Friday, April 24, 2009

La Pedrera

From time to time I keep mentioning La Pedrera in this blog. Those of you who don’t know Bigastro may wonder what it is I am talking about.

La Pedrera literally means the stone quarry; so at some point that is what the land was used for i.e. to provide  limestone for the area.

The leisure zone of La Pedrera, with a surface area of 502,420 square metres belongs to the town. The reservoir nearby, which shares the same name, has a capacity of 245 cubic hectometres making it the largest store of water in the Alicante province.

Since 1922,  30,000 Mediterranean pines have been planted in an area of 200,000 square metres at La Pedrera.  Although the trees  are not indigenous to this part of Spain, they have flourished.

The proximity of the marsh to the area allows for a great diversity of fauna and flora in the zone.

In addition many birds use the hill as as hunting territory. Among them are several pairs of kites, magpies, owls, sparrow hawks, woodlarks and green finch.

The bastard snake and the ocelado lizard are the most significant reptiles. Foxes and hares are the most habitual mammals.

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