Meta tags:
description=A blog about the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain), treating its flora, fauna, geology, landscape and historic remains. Special attention to orchids.;

Headings (most frequently used words):

the, of, 2013, in, spain, wild, 2014, orchids, cantabrian, mountains, wednesday, march, saturday, thursday, introduction, may, monday, about, april, photos, some, found, orchid, anacamptis, january, february, tree, león, spanish, cave, coast, and, valley, tuesday, december, friday, june, orchis, italica, frog, 11, 18, province, posts, blog, blogs, many, el, an, natural, first, blooming, flowers, asturian, oseja, de, sajambre, to, picta, salamandra, nature, páginas, 2020, 16, 2015, november, 26, 17, 15, 29, 25, 10, characteristics, 27, 23, information, sunday, 19, 24, 22, general, 20, 14, total, pageviews, latest, followers, principal, links, me, labels, older, archive, my, genesis, english, la, iglesiona, cabo, vidío, cliff, asturias, overview, ventanón, impressive, bridge, video, showing, enormous, waves, breaking, at, other, northern, liebana, mediterranean, middle, bufones, snow, capped, mountain, hike, millennial, taxus, baccata, giant, somber, bee, new, location, naked, man, riaño, lake, pilgrimage, village, covadonga, hyla, arborea, subsp, molleri, champagneuxii, encounter, with, beautiful, but, wounded, hoopoe, limestone, cliffs, names, dandelion, taraxacum, officinale, bernardezi, endemic, fire, salamander, north, part, park, monte, santiago, salto, del, río, nervión, 300, meter, high, waterfall, is, species, very, similar, green, winged, morio, footprints, roman, legions, cathedral,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (615), and (165), this (85), share (77), which (72), with (55), are (51), read (50), mountains (49), more (47), cantabrian (44), orchids (40), some (38), was (37), #photos (35), that (33), very (32), post (32), wild (31), #orchid (30), but (28), marius (27), van (27), heiningen (27), enjoy (27), spain (26), anacamptis (26), have (26), labels (25), pinterest (25), facebook (25), blogthis (25), email (25), posted (25), for (25), there (24), comments (24), also (22), deze (22), het (22), nederlands (22), klik (22), hier (22), cave (21), places (21), its (21), ago (20), further (20), not (20), has (20), can (19), about (18), from (18), found (17), beautiful (17), caves (17), 2013 (17), flowers (17), champagneuxii (16), coast (16), waves (16), only (16), picta (16), species (16), meters (16), these (15), than (15), years (14), bufones (14), were (14), will (14), when (14), many (13), spanish (13), hoopoe (13), water (13), sea (13), asturias (13), tree (12), pictures (12), march (11), green (11), frog (11), northern (11), they (11), because (11), most (11), been (11), between (11), although (11), great (10), orchis (10), first (10), other (10), all (10), introduction (10), location (10), nature (9), way (9), 2014 (9), winged (9), blooming (9), our (9), one (9), where (9), león (8), cistierna (8), may (8), limestone (8), giant (8), few (8), after (8), due (8), small (8), natural (8), mountain (8), morio (8), common (8), much (8), part (8), name (8), however (8), salamander (8), had (8), back (8), last (8), dandelion (8), blog (7), february (7), route (7), italica (7), unknown (7), over (7), large (7), just (7), called (7), along (7), purple (7), lip (7), known (7), park (7), high (7), away (7), see (7), genus (7), often (7), bridge (7), form (6), january (6), april (6), year (6), posts (6), nbsp (6), amphibians (6), snow (6), valley (6), especially (6), even (6), quite (6), region (6), already (6), almost (6), long (6), wednesday (6), province (6), santiago (6), meseta (6), kilometers (6), several (6), located (6), brother (6), plain (6), white (6), what (6), field (6), red (5), day (5), days (5), june (5), december (5), cliff (5), asturian (5), hiking (5), routes (5), north (5), mediterranean (5), home (5), surface (5), time (5), sometimes (5), difficult (5), thursday (5), southern (5), both (5), landscape (5), means (5), completely (5), roman (5), during (5), those (5), general (5), situated (5), pass (5), according (5), under (5), before (5), least (5), two (5), who (5), subsp (5), rain (5), leaves (5), slightly (5), covered (5), three (5), monte (5), into (5), meter (5), special (5), coastal (5), new (5), managed (5), saturday (5), while (5), fire (5), road (5), them (5), flower (5), bird (5), black (5), still (5), right (5), animal (5), map (4), another (4), cliffs (4), thousands (4), through (4), naked (4), man (4), geology (4), españa (4), taxus (4), liebana (4), lot (4), below (4), system (4), less (4), show (4), among (4), near (4), lies (4), spectacular (4), literally (4), following (4), characteristics (4), since (4), down (4), steep (4), monday (4), normally (4), similar (4), subspecies (4), side (4), spur (4), relatively (4), plants (4), end (4), directly (4), quiet (4), del (4), able (4), salamandra (4), night (4), saw (4), put (4), again (4), his (4), could (4), too (4), length (4), rock (4), south (4), around (4), therefore (4), size (4), hyla (4), skin (4), bee (4), swell (4), ventanón (4), months (3), week (3), english (3), montaña (3), oriental (3), iglesiona (3), cabo (3), vidío (3), millennial (3), total (3), burgos (3), nevertheless (3), cordillera (3), lots (3), their (3), formations (3), visited (3), cathedral (3), taken (3), always (3), clear (3), inside (3), good (3), give (3), border (3), celtic (3), main (3), ways (3), river (3), led (3), towards (3), same (3), widely (3), roads (3), meaning (3), medieval (3), top (3), colour (3), pink (3), specimens (3), occasionally (3), tubers (3), like (3), center (3), spots (3), upwards (3), brown (3), vulture (3), edge (3), forest (3), plateau (3), waterfall (3), 300 (3), nervión (3), consists (3), basque (3), place (3), want (3), others (3), rare (3), winter (3), belongs (3), tile (3), using (3), opportunity (3), cross (3), suddenly (3), why (3), surprise (3), damp (3), know (3), number (3), leontodon (3), research (3), names (3), exact (3), mainly (3), area (3), geological (3), former (3), foot (3), car (3), inspection (3), care (3), present (3), wasn (3), possible (3), seems (3), talking (3), literature (3), came (3), close (3), half (3), arborea (3), molleri (3), color (3), course (3), air (3), full (3), huge (3), village (3), trip (3), considerable (3), covadonga (3), short (3), somber (3), baccata (3), bufón (3), spectacle (3), big (3), height (3), video (3), you (3), jump (3), overview (2), exploring (2), hoopoes (2), wind (2), wildlife (2), point (2), must (2), outdoors (2), blogs (2), leonesa (2), weeks (2), espeleogénesis (2), how (2), november (2), 2015 (2), 2020 (2), encounter (2), wounded (2), pond (2), older (2), birds (2), complete (2), cuevas (2), portugal (2), links (2), within (2), ground (2), picos (2), europa (2), extensive (2), cantabria (2), eastern (2), instance (2), ojo (2), guareña (2), each (2), hundred (2), galleries (2), rest (2), cantábrica (2), keep (2), discovered (2), would (2), damage (2), frequently (2), named (2), entered (2), times (2), reasons (2), bring (2), considering (2), think (2), different (2), description (2), central (2), cultural (2), legions (2), constructed (2), wars (2), reach (2), local (2), settlements (2), castros (2), built (2), romans (2), smaller (2), case (2), recognised (2), parts (2), fact (2), villages (2), centuries (2), mentioned (2), aspects (2), ruins (2), walking (2), pale (2), consider (2), depending (2), temperature (2), altitude (2), rosette (2), pyramidal (2), dorsal (2), lateral (2), petals (2), helmet (2), sepals (2), lobes (2), clearly (2), folded (2), flattened (2), favorite (2), certainly (2), feature (2), fewer (2), animals (2), golden (2), herbs (2), old (2), friday (2), separated (2), tens (2), streams (2), enormous (2), underlying (2), quickly (2), karst (2), heavy (2), numerous (2), sight (2), presence (2), 500 (2), regions (2), country (2), adjacent (2), west (2), lowlands (2), río (2), salto (2), escape (2), climate (2), photograph (2), really (2), shown (2), endemic (2), bernardezi (2), kilometer (2), earlier (2), pleasant (2), started (2), attempt (2), efficient (2), him (2), decided (2), visit (2), shady (2), filled (2), yet (2), result (2), plant (2), here (2), lion (2), tooth (2), hawkbits (2), make (2), call (2), showing (2), indicate (2), formed (2), including (2), narrow (2), caused (2), above (2), forming (2), actual (2), wave (2), action (2), reached (2), seen (2), looking (2), pinkish (2), body (2), spring (2), rather (2), iberian (2), peninsula (2), summer (2), guest (2), planted (2), pine (2), agricultural (2), surrounded (2), open (2), caterpillar (2), mushrooms (2), without (2), didn (2), closer (2), wing (2), get (2), something (2), carefully (2), now (2), friend (2), off (2), middle (2), got (2), turned (2), out (2), leave (2), poor (2), comfortable (2), left (2), come (2), next (2), important (2), instead (2), going (2), groups (2), striking (2), spike (2), wide (2), counted (2), hard (2), apart (2), moriones (2), find (2), recent (2), classification (2), today (2), pyramidalis (2), shaken (2), member (2), usual (2), detailed (2), picture (2), separate (2), usually (2), stripe (2), ventral (2), populations (2), 000 (2), five (2), truly (2), overwhelming (2), cattle (2), packed (2), formerly (2), encountered (2), yesterday (2), beauty (2), oseja (2), sajambre (2), territories (2), curved (2), shape (2), compared (2), occur (2), himantoglossum (2), robertianum (2), ophrys (2), fusca (2), flowering (2), certain (2), bloom (2), went (2), climb (2), yew (2), poisonous (2), fruits (2), eating (2), screen (2), filling (2), exists (2), noise (2), impressive (2), tried (2), capped (2), fountains (2), bellowing (2), force (2), given (2), difference (2), phenomenon (2), quality (2), tuesday (2), low (2), leaf (2), alert (2), shoreline (2), mean (2), arriving (2), storm (2), breaking (2), origin (2), such (2), stream (2), 110 (2), ends (2), lighthouse (2), powered, blogger, estadisticas, simple, pack, wash, yeti, weekly, brew, bigbananamountains, extremadura, photographic, journals, shining, tor, test, blogpackinglight, wintersons, bandcamp, ptc, turkish, delight, selcuk, sirince, surfnslide, look, issue, chris, townsend, una, buena, manera, empezar, otoño, fauna, araña, cangrejo, bichos, plantas, tosta, revuelto, cantharellus, espárragos, cocinandosetas, miscelánea, histórica, genesis, 2012, ast, archive, sister, view, profile, turísticas, rutas, formación, principal, followers, early, latest, pageviews, subscribe, atom, comment, awful, virtually, tourism, aspect, restricted, rich, subterranean, patrimony, deep, depths, 1500, world, famous, speleological, community, mortillano, gándara, alto, tejuelo, kilometrers, notorious, totally, being, public, incredible, vulnerability, amounts, delicate, suffer, irreversible, untouched, grandiosity, environmental, conscious, speleologists, speleo, companion, julian, benito, take, humidity, frequent, awkward, passages, invite, luxurious, cameras, explanation, treated, report, easy, marked, importance, heritance, huella, las, legiones, footprint, designers, convinced, dealing, invariably, inaccessible, conquer, idea, mayor, valleys, sideways, interpreted, sideway, esla, generally, castro, campurrial, historians, eutimio, martino, siro, sanz, closeby, control, 400, till, beginning, 5th, century, suevi, vandals, alans, far, fetched, imaging, network, connection, maintained, repaired, partially, original, slabs, stone, laid, writings, 1000, proves, minimum, age, millenium, castle, castillo, monteagudo, traces, settlement, fuentes, peñacorada, footprints, sessile, attached, similarity, testicles, amount, orientation, habitat, unspotted, lanceolate, grow, basal, sheathing, stem, inflorescence, distributed, linear, bunch, stalk, sepal, together, prominent, veins, features, lobed, labellum, backwards, distinguishes, broad, straight, arched, dilated, apex, contains, nectar, prominently, wealth, recently, completed, study, conducted, diez, santos, hybrids, determined, rugged, unspoiled, abundance, emblematic, bear, wolf, capercaillie, eagle, griffon, bearded, returned, recollection, medicinal, kitchen, habit, collects, flows, plunges, periods, cavesystem, coming, monastery, langrériz, gives, mist, fed, beech, disappears, melting, admired, nests, enhanced, value, 600, dizzying, vizcaya, lowland, 2000, altitudes, 900, heights, 800, highland, borders, dedicated, spaces, immediate, vicinity, visiting, sites, detection, devoting, easter, holiday, boundary, abrupt, softer, collection, adressed, thus, northwest, thicker, likely, diet, earthworms, slugs, served, quick, snapshots, soon, temporary, shelter, evening, released, humid, slope, nearest, incidentally, later, bike, ride, traffic, highly, suicide, takes, life, weary, release, safer, environment, calamities, remembered, lover, wait, releasing, lives, store, cool, patio, plastic, vegetable, crate, inches, earth, removing, cover, crossing, dangerous, rescued, doesn, does, exist, single, agglomeration, micro, partly, possibility, multiplication, unfertilized, seeds, cloning, forms, strongly, toothed, stems, hollow, head, consisting, yellow, ray, florets, listed, composites, asteraceae, surprising, applications, avoid, naming, discussed, noticed, netherlands, reserved, horse, confusion, spaniards, meacama, piss, bed, diente, asked, little, hawkbit, taraxacum, officinale, photo, officially, protected, paisaje, protegido, costa, asturiana, covers, nearly, square, boring, maps, elevated, prehistoric, paintings, cueva, pindal, colombres, tito, bustillo, ribadesella, reaches, bay, biscay, east, property, soluble, reason, eternal, ocean, sculpted, particular, terrain, furthermore, whole, experiences, slow, uplift, rising, bottom, level, words, current, inland, exotic, wings, tail, conspicuous, characteristic, crest, upper, united, kingdom, occasional, breed, appear, england, migrating, resident, spotted, arid, likes, stroll, meadows, paths, searching, beak, various, unlucky, arthropods, lizards, spotting, edges, groves, lands, reduced, fields, liking, moreover, fond, processionary, harmful, pines, commonly, considered, welcome, tasty, george, calocybe, gambosa, tricholoma, georgii, mushroom, sitting, grass, maybe, magpie, noticing, approached, hadn, flown, dead, creature, move, muscle, blinked, eyes, walked, grab, camera, showed, unnatural, position, cautious, approach, confirmed, wrong, picking, damaged, luckily, attendants, ours, immediately, forgotten, set, woods, once, nobody, phoned, neither, said, land, rover, parked, house, installed, waiting, attendant, despite, devoted, deceased, facts, trying, save, mus, hroom, hunting, note, custom, character, use, useful, practice, dig, obviously, propagation, vegetative, compact, grows, thinner, shorter, longer, proportion, arealmost, spread, perhaps, speckled, faint, honor, french, botanist, champagneux, 