Guadalentín Salt Marshes

Marshes located next to the Guadalentín river (meaning “flow of clay”), with a surface area of 1487 hectares split between the municipalities of Alhama de Murcia and Totana. These salt marches, which account for 28.9% of all continental wetlands in the Region, are protected as a Special Bird Protected Area due to their great ornithological value.

 

The large flood plain does not form a big lagoon, but a number of scattered salt marshes separated from each other by cultivation areas. They are known as “criptohumedales” because they do not look like a typical wetland due to hidden water sources or “transit wetlands”. The wet underground and steppe surface caused by a process of evapotranspiration, makes this a unique, special place.

 

The arid surface allows the growth of thyme, taray, anacampseros, albardine and verdolaga, which together with animals and birds such as larks, eagles, foxes, snakes and hedgehogs, form the biological life of this incomparable setting.