Wildlife at Desert Springs

Latest Desert Springs Nature Bulletin

Click to download/view the Nature Bulletin for June 2011

 

The Indiana golf course was more or less completed in April, 2001, since when, we are proud to say, there has been an amazing growth of wildlife, including wildflowers, birds, reptiles and other fauna and flora around the resort, on what was formerly a fairly lifeless tomato ranch. 

The more exotic and colourful birds include Eurasian Bea Eaters, Golden Orioles, Hoopoes, Flamingos and European Rollers.  Rarities amongst animals include the Blanus Cinererius, the world’s smallest snake and the Morrocan tortoise.

Joël Lodé, Chief Naturalist and “cactus king” at Desert Springs, writes:

Desert Springs: already 4 years old!

While I worked in the Canary Islands as Director of the Botanical Collection at Cactus Park, Tenerife, the Canary Cactus Company suggested that I develop plants and collect cacti and other succulent plant seeds in on a production line basis. I accepted the challenge with enthusiasm and during 6 years, the industrial production of seed (by 100,000, by million or by kilo) increased from some 80 species to more than 800.

Meanwhile, I was sent to Andalusia to oversee and coordinate the planting of large cactus on a golf course situated in the north of Almeria. Plants having been ordered from Tenerife, it was necessary to plant them in the best possible conditions, and I managed up to 15 workers with excavators and machines to make this happen.

However, some plants were not adapted to outdoor cultivation, and it was difficult to know if the architect for aesthetic reasons had ordered these plants or if the nurseryman had proposed them because he possessed them in great quantities. I immediately realised there was little possibility of survival for Adenium somalense, Pachypodium lamerei and most of the Brazilian plants (Pilosocereus gounellei, P. azureus, Austrocephalocereus dybowskyi...), or Malagasy (Kalanchoe beharensis) if they were not protected (now I regret not following my instincts).

Actually, the winter 2005 was deadly for all Spain and particularly Andalusia, and these new introductions had no time to become accustomed to the polar cold (it is necessary to go back 56 years back to see some snow in this region of Almanzora.). Exotic Euphorbias were touched in all Andalusia, and were literally burned by the cold (temperatures dipped down to -6°C for a region, which with its orange trees, only very rarely have to suffer the frost).

Fortunately, the vast majority of Cacti and other Succulents planted on the golf course withstood these conditions well and it is a pleasure to see huge specimens like Pachycereus pringlei or P. pecten-aboriginum of about 6 m high prospering, blooming and fruiting in profusion.  The landscape is charming, because hundreds of non succulents, native or not cheer up the course and make this golfing experience unique, a real garden of coloured flowers: Limonium, Echium, Kniphofia, as well numerous Mesembryanthemaceae: Ruschia, Drosanthemum, Carpobrotus, Delosperma, Lampranthus, Malephora.

After 4 months working in Andalusia, the Desert Springs management suggested me to stay and work for them. A short time later, the Perez Ortega Company also made me a late proposition to stay in the Canary Islands: I had taken my decision and I thus moved with all my collection of plants in two containers for a new adventure, this time in continental Spain.

The Desert Springs Resort and Golf Course is situated in the region of Almanzora, between the mountain and the sea, at the driest point of the driest region of all of Europe, being in the north of Almeria in Spain. Although the annual rainfall does not exceed 200 mm and therefore the area can be properly classified as desert, it is a surprise to note that the wildlife on the resort demonstrates a very rich biodiversity indeed. To date, we have catalogued and photographed more than 200 species of wild flowers, as well as 205 species of animals, notably birds, ready for the realization of a small publication on the natural environment on the resort and golf course.

The most remarkable of all the fauna are birds, with over 60 species. Indeed, the lake and the watercourse constitute a refuge for numerous species, and human presence does not seem to be a limiting factor, some birds actually nest and reproducing on the golf course, for example the Little Owl, Athene noctua, the Coot (Fulica atra) and the Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), etc.

There are fewer mammals, but amongst these are the hedgehog (Erinaceus europeus) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). The reptiles are particularly visible in spring and, in summer lizards and tortoises (Testudo graeca) are the most notable. Special mention must be made of the presence here of the smallest snake in the world: Blanus cinereus.

The Desert Springs Resort and Golf Course is covered with hundreds of exotic plants, in which the cacti and other succulents are the most outstanding. Nevertheless, many native wildflowers, more than 200 species, many endemics, some very rare, grow freely on all parts of the golf course. Outstanding species are Caralluma europaea, Iris sisyrinchum, Limonium insigne, Euphorbia helioscopia, but there are plenty more to see.

Obviously, cacti and other succulents make the charm and the attraction of the golf:course: huge Pachycereus pringlei, Vatricania guentheri, Pilosocereus pachycladus, Cephalocereus senilis, Cleistocactus strausii, Polaskia chichipe, Lophocereus schottii, Oreocereus celsianus, Trichocereus terscheckii are some of the remarkable large plants which can be encountered along the course; it is not necessary to be a golfer to appreciate these! The globular species are also present in all the hidden recesses: Ferocactus horridus, F. stainesii v. pilosus, F. gracilis, Echinocactus grusonii, E. platyacanthus, as well as other succulent plants: Agave americana, A. macroacantha, Cotyledon macrantha, Puya mirabilis, Euphorbia triangularis, Aloe vera, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora, magnificent specimens of Aloe dichotoma, marlothii, and carpets of mesembs surround greens and tees.

During these last four years spent at Desert Springs, I have noticed with pleasure the natural settlement of indigenous wild plants, growing quite naturally with our cultivated plants at the location and creating a completely unique landscape as is to be expected of the only desert situated within Europe.