1774, 1845, differences, enumerate, tell, subs, include, section, divided, sections, change, resistance, against, accepted, agreed, changes, researchers, science, based, phylogenetics, 2003, workers, bateman, richard, suspected, ever, traditionally, genetic, classifications, bit, rise, strong, strip, namely, until, western, colored, secti, sunday, botanical, searches, pool, inmediately, investigated, hidden, reeds, approximation, disappeared, apparently, every, minute, try, catch, lifetime, developed, catching, technique, branch, barely, wanted, warm, hand, cooperating, well, shots, caught, northwestern, replaced, scientists, anyway, dwells, foliage, climber, adhesive, disks, fingers, toes, smooth, sides, seperates, bordered, line, ocher, yellowish, pupils, horizontal, iris, belly, yellower, appearance, active, real, booked, threatened, declining, increasing, desiccation, decrease, habitats, contamination, fertilizers, damaging, larvae, food, insects, ants, itself, menu, vipers, owls, kestrels, information, chance, shared, thousand, significantly, conservative, estimate, hectares, measured, glow, numbers, positive, grazing, grazed, fortunately, whatever, fairly, everybody, agrees, desfiladero, los, photographed, beyos, gorge, ponton, crémenes, repeated, delay, cause, probably, driven, hours, 100, chain, entire, riaño, lake, pilgrimage, whose, distribution, neighbourhood, indicated, blue, rectangle, individual, resemble, male, densely, whitish, kind, covering, column, arms, legs, third, protuberance, somewhat, lighter, thick, downwards, bracts, ovary, corrugated, bushes, sunny, grasslands, classified, barlia, robertiana, dark, second, locate, nothing, glad, promising, seashore, hundreds, hitherto, scattered, specialised, observe, autonomous, milder, afternoon, stands, alone, isolated, peaks, path, specially, goats, eat, twigs, edible, substance, flesh, kernel, best, careful, simply, hike, slide, januari, news, footage, massive, spilling, quay, san, sebastian, hole, connects, makes, enter, cavities, spray, fountain, gigantic, whale, internet, expected, enough, impossible, snowfall, morning, cleared, pontón, problems, clearing, driving, trees, wonderful, testify, except, impression, holes, crevices, potholes, connected, fill, compressed, violently, blown, fractures, loud, fracture, exhales, sound, bufar, resoplar, con, fuerza, toro, fierce, snorting, bull, heard, miles, insignificant, blow, expel, bufon, amazing, astonishing, outside, live, 140, practically, slideshow, promised, previous, turn, splashing, failed, reasonable, selection, weekend, results, regarding, pría, addressed, future, cold, heart, lying, topography, 2500, range, 1918, proclaimed, national, surrounding, beneficial, average, blessed, unique, evident, vegetation, pleasure, actually, mild, appeared, lower, spikes, determine, practical, experience, distinguish, related, recognized, explain, llanes, towering, warnings, buildings, erected, fun, people, involved, offered, unusual, storms, trains, summary, addition, tide, highest, depth, increased, hitting, attacks, 09568, villamartín, sotoscueva, geologie, carved, ridge, sought, sink, gaps, dissolves, remains, roof, flowed, additional, indication, solutional, cavernous, included, prc, starts, longest, fantastic, vista, window, 24800, written, intention, account, cantabrica, specific, past, embellish, illustrate, variety, majority, localized, hometown, leon, did, belong, official, thorough, fieldwork, scientific, daylight, generic, magenta, orange, four, entrances, ramp, tides, opening, need, skill, descending, trail, 2017, rope, don, situation, base, travelled, avilés, cities, cape, geographic, páginas,

Text of the page (random words):
