Our visit to the Hayedo de Cantalojas (Guadalajara)

­October 2011

Year 6 went to the Hayedo de Cantalojas last October. Hayedo means” beech forest”, and it is full of beech trees that share the ecosystem with some other types of trees, such as oaks, yews, pine trees and several types of bushes and grasses.

EXTENSION

Its total area is 1641 hectares of land, consisting of slate and quartzite. Its soil has few nutrients but it is rich in decomposing matter.

HABITATS:

Within the Park there is a variety of habitats, rocky, forested and grassland surrounded by rivers and streams.

This is a bridge that crosses a small stream of the river Lillas. There is another small river called river Zarzas. Both were almost dry because it didn´t rain for FIVE MONTHS!!!

We saw lots of beech trees, but you can also find pine trees, yews and birch trees.

The most beautiful tree we saw was this one, which is called the yew. Our teacher explained that scientists are investigating this tree in order to make a medicine to cure some types of cancer.

This is a small yew.

Salud, our guide, showed us a parasite that lives in the wild rose bush. It is a worm that nests here because it wants the protection of the spines.

Besides being in the middle of October, this year autumn has been lazy and the leaves of the beech trees were still green, though some of them were orange or red.

Our guide, Salud, was waiting for us when we arrived after two hours´ drive along the northwest landscape of our region.

In the area of rocks, there is a reptile found in great quantity, “the Darkgreen Lizard”

 In the forest, we saw many birds, but we liked a hawk best. There are some others, for example eagles, chickadees, Titmice, finches…. We did not find any mammals, except a deer, but there are dormices, weasels, wild cats, wild boars, and nine species of bats. Sometimes, you can see otters playing in the water or building dams.

Among the shrubs we distinguished the heather, the  blueberry, the juniper and the  wild rose.

This bush is a wild rose and we studied its fruits which are small and red. They have little seeds inside which are like the seeds of the tomatoes. People use them since long time ago to prepare beverages.

We saw many mushrooms, though it was dry, but we could not see the most wanted: the boletus. It is an edible one, but it is forbidden to take outside the park.

Its climate is very rainy and wet, which is strange in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, so we say it has a “microclimate”.

Summers are mild and cool.

Winters are hard and cold, with frequent snowfall.

In Guadalajara, we have the best honey in Spain. Those are bee-hives. They were empty.

We had a very hot day with a temperature of 35ºC.

WE had a lovely day in the country. The park was lovely.