Punta Umbria
– Los Enebrales
N 37º 11.105 W 6º 59.048
Setting:
Punta Umbría is shouldered by an area covering 162 hectares of
protected beach, sand dunes and woods, including a juniper grove,
one of the few examples of this type in Andalucía. The 50-m wide
beach, with fine, golden sand, stretches for 2.3km.
The Playa (beach) de los Enebrales is bordered by a double front of
sand dunes. The most recent dunes run parallel to the sea and are
locally termed “embryonic dunes”, while the more
established ones are colonized by a grove of the eponymous enebros
(juniper) trees. Junipers are relatively rare along the Andalucian
coastline. Alongside these grow stone pines, black pines, broom,
thyme, rosemary and wildflowers.
The woodland is rich in fauna, with a variety of small mammals and
reptiles. Examples of birds here are azure-winged magpies,
nightjars, goldfinches, curlews, hoopoes and cuckoos.
The dune system:
The dune system is made up of four (4) main components or
sectors.
- Embryonic dunes
– These
are shifting sands with a little amount of vegetation. It is highly
sensitive to human traffic and degrades very rapidly.
- Secondary dunes
– This
presents a larger amount of vegetation and also a larger amount of
species diversity. The major destruction is caused by motorized
vehicles.
- Juniper zone
– Under
tremendous pressure by the constantly developing and sprawling
urban development. It is here that species such as chameleons are
common.
- Pine land
– Trees of
larger stature are common as are the greater variety of bird
species mentioned above.
Urban
sprawl and the rehabilitation:
Punta Umbria is
developing into the very characteristic sea-side resort that is so
characteristic along the Andaluzian coast. The area is seeing the
development of large hotel complexes that are vying for prime
location so their guest do not have to walk long distances to the
beach. This threat/pressure is impacting directly on the beautiful
dune system precariously balancing between ocean and sea-side
resorts.
The
government, through the Ministry of the Environment, has detected
this threat and is actively taking steps to rehabilitate the dune
system back to its former glory.
One positive way in which is doing this is to provide clear,
concise information along the dune system of the 
efforts being carried out during the rehabilitation as
well as provide information on the dune system itself: the various
sectors, fauna and flora.
The second positive way in which it is fighting the impact of human
traffic along the dunes is to constrain pedestrian traffic to
“senderos” or boardwalks. These senderos are all
clearly identified with a unique name and tell the user how long
they are and the average time it should take someone to cross it.
The senderos often have information on the local floral
species.
Earthcaching in Los Enebrales:
This earthcache will take you to a set of coordinates in the sector
of the Embryonic Dune Field sector. Because this is by far the most
sensitive point of the dune system, sand retainers that prevent the
sand from blowing away have been planted at this location in rows
parallel to the sea. In order to claim
this earthcache e-mail me with the answer to the following
question: How nay rows of sand retainers are planted at this
location and what do they look like? I will get back to you with
permission to log the cache.
This cache in no way places any one on the dunes and makes no one
leave the senderos. You can answer the simple question by walking
along the sendero.
A
cache:
No local das coordenadas,
que se situam no sector das dunas embrionárias, foram plantados
filas de plantas que actuam como inibidores do movimento da areia
evitando que seja transportada para longe. Para poderes logar esta
earthcache manda-me um mail com a resposta à seguinte pergunta:
Quantas filas destas plantas é que foram plantadas no local? e
descreve a sua morfologia também. Assim que possível, eu enviarei
autorização para logar ou não a cache. Obrigado e boa
praia.
(Kindly translated by Juan
Y Maribel - Thank you)
Punta Umbría esta flanqueada por un área protegida de 162 hectáreas
de playa dunas y bosques, incluido su enebral, uno de los pocos
ecosistemas de este tipo que aún quedan en Andalucía. La playa de
50m de ancho de dorada y fina arena, se extiende a lo largo de 2.3
km.
La playa de los Enebrales está flanqueada por un frente doble de
dunas. Las dunas mas jóvenes corren paralelas a la linea de costa y
son conocidas como “dunas embrionarias”, mientras que
las mas maduras son colonizadas por un matorral de enebros conocido
como enebral. El enebro es relativamente raro a lo largo de la
costa andaluza.
Tas estos crecen el pino piñonero el pino negro, retama, tomillo,
romero y flores silvestres.
El bosque es rico en fauna con gran variedad de pequeños mamíferos
y reptiles. Ejemplo de las aves que podemos encontrar son la urraca
azul,(nigthjars),jilguero,zarapito la abubilla y el
cuco.
El sistema
dunar: El sistema dunar esta formado por cuatro componentes
principales o sectores.
-
Dunas
embrionarias - Son arenas móviles con algo de vegetación. Son muy
sensibles al trafico humano y se degradan rápidamente.
-
Dunas
secundarias – Presentan un gran acumulo de vegetación ademas
de una alta biodiversidad. La mayor destrucción de estas es causada
por el paso de vehículos motorizados.
-
Enebral y ó
Sabinal – Soporta una presión tremenda debida a la constante
y exesiva presión urbanística. Es aquí donde especies como el
camaleón son frecuentes.
-
Pinar – Arboles de
gran estatura y gran diversidad de avifauna, como mencionábamos
arriba conforman este sector.
Earthcaching en Los
Enebrales: (Kindly
translated by J.
Rover - Thank you)
Este earthcache le sitúa en el sector de dunas embrionarias del
campo. Porque éste es en gran medida el punto más sensible del
sistema de la duna, los detenedores de la arena que evitan que ésta
sople lejos se han plantado en esta localización en filas paralelas
al mar. Para demandar este earthcache envíeme un E-mail con la
respuesta a la pregunta siguiente: ¿Cuántas filas de de detenedores de arena se han
plantan en esta localización y a qué se parecen? Yo
le contestaré con el permiso de registrar el cache.
Para realizar este cache no es necesario entrar de ningún modo en
las dunas y ni salir de las marcas. Usted puede contestar a la
pregunta simplemente caminando a lo largo del sendero.
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