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Las Ubiñas - La Mesa Nature Park
Lena, Quirós y Teverga (Central Asturias)
Open to the public

All year round

Area
451 km2
Maximum elevation
2,417 m. at El Fontán Norte.
Contact Address

Lena
Tourist Office
Corner of El Marqués
de San Feliz, 2
33630 Pola de Lena

Phone 985 497 608

Quirós
Tourist Office
Carretera General. Bárzana
33117 Quirós

Phone 985 768 160 (summer and long holiday weekends)
Website http://www.asturiasbiosfera.com/las-ubinas-la-mesa

Reserva Biosfera
Location Other details

  • Peña Ubiña-La Mesa Nature Park is located in the southern part of Asturias, bordering the province of León and including the boroughs of Teverga, Quirós and Lena.

  • Plant life

    Eleven of the nineteen plant series that populate Asturias are represented in Las Ubiñas-La Mesa Nature Park. This abundance is the result of a combination of factors, such as the complexity of the terrain and the use humans have made of these territories. Much of the surface area, a third in all, is occupied by mature forests, which testifies to the good state of preservation of the plant communities. Beech constitutes the predominant forest formation, covering more than seventy percent of the forested area, although there is no shortage of oak or birch.

    Hillside woods are scarce in this area, although there are examples of riverside forests made up of alder and ash groves dotted with maples. Large expanses of pastureland predominate above the timberline, ancestrally exploited by the residents of Quirós and Lena and even grazed by flocks of migratory herds of merino sheep from Castile, León and Extremadura. Three taxa included in the Regional Catalogue of Threatened Flora are preserved in these pasturelands: the Asturian daffodil, the wild daffodil and gentian.

    Wildlife

    The biological wealth of Las Ubiñas-La Mesa Nature Park makes this one of the few places where you can still see the magnificent brown bear. It is not the only Cantabrian species typical to this area included in the Regional Catalogue of Threatened Species. Capercaillie can be found within the park woodlands, sharing the space with other examples of wildlife common to these habitats, such as the wolf, wild boar, fox, genet, wildcat, ermine and badger. Highly prized game such as roe deer, deer and chamois roam the high mountains, as do the major birds of prey that nest on their slopes, like the eagle, vulture, Egyptian vulture and peregrine falcon. With their presence, the otter and Pyrenean desman, included in the Regional Catalogue as species of special interest, testify to the incalculable environmental value of the watercourses flowing through the park. The Huerta Cave Natural Monument is home to several families of bats.

Located in the southernmost part of ​​Asturias, it boasts priceless natural and cultural riches.

Las Ubiñas-La Mesa Nature Park comprises a mountain territory with marked contrasts in its relief, within which the Peña Ubiña massif rises up near the border with León to heights of over 2,400 metres, making it the second highest area in the region after the Picos de Europe.

Located in the southernmost part of Asturias, it is formed by the lands of Teverga and Quirós, which are included in the Somiedo Regional Hunting Reserve and in the Peña Ubiña Protected Landscape, in the southwest of the borough of Lena.

The environmental value ​​of the park is afforded by the diversity it presents and its excellent state of preservation. Examples of over half the Asturian plant families are to be found here, with over a third of the area being occupied by old-growth forests in which beech predominates. Cantabrian wildlife is also very well represented here, with species such as the brown bear and the Cantabrian capercaillie, included in the Regional Catalogue of Threatened Species, as well as the otter and Pyrenean desman, two species associated with high environmental quality watercourses. Birds of prey, roe deer, deer, chamois, wolves and foxes also form part of the local wildlife. Noteworthy among the watercourses that flow through Peña Ubiña-La Mesa Nature Park is the gorge formed by the River Val de Sampedro, where Huerta Cave, a listed Natural Monument, can be found.

Numerous cultural values also come together in this rich environmental setting. It boasts one of the most significant rock art sites in the northwest of the peninsula (Fresnedo Caves), with pictorial representations from the Bronze to Iron Ages. It also conserves remains of the hill fort era. However, one of its most representative elements is undoubtedly the so-called Camino Real de la Mesa, a Roman road which linked the region with the plateau of León, as ancient as the first indigenous Astur people. Fine examples of traditional Asturian mountain architecture can still be seen in the villages in the area, which preserve stone houses with wooden running balconies. Alongside these villages coexisted the brañas, summer grazing areas where simple broom-thatched or tile-roofed stone huts known as teitoswere built, together with circular constructions with stone corbel domes called corros or cabanos.

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Las Ubiñas-La Mesa Nature Park
GPS:+43.1164169,-5.9621106