Wildlife in Spain

[ilovelife]

Hi everyone.

I am very excited to start learning about how to plan for this camino.

My question is: What kind of wild life do you find on the paths in the Camino de Santiago?

Here in the canadian wild (Alberta) we can find moose, bears, mountain goats, deer and others.

Does Spain have any wild life that people need to worry about such as bears? I'm assuming they don't have bears in Spain but I'm curious to know the answer.

Thank you.

Noto.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

No bears. Not much wildlife.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantabrian_brown_bear

 

[tyrrek]

Hi! No, nothing big or threatning, really. If you're walking at a migratory period the birds could be interesting. The storks nested in the church towers with their young in spring are great! Insects, reptiles, amphibians are plentiful. I saw loads of deer from the train last year when going from Sahagun to Valladolid, but have never seen any on the Camino itself. Maybe if you start walking at dawn you'll see a lot more.

Buen Camino!

 

[ilovelife]

Thank you very much for the feedback to my question. I have been reading posts on this forum for several hours now and am very pleased at seeing how this is a very welcoming and friendly community you all have made on this forum.

I am pleased to be a part of it.

Hugs from Canada!

 

[fraluchi]

What kind of wild life do you find on the paths in the Camino de Santiago?

You will not find much wild life on the Camino. Rather more domesticated animals such as cows moving across villages and sheep in the fields. An occasional tame pilgrim on horse back. The "wildest" creatures moving along the tracks are pilgrim cyclists on mountain bikes who move at high speed, shouting their right of way when they are about on top of you. :evil:

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

There are no bears! I believe there used to be wolves in the northern mountains, but they have died out - and the camino won't be going there anyway. Spain does have packs of wild dogs. They rarely cause a problem, and hate being poked in the face with a walking pole. I also carry a dog Dazer.
But the smaller creatures are beautiful - geckos, almond rats, bee-eater birds, etc. You can find scorpions, but they are very small, and I don't think they're deadly ... mind you, I never tried teasing one!
None of the above would deter me the slightest from going on a pilgrimage. In fact I start Lisbon to Porto in six weeks time.

Buen camino!

Stephen.
http://www.calig.co.uk/camino_de_santiago.htm

 

[tyrrek]

Spain does have packs of wild dogs. They rarely cause a problem, and hate being poked in the face with a walking pole.

Hi Stephen. I think you've mentioned these packs of wild dogs before but I've never seen any. Where did you encounter them? Is it on the Frances? Buen Camino!

 

[Larazet]

What kind of wild life do you find on the paths in the Camino de Santiago?

You will not find much wild life on the Camino. Rather more domesticated animals such as cows moving across villages and sheep in the fields. An occasional tame pilgrim on horse back. The "wildest" creatures moving along the tracks are pilgrim cyclists on mountain bikes who move at high speed, shouting their right of way when they are about on top of you. :evil:

So it's their right of way? Even on the paths? Let's see what happens when they start shouting at me! ....that's telling 'em!!

Karin ...31 days to go

 

[tyrrek]

I remember seeing massive slugs on the trail. They were huge!!!!
I felt sorry for them so would pick some of them up and get them off the path.

Ok so that's not wildlife......but still They were HUGE!!!

It's wild and it's life, so... I spent my first Camino hopping over the lines of ants that cross the path. It kept me fit and with a spring in my step! Buen Camino!

 

[CaminoGen]

I had the luck and pleasure to see a deer and her fowl crossing the road fifty feet in front of me in the mountains, just after Cruz de ferries. Brought tears to my eyes.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I've walked many sections of many routes on the Camino and I have yet to see any wild dogs. Someone a long time ago, on this forum, advised me to pick up a rock any time a dog felt threatening. I passed one farmhouse a year or so ago, and a dog came a little too close. I bent over to pick up a rock and he was gone! They KNOW what those rocks do!

I've heard there are more dogs on the VDLP route. There were none the first 10 days, but now we'll see. I'm afraid of dogs, so I'm hoping I see none.

The only dog that actually frightened me was a little chihuahua sized booger in a village - he was snapping at my heels. But his owner quickly got him under control.