tail and a pinkish brown body another conspicuous characteristic is the pinkish crest of which the upper part is also black and white in the united kingdom the hoopoe is a very rare bird with only a very occasional breed in spring some hoopoes may appear in the south of england when they are migrating however in spain the hoopoe is rather a common bird which is resident in the south of the iberian peninsula also in our region it can be spotted frequently although only as a summer guest see map especially in the more arid meseta that lies directly south of the cantabrian mountains the hoopoe likes to stroll around in meadows and along paths searching with its long beak to surprise various unlucky arthropods and sometimes lizards good places for spotting them are the forest edges of planted pine groves these are planted on former agricultural lands and are therefore of a reduced size and surrounded by open fields very much to the liking of the hoopoe moreover the hoopoe is fond of the pine processionary caterpillar a caterpillar which is quite harmful to the pines this has caused the hoopoe to be commonly considered as a very welcome guest read further and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 6 10 pm 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels birds wednesday may 1 2013 the limestone cliffs of the asturian coast spain deze post in het nederlands klik hier how the waves form the coast at some places the northern border of the cantabrian mountains almost reaches to the bay of biscay from which it is only separated by a narrow coastal plain and one of these places is the east of spanish province of asturias here the plain consists mainly of limestone which is a rock with the property that it is slightly soluble in water for this reason the eternal waves of the ocean have sculpted a very particular terrain with steep cliffs and numerous sea caves furthermore the whole area experiences a slow geological uplift which has caused the rising of the former sea bottom above sea level forming the actual coastal plain between the sea and the cantabrian mountains in other words the current plain was formed by the wave action of the sea which reached a few kilometers further inland to the foot of the mountains after the coastal plain was elevated caves have formed in many places in some of these caves beautiful prehistoric rock paintings have been found including those of the cueva del pindal colombres and the caves of tito bustillo ribadesella before showing the pictures of the coast i will show a few boring maps which indicate the exact location of where we visited the coastal plain this location is part of the officially protected landscape of the eastern asturian coast paisaje protegido de la costa oriental asturiana which covers a total length along the coast of about 30 kilometers and a surface of nearly 67 square kilometer read further and enjoy the photo s read more posted by marius van heiningen at 3 18 pm 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels beautiful places wednesday april 24 2013 the many names of the dandelion taraxacum officinale deze post in het nederlands klik hier why the dandelion is not named a leontodon hawkbit introduction who doesn t know the dandelion this common yet so beautiful flower the dandelion does not exist of a single species but of an agglomeration of many micro species which is partly the result of its possibility of multiplication by means of unfertilized seeds cloning the plant forms a rosette with strongly toothed leaves and the stems are hollow with on top a flower head consisting of many yellow ray florets the dandelion is listed among the composites or asteraceae the plant has a surprising number of applications but to avoid too long a post only its naming is discussed here already many years ago i noticed that the meaning of dandelion in english and spanish is lion s tooth although in the netherlands the name lion s tooth is reserved for the genus leontodon hawkbits while the dandelion is called horse flower however to make the confusion complete some spaniards call the dandelion meacama piss a bed and the hawkbits leontodon they call diente de león so this asked for a little research read further and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 4 50 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels wild flowers thursday april 18 2013 the salamandra salamandra bernardezi an endemic fire salamander of north spain deze post in het nederlands klik hier a fire salamander rescued from a dangerous crossing at our last visit to my brother who lives in asturias he had a pleasant surprise in store for me on his shady and cool back patio there was a large covered plastic vegetable crate filled with 4 inches of damp earth and leaves after removing the cover i could see an old tile and under the tile a day earlier on the way home from a pleasant bike ride my brother suddenly saw a fire salamander who just started an attempt to cross a road with lots of traffic or as my brother put it a salamander that had just started a highly efficient suicide attempt normally