Hillwalking at the Beach of Quiaios

 

  Hillwalking at the Beach of Quiaios

(Cabo Mondego, Figueira da Foz, Portugal)

Meeting Nature at Quiaios-Beech (Praia de Quiaios)

A systemic view.

During year we will undertake small walks at the beach of Quiaios and along the hillsides of Serra da Boaviagem. We will observe animals and plants at Praia de Quiaios. :

• the species and habitats of plants and animals
• the diverse habitats and ecosystems of these species under systemic aspects

Fig. 1  - The Beach of Quiaios (Praia de Quiaios) seen from Cabo Mondego

The Cabo Mondego and the Dunes of Mira, Gândara and Gafanhas, at the extreme occident of Europe, show a rich spectrum of ecosystems and habitats of great ecological value.

Fig. 2  - Cabo Mondego and the Dunes of Mira, Gândara and Gafanhas ( PTCON0055  )

The following list of natural and semi-natural habitats of the Council Directive 92/43/EEC, included in the Plano Sectorial da Rede Natura 2000, is furnished by the ICNB  (Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e da Biodiversidade) for the Dunes of Mira, Gândara and Gafanhas.

	1. COASTAL AND HALOPHYTIC HABITATS 11. Open sea and tidal areas 12. Sea cliffs and shingle or stony beaches
1170	Reefs.
1210	Annual vegetation of drift lines.
1230 1240	Vegetated sea cliffs
	2. COASTAL SAND DUNES AND INLAND DUNES 21. Sea dunes of the Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic coasts 22. Sea dunes of the Mediterranean coast
2110	Embryonic shifting dunes
2120	Shifting dunes along the shoreline with Ammophila arenaria  ('white dunes')
2130	* Fixed coastal dunes with herbaceous vegetation ('grey dunes')
2150	* Atlantic decalcified fixed dunes ( Calluno-Ulicetea )
2170	Dunes with Salix repens  ssp. argentea ( Salicion arenariae )
2190	Humid dune slacks
2260	Cisto-Lavenduletalia  dune sclerophyllous scrubs
2270	* Wooded dunes with Pinus pinea  and/or Pinus pinaster
	3. FRESHWATER HABITATS 31. Standing water 32. Running water - sections of water courses with natural or semi-natural dynamics (minor, average and major beds) where the water quality shows no significant deterioration
3110	Oligotrophic waters containing very few minerals of sandy plains ( Littorelletalia uniflorae )
3150	Natural eutrophic lakes with Magnopotamion  or Hydrocharition  - type vegetation
3270	Rivers with muddy banks with Chenopodion rubri  p.p. and Bidention  p.p. vegetation
3280	Constantly flowing Mediterranean rivers with Paspalo-Agrostidion  species and hanging curtains of Salix  and Populus alba
	4. TEMPERATE HEATH AND SCRUB
4030	European dry heaths
	5. SCLEROPHYLLOUS SCRUB (MATORRAL) 52. Mediterranean arborescent matorral 53. Thermo-Mediterranean and pre-steppe brush
5230	* Arborescent matorral with Laurus nobilis
5330	Thermo-Mediterranean and pre-desert scrub
	6. NATURAL AND SEMI-NATURAL GRASSLAND FORMATIONS 61. Rupicolous calcareous or basophilic grasslands 62. Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies 64. Semi-natural tall-herb humid meadows
6110	Rupicolous calcareous or basophilic grasslands of the Alysso - Sedion  albi. Habitat group: grasslands.
6210	Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates ( Festuco-Brometalia ) (* important orchid sites)
6420	Mediterranean tall humid grasslands of the Molinio-Holoschoenion
6430	Hydrophilous tall herb fringe communities of plains and of the montane to alpine levels
	8. ROCKY HABITATS AND CAVES 82. Rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation 83. Other rocky habitats
8210	Calcareous rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation
8330	Submerged or partially submerged sea caves
	9. FORESTS 91. Forests of Temperate Europe
91E0	* Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa  and Fraxinus excelsior  ( Alno-Padion , Alnion incanae , Salicionalbae )
91F0	Riparian mixed forests of Quercus robur , Ulmus laevis  and Ulmus minor , Fraxinus excelsior  or Fraxinusangustifolia  , along the great rivers ( Ulmenion minoris )
92A0	Salix alba and Populus alba galleries
	With blue background color: prioritary habitats

There exists, at the western limit of Europe, a dune landscape with litoral and arborized dunes where you can find endemic plants, as for example the Portuguese Crawberry (Corema alba)  of the Empetraceae family, whose white berries are edible.