Oh yes! I did set off one really dark morning before dawn and as I walked in the darkness (VDLP) I heard snorting. I pointed my camera toward the noise and took a photo, and when I looked at it, I laughed because it was PIGS! lol

I still swear I saw large cat tracks in the woods along the Northern Route. But people on the forum insist I must have been wrong. I worked for US Fish and Wildlife Service and Fisheries in 4 states, have a degree in Wildlife Management, and I've had a bit of training in tracking, so I'm fairly confident as to what I saw. Maybe it was a lynx out of its range. Maybe it was someone's 50 pound house cat. :roll: Or an escaped circus animal. Or maybe someone has a pet exotic cat. Or maybe there were drugs in my coffee, or maybe the aliens dropped it :shock: :shock: :shock: , but I maintain I saw what appeared to me to be cougar-type cat tracks. A two-lobed pad with four toes and no claws. The pad was nearly as wide as my palm. I don't frighten easily, but the hair on the back of neck stood up and I high-tailed it out of there!

I've seen those slugs you mentioned. They're actually quite beautiful. I have photos of black ones, brown ones, and bright orange ones.

 

[Canuck]

Some pilgrims have reported seeing wolves on the VDLP.
Personally, I haven't seen anything larger than a squirrel.
It's like wild dogs, if you don't see them they don't exist, I suppose.
Well, I have seen wild dogs. 12 years ago in Foncebadon (before it became hipster and was still totally abandonned) at 7 in a dark and foggy morning, I was surounded by a pack of 6 unfriendly dogs. Unable to move, two Australian pilgrims quickly came to my rescue after a very short while.
Argue all you want, there are wild dogs in Spain.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Wow Canuck, that must have been scary! :shock:
I won't argue.. I believe you.. I just have never seen them and hope I never do!

Wolves on the VDLP? Yikes! lol

 

[Tia Valeria]

..............

I still swear I saw large cat tracks in the woods along the Northern Route. But people on the forum insist I must have been wrong. I worked for US Fish and Wildlife Service and Fisheries in 4 states, have a degree in Wildlife Management, and I've had a bit of training in tracking, so I'm fairly confident as to what I saw. Maybe it was a lynx out of its range. Maybe it was someone's 50 pound house cat. :roll: Or an escaped circus animal. Or maybe someone has a pet exotic cat. Or maybe there were drugs in my coffee, or maybe the aliens dropped it :shock: :shock: :shock: , but I maintain I saw what appeared to me to be cougar-type cat tracks. A two-lobed pad with four toes and no claws. The pad was nearly as wide as my palm. I don't frighten easily, but the hair on the back of neck stood up and I high-tailed it out of there!.........

Terry saw very large paw prints too. When we asked a hunter what they were he said 'puerco espin' a porcupine. Apparently there are some N African Porcupines in the area. If you look carefully you can see the tail trail, and also the back paw prints are apparently longer and slightly narrower than the front.
Is this photo like what you saw?

 

[Anniesantiago]

Hi Tia,
Yes, these tracks look similar, but not similar enough to big cat tracks to me. The toes are longer than I would expect and the pad is not quite wide enough. The shape just isn't quite the same. Also, you would not see any nails. But that is a BIG porcupine! :shock:

 

[Amboage]

I'm from a little town in Spain (Villafranca del Bierzo) and I've never seen (or hearded about) wild dogs :shock:
Brown Bears are seen frequently in El Bierzo but the vast majority of the 210 northwest Spain individuals live in The Cantabrian Mountain Range, far from the Camino.
From Montes de Leon to Santiago there are wolves, roe a red deer, wild boar, chamois a foxes but they are elusive of "civilized" paths like the Camino, although I have seen roe deer and wild boar in Villafranca outskirts.

 

[TerryB]

Hi Tia,
. . . . that is a BIG porcupine! :shock:

The footprint was near San Roman on the Camino Primitivo.
This was the 'critter'! :- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_porcupine
Size up to 60+ centimeters excluding tail. Weight 27 kilos.
Apparently they were introduced from N. Africa and have become a pest in some areas - eating the bark and buds on young trees.

More details here:-
http://www.walktocompostela.blogspot.co ... -home.html

On the Primitivo I saw deer in the valley bottoms. No wolves or bear! Watch out for melanistic (black) red squirrels around Arzua. They are relatively tame, so easy to spot if you are looking in the right place!