he takes life weary amphibians with him to release them in a safer environment away from roads and other calamities but my brother remembered that i always have been a lover of amphibians and that s why he decided this time to wait a day before releasing it again so under the tile there was a beautiful fire salamander according to my brother it was a lot thicker than when he found it and this was very likely due to the diet of earthworms and slugs which he had served it the night before using the opportunity some quick snapshots were taken and soon the salamander was back inside its temporary shelter the same evening it was released in a humid slope forest more than a kilometer away from the nearest road incidentally my brother found a week later and almost at the same place another fire salamander which not had managed to cross the road this salamander belongs to the subspecies salamandra salamandra bernardezi endemic to the northwest of spain and thus also to the cantabrian mountains deze post in het nederlands klik hier read more and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 3 18 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels amphibians thursday april 11 2013 flowers in march in the cantabrian mountains part 1 deze post in het nederlands klik hier the end of winter in asturias flowers already blooming in the cantabrian mountains in march we managed to escape a few days to asturias to enjoy its softer sea climate where we found many blooming plants we were able to photograph at least 40 different species of which some are really common and others quiet rare a small collection of flowers we found is shown in this post while the others will be adressed in following posts read more and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 8 12 pm 3 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels wild flowers saturday april 6 2013 the natural park of monte santiago el salto del río nervión a 300 meter high waterfall deze post in het nederlands klik hier monte santiago the abrupt boundary between the spanish plateau and the basque lowlands during the easter holiday we managed to escape for a few days devoting our time to the detection of new orchid sites exploring caves and visiting beautiful places in this post i want to share some pictures of the monte santiago natural park with its 300 meters high waterfall el salto del río nervión this blog is also dedicated to natural spaces located in the immediate vicinity of the cantabrian mountains the location of this park is quiet special because it s the only place where the spanish highland meseta borders the coastal lowlands most of the northern meseta with heights of 800 to 900 meters is separated from the north coast by the cantabrian mountains with altitudes of over 2000 meters however these mountains end some 30 kilometers west of monte santiago so that in this park the meseta is directly adjacent to the lowland of vizcaya basque country the border between both regions consists of a dizzying steep cliff of about 500 to 600 meters high and several tens of kilometers long a spectacular sight enhanced in value by the presence of numerous vulture nests the river nervión collects its water on the meseta and streams towards the cliff where it flows over the edge and plunges down however this 300 meter high waterfall can only be admired during periods of heavy rain or melting snow this is due to the karst nature of the plateau where most of the surface water quickly disappears below ground into an enormous underlying cavesystem monte santiago is covered with a beech forest which is fed by rain and mist coming from the sea also there are the ruins of the medieval monastery of santiago de langrériz which gives its name to this natural park read more and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 3 44 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels hiking routes friday march 22 2013 photos of some wild orchids found in león cantabrian mountains deze post in het nederlands klik hier photos of some wild orchids found in the province of león spain general introduction in spain the cantabrian mountains cordillera cantábrica are widely known for its rugged and unspoiled nature and its great abundance of animals and plants some of the most emblematic animals are the brown bear the wolf the capercaillie the golden eagle the griffon vulture and the bearded vulture which has returned three years ago also the recollection of medicinal herbs and herbs for the kitchen is a centuries old habit less known is the great wealth of wild orchids in a recently completed study conducted in a relatively small part of the cantabrian mountains in the province of león by j m diez santos no fewer than 55 species and 10 hybrids