 

Fig 3a  - The Portuguese Crawberry (Corema album ) at the Grey dunes

of Praia de Quiaios

Fig 3b   - Wooded dunes with Maritime Pines ( Pinus pinaster )

and Stone Pines ( Pinus pinea )

The Eastern limit of the beach of Quiaios is formed by a small chain of hillsides, the Serra da Boaviagem , where you can find plants in the transition between Atlantic and Mediterranean Flora. There a rich sites with orchids (habitat 6210  ) and dwarf forms of plants, well adapted to the strong sea winds. Also, especially at the upper parts of the hillsides, where fog is more frequent contributing to an elevate humidity, you can find an interesting and unique plant community.

Fig. 4 - Pulicaria odora  - species from the Compositae family

Fig. 5a,b,c - Iberis procumbens ?ssp. microcarpa

Fig. 6  - Armeria welwitschii

The Cabo Mondego which forms the southern limit of the Beach of Quiaios, is an important geological site, in 2007 declared as a Natural Monument, with rich fossil documentation  and an undisturbed stratification from the Middle and Upper Jurassic Period.

To the North of the Beach of Quiaios we find extensive dune landscapes with white and grey dunes and arborized dunes, the Dunas de Gândara, Mira e Gafanhas .

The Atlantic Ocean around Cabo Mondego is often wild and dangerous - but it leaves impressions of beauty to everyone who loves nature.

Fig. 7   - Cabo Mondego during winter

Fig. 8   - The reefs of Cabo Mondego

Fig. 8a  - Fossils from Cabo Mondego

Fig. 8b  - Fossils from Cabo Mondego

South from Cabo Mondego we find the Estuary of the Mondego river. This estuary does not belong to the region of dunes of Gândara, Gafanha and Mira. But as the distance is short from beach of Quiaios to the estuary, we will undertake excursions to the Isle of Murraceira at the mouth of Mondego river. This isle is surrounded by two arms of Mondego river, a northern and a southern arm. The southern arm has rich salt marshes and you can find salt evaporation ponds and other extensive agricultural and aquaculture activities. In this region exists a rich halophytic vegetation - and waders as stilts ( Himantopus himantopus ), flamingos ( Phoenicopterus roseus ) and other birds specialized for living in low salt water and brackish waters, can be found here.

Marshland south from Ilha da Murraceira

The Mondego bridge

An old wind mill

Extraction of salt

Flamingos in abandoned salt evaporation ponds

Wooden "palheiros"   where extracted salt is stored

  Walks: 2

   

• (I) Praia de Quiaios e da Murtinheira (Caminhadas/Partida: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• Caminhada (Ia) - Praia de Quiaios (2h)
• Caminhada (Ib) - Praia da Murtinheira (2h)

• (II) As dunas móveis da Praia de Quiaios  (Caminhada/Partida: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• Caminhada (II) - Até a Praia da Costinha (4-5h)

• (III) As dunas consolidadas da Praia de Quiaios  (Caminhada/Partida: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• Caminhada (III) - As dunas consolidadas e depressões intradunares de Quiaios (2-3h)

• (IV) As falésias e recifes do Cabo Mondego (Caminhada/Partida: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• Caminhada (IVa) - Pelo Cabo Mondego até ao Mirador da Bandeira (3-4h)
• Caminhada (IVb) - Da Pedra da Nau até Buarcos (3-4h)