Enjoy your camino!
Blessings Tio Tel

 

[3walkingtoSantiago]

I saw several deer in a field on the way to Burgos, and a snake zipped across the path right in front of me going over the hill just before Ages. A falcon or other raptor on the Meseta (just past Castrojeriz, maybe). And tons of slugs and snail. My son forced us to make very slow progress out of Lorca by stopping to move every snail he found off the path to safety. There were a LOT of snails that morning!

 

[k1ypp]

Yes, even the peregrinos tend to be pretty tame after walking all day. As for dogs, at one time, they were a problem. Shirley MacClain, in her story of her Camino (book was 2001), she described having dog encounters. However, the Spanish government has seen the value of all those peregrinos walking through and seem to have cleaned up any roving dog issues. The ones we did see were very much under control, either tethered, or caged. I have the feeling there are stiff penalties for uncontrolled dogs. The few that were loose were very well trained and friendly, walking with the owner, and a pleasure. Don't worry about dogs.

We did see some very amusing, extremely large, bright red squirrels one afternoon. They were the largest squirrels I've ever seen.

As for the bicyclists, they are a bigger threat to your safety. It isn't so much the ones yelling, it is the ones that say nothing, and don't ring a bell or anything that are the real danger. They can come up behind you at a very rapid rate and startle the wits out of you. The tendency is to jump to the right or left...don't. They're guessing which way you're going to jump, that can go badly. I usually stay my position, unless I can clearly identify where they are going.

I'm also a bicyclist, and have never come close to hitting anyone. I have a bell and make every attempt to let walkers know I'm there. Many walkers wear ear devices and play loud music, they never hear anything coming, even large trucks. In those cases, I just pass slowly.

In fact, Jane and I are going to the Camino in about a week, and taking our bicycles. We'll ride from Barcelona to Logroño, and then ride from there to Santiago. Using bicycles, we prefer to stick to the roads. They're not mountain bikes and are better suited for road travel. We'll store the bikes in Santiago, then catch a train to Lisbon, Portugal and then walk the Portuguese Camino. Maybe we'll see you along the way Stephen?

Buen Camino!
Dennis

 

[Susannafromsweden]

I was reading yesterday on a blog about something called Dog dazer. It made a sound which made the dogs run away. I wonder if that might be useful? I had to turn back once and walk the road instead because of very aggressive dogs.

And the bikes, I never had any problems with them. So far. Another pilgrim told me to carry my trekking pole in a certain way. If a car or a bike comes to close, they will hit the pole, not me.
When they see that, they keep the distance.
Some people seems to think they are more important because they have a car or a bike. Just ignore them.

 

[CaminoJohn]

I have seen mountain goats in the Sierra Nevada...on the camino frances, I have seen deer, foxes, shrews, owls, kestels, hawks and ferrets/weasels among many other birds,mammals and reptiles..plus big fat trout..yum.

 

[stevenjarvis]

I just wanted to say that although they may not been seen anywhere near a Camino route, there ARE both BEARS and Wolves in Spain.

Cat and pigeons too, amongst, put....

 

[nicoX]

I was woken up last year in May 2016 around 10 pm by a wild boer, walking the French Way, in some mountain area between Leon and Santiago.

I set up a camp 10 minutes after I left a village, walked up from the road up the a higher mountain place, but I was still close enough to settlement.

Just as it got dark, and I was tired enough and started closing my eyes, half an hour later, I hear loud sounds of a wild animal.

I got up, put my headlamp on, was ready to defend myself, and looked through the area. After some seconds I saw a smaller wild boer hiding behind some bushes 70 meters from me. When I light it up, luckily it ran away, but while I was packing my tent I could still hear it. Then I had to walk a dark and scary bush road to nearest village, around 11-12m I was really lucky enough to find a small albergue, the only one, being still open. But entering that village, from the small bush road, walking up, I was struck by a morring wolf dog, which I thought was really a wolf. The owner came out when he heard him, and I was finally in safety.

So yes, there are wild animals, and wolves as I have heard from hikers, but if you just follow the road, and if you don't night walk, and sleep in or around albergues you have nothing to fear.

But it was an experience I can tell you!