have been determined since the wild orchids are my favorite plants they will certainly feature prominently in this blog about the nature of the cantabrian mountains read further and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 5 29 pm 10 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels wild orchids wednesday march 20 2013 the anacamptis picta is a species very similar to the green winged orchid anacamptis morio description and photos of the anacamptis picta the anacamptis picta which is very similar to the green winged orchid anacamptis morio and who some consider to be a subspecies anacamptis morio subsp picta is one of the most common orchids of the cantabrian mountains it flowers from april to june depending on the amount of rain and temperature and the altitude and orientation of the habitat the unspotted and lanceolate leaves grow in a basal rosette with some leaves sheathing the stem almost up to the flowers the inflorescence has normally between 6 and 25 flowers although it can be slightly less or much more which are distributed in a linear or pyramidal bunch on top of a stalk the dorsal sepal and the lateral petals form together a helmet covered or winged by the lateral sepals which have a prominent green or sometimes purple veins much like the features of the green winged orchid a morio the three lobed labellum or lip has a pale center with purple spots and the side lobes are clearly folded backwards which is one of the characteristics which distinguishes it from the green winged orchid which has a broad lip the spur is relatively long and straight or slightly arched upwards with a dilated and flattened apex which contains no nectar the colour is red purple to pink although very pale specimens can be found occasionally the anacamptis picta has normally 2 sessile tubers meaning that they are attached to each other with a great similarity to two testicles read further and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 11 32 am 4 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels wild orchids monday march 18 2013 in the footprints of the roman legions deze post in het nederlands klik hier walking in the cantabrian mountains fuentes de peñacorada general introduction this post will give a description of an easy and beautiful marked route near the southern border of the central cantabrian mountains the importance of the route lies both within the spectacular landscape and the cultural heritance this route is called la huella de las legiones which means literally the footprint of the legions the designers of the route are completely convinced that we are dealing with a roman way which was constructed during the cantabrian wars 29 19 bc to reach the local celtic settlements called castros those castros were invariably built in inaccessible places very difficult to conquer the general idea is that the romans built some main ways following the mayor river valleys and many smaller sideways which led from a main way towards the celtic settlements in the mountains in this case our route is interpreted as a sideway of the main way along the river esla generally recognised as a roman way which led to a castro situated at the campurrial pass according to the historians eutimio martino and siro sanz this way has all the same characteristics of some closeby and widely recognised roman ways in other parts of the cantabrian mountains considering the fact that the region has been under roman control for more than 400 years since the cantabrian wars till the beginning of the 5th century when the suevi the vandals and the alans entered spain it is not far fetched to imaging that they also constructed a network of roads in the cantabrian mountains because those ways were the natural connection between the villages they have been maintained and repaired in the centuries since which means that they are only partially original in the meaning that not all the slabs of stone were literally laid down by the romans in medieval writings of before the year 1000 this way is already mentioned which at least proves a minimum age of more than a millenium other cultural aspects are the ruins of a medieval castle el castillo de monteagudo on top of a steep mountain and traces of a celtic settlement read further and enjoy the photos read more posted by marius van heiningen at 10 28 pm 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels hiking routes thursday march 14 2013 some photos of the cathedral cave the cathedral cave marius van heiningen introduction within the cantabrian mountains there are an awful lot of places which are virtually unknown especially to tourism but this aspect is not restricted to the surface of these mountains below ground there is a very rich subterran...