• (V) A encosta da Serra de Boaviagem - (Caminhada/Partida: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• Caminhada (Va) - Encosta da Serra até ao moinho de água (Quiaios) (3-4h)
• Caminhada (Vb) - Encosta da Serra pela Casa dos Cogumelos (3-4h)
• Caminhada (Vc) - Encosta da Serra até ao mirador "A Bandeira" (3-4h)
• Caminhada (Vd) - Encosta da Serra à procura de fósseis pelo Vale de Anta (3-4h)
• Caminhada para o Moinho de vento do Pardal (1h)

• (VI) As Lagoas (Caminhada/Partida: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• Caminhadas (VIa e VIb) - Lagoa das Braças e Lagoa da Vela (3-4h)

• (VII) Estuário do Mondego   (3-4h – Caminhada/Partida: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• Caminhada (VIIa) - Ilha da Murraceira (2-3h)
• Caminhada (VIIb) - Ilha da Murraceira (3-4h)

Conferences:

• (VII) Estudos sobre dinâmica de sistemas (1h – Palestra: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

• (VIII) Resume de palestras de Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker sobre a questão "Para onde nós nos dirigimos e o que devemos fazer? " (1h – Palestra: C@fé-Gelataria "Quiaios-Praia")

Links:

Photos de horstengels http://www.panoramio.com/user/199980

Photos de horstengels2 http://www.panoramio.com/user/1601996

Maria da Assunção Ferreira Pedrosa de Araújo: Geomorfologia Litoral  http://web.letras.up.pt/asaraujo/seminario/Aula7.htm

Fixação e Arborização das Dunas do Litoral http://www.drapc.min-agricultura.pt/base/documentos/fixacao_dunas.htm

Biogeografia de Portugal Continental https://woc.uc.pt/fluc/getFile.do?tipo=2&id=915

The Coastal Vegetation of the Portuguese Divisory sector: Dune cliffs and Low-Scrub Communities http://www.ceg.ul.pt/finisterra/numeros/2000-69/69_04.pdf (Esta publicação é a mais importante para conhecer os releves de comunidades florísticas da zona e constitui uma inestimável ajuda para uma orientação aprofundada sobre a flora costeira do Cabo Mondego.)

COSTA, J.C. (2001) – Tipos de vegetação e adaptações das plantas do litoral dePortugal continental. In Albergaria Moreira, M.E., A. Casal Moura, H.M. Granja & F. Noronha (ed.) Homenagem (in honorio) Professor Doutor Soares de Carvalho: 283-299. Braga. Universidade do Minho. (Um trabalho didáctico importante sobre adaptações ecológicas de plantas nas zonas costeiras)

XXXII: Aditamentos à vegetação do Sector Divisório-Português http://www.scielo.oces.mctes.pt/pdf/slu/v10n1/10n1a09.pdf

Invasões biológicas http://www1.ci.uc.pt/invasoras/

Flora Iberica http://www.rjb.csic.es/floraiberica/ (A Flora Iberica não está ainda completada, mas encontra-se aqui já a mais exaustiva informação sobre a Flora ibérica, disponível em formato pdf. A consulta e os downloads dos diversos taxa podem ser feitas a partir da página web da Flora Iberica. Mais uma vez obrigado por esta generosidade dos autores desta obra maravilhosa!)

Fauna Ibérica http://www.fauna-iberica.mncn.csic.es/index.php

Flora Digital de Portugal http://www.jb.utad.pt/pt/herbario/cons_reg.asp

Herbário da Universidade de Coimbra http://www.uc.pt/herbario_digital

Plano Sectorial da Rede Natura 2000

Convenção Ramsar  http://www.ramsar.org/

Veja também:

o blog: Fotofigueira

o blog: Casa do sal

o blog: Flora da Serra da Boaviagem

Inscrições : Associação Trilhos d'Esplendor  – PRCT Pavilhão Terreiro 2/3,  Praia de Quiaios  – Rua da Praia. 3080-515 Figueira da Foz. Mais Informações : Tel. 967460855 e por email: horst.engels@gmail.com