Zonar Lagoon reserve and has information on all the lakes so is a good place visit first. It is located on the A-304 just south of Aguilar de la Frontera. Leave the A-304 at the roundabout at km 4.3 and follow signes for Zoñar lagoon on the old road. Tel: 957 335 252. It has a car park, bird hides and information on the lake. There are also two trails around the Zonar reserve, the Sendero Botánico La Carrizosa and the Sendero del Observatorio, both at the visitors' centre.
Access
Take the A-304 from Aguilar de la Frontera to Puente Genil and then the A-349 to Puerto Alegre. Here take the CO-6303 (was CV-153) track that heads northwest from the villalage. Where the track forks keep the the right hand side. About 3km later, the lake is signposted to the right-hand side of the road.
Flora
The main vegetation around the lake is tamarisk (tamarisk africana, t. canarensis), the largest stand in the area where a stream feeds into the lake. Also here are cattails (typhus dominguensis) and reeds (phragmites australis). Halophytic rushes such as juncus maritimus and juncus subulatus grow inbetween the tamarisk, while dwarf heliotrope (heliotropium supinum) is at edges of the tamarisk.
Dense reedbeds cluster around the saline springs and reeds line the Arroyo Castilseco that feeds into the lake.
Fauna
The lake is best visited in winter, when there are a great number of ducks including shovelers, mallards and wigeons.
Villages nearby:
Puente Genil
Puerto Alegre
