Forests in Portugal growing on sand

Sand bank in a forest showing the depth of the sand and what the trees are rooted in. Photo by Steve Andrews

In some parts of Portugal there are mixed evergreen forests that are growing on sand and very sandy soil. There are some of these woodlands around Quinta do Conde, a town in the municipality of Sesimbra between Lisbon and Setubal. 

For some reason there is very little information available on the Internet about these areas of forest and heath, although I would have thought they would be especially interesting to naturalists, as well as anyone who likes rambling in the countryside. Although you are miles from the sea you are walking on sand!

Not in sand dunes but inland. Photo by Steve Andrews

 The forests merge with sandy heathland and offer a very interesting habitat for many plants and animals. In many places the ground is nearly pure sand and, although this is inland, it looks far more like an area close to the sea.

Cork Oak Photo by Steve Andrews

 There are a mixture of evergreen trees that somehow manage to thrive despite the poor quality of their soil, evergreen conifers including the Stone or Umbrella Pine (Pinus pinea), as well as the Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) and Cork Oak (Q. suber), the Eucalyptus and other trees. The undergrowth consists of many shrubs and wild flowers and is very colourful in spring.

Silene species Photo by Steve Andrews

 Pink-flowered Catchfly species, (Silene), and the bright blue Scrambling Gromwell (Lithodora diffusa) provide floral eye candy, along with the white, pink and yellow Rockrose species (Cistus spp). The French Lavender (Lavandula stoechas) can be found on the outskirts of these woods and in clearings.

Shrubby Gromwell Photo by Steve Andrews

 Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) grows in aromatic anise-scented clumps and this herb provides a food-plant for Swallowtail Butterflies (Papilio machaon).   The Swallowtail is a very rare British butterfly but is quite common in Portugal.

Swallowtail Photo by Steve Andrews

 There are also plenty of Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria ssp aegeria) butterflies. The Speckled Wood found here is a subspecies of those seen in the UK and have lighter coloured wings. 

Pine Processionary moth caterpillars In Public Domain

 The caterpillars of the Pine Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) spin their overwintering nests in the branches of the pines and then descend in March to look for suitable places to pupate. This species of moth is named after the long head-to-tail processions its larvae make. These caterpillars should not be touched because they are covered in hairs that can cause extreme irritation. Look but don’t touch if you find any of these!

Coronella girondica in the Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal. Photo by Esv - Eduard Solà Vázquez

  I would think the dry sandy conditions would be good for reptiles so was not surprised to find a Southern Smooth Snake (Coronella girondica) hiding under a slab of stone in a grassy area near one of these forests. 

As its name suggests, this snake is very similar to the Smooth Snake (C. austriaca), which is a very rare species in Britain and confined to a few sandy heaths in England. These snakes are harmless and they feed on other small reptiles and mice.

The forests growing on sand in Portugal make a wonderful place to explore all year around.

The Common Chameleon lives in the Algarve

Common Chameleon. Photo in Public Domain

One of the most interesting reptiles found in Portugal is the Common Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon).

It is green, yellowish-green or brown and lives mainly in bushes in scrubland. It can be found in the Algarve area in the south of Portugal and also lives in southern Spain, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Morocco.

In Portugal the Common Chameleon is under threat due mainly to habitat loss from the continuing building projects that serve the tourist trade.  It is also caught for the pet trade but sadly captive specimens often do not live long.

The Common Chameleon feeds mainly on insects and spiders but is reported to also turn cannibal and eat smaller individuals of its own species.

Common Chameleons hibernate in the winter months when food is scarce. They dig themselves small burrows in the ground.

Common chameleons are usually solitary animals that establish territories but they come together for mating. The females lay clutches of eggs that they bury in the ground.  The eggs can take as much as a year to incubate. 

Exotic pets in captivity – the good and bad side

Panther Chameleon male

There is a definite attraction in keeping exotic pets but whilst there is a booming trade supplying these animals there is both a good and a very bad side to the business. What is positive about this is that many people really do love and care for the creatures they have in captivity, but this comes at the expense of all those millions that die after being captured in the wild and are kept and transported in very bad conditions. The ones that end up on sale are often a minority that survived, although many are captive bred which is fair enough.

The appeal of tropical and exotic animals is often because they are very colourful, unusual or just plain cute to look at. Chameleons come into all these categories. The number of people interested in these strange reptiles can be seen by the millions of views videos on Youtube get for the creatures. The Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) from Madagascar is one of the most popular species, coming as it does in dazzling shades of vibrant blue, brilliant red and vivid green. These strange reptiles have become so popular there is a range of books about them.

It is all well and good if people look after their exotic pets but so often this is not done. Even with the best intentions many tropical animals are very hard to keep in captivity and many grow very large.  Some reptiles such as alligators, iguanas and snakes, such as pythons, end up getting released into the wild. In some cases non-native animals set up breeding colonies and become invasive species at the expense of creatures that are already living there. There are many examples of this. The American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is a notable one because it eats smaller creatures including endemic species of frog and other amphibians.

Slow Loris female

Some species of exotic animal are actually being brought close to extinction due to the demand for them. The Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang) is one such creature, and it is usually subjected to horrific cruelty too. The animal has a venomous bite and so to make them safe collectors and dealers pull out or clip out their teeth using no anaesthetic and leaving the terrified animals bleeding badly and subject to infections. All of this, just because they look ‘cute,’ and can make some money for some poor villager in Indonesia or other part of Asia where they live.

Many species owe their survival to being kept in captivity where they are successfully bred. Such is the insanity of the modern world that it really is true that some types of animal are safer in the care of humans than living in the wild.

Zebra Pleco. Photo by Birger A

Habitat destruction is a major threat to so many animals and plants today. The black and white Zebra Pleco (Hypancistrus Zebra) catfish from Brazil is one fish that may end up surviving only because of its looks that have made it popular with tropical fish-keepers. It lives only in a limited area of the Xingu River and if the Belo Monte Dam is built the conditions this fish needs will be destroyed.

Père David's Deer (Elaphurus davidianus) is a deer from China that only survived because of a captive herd that all living animals of this species are descended from. It is extinct in the wild.

It is very easy to say that all wild animals belong back in the wild but it is not that simple. In some cases, such as the deer mentioned above, the species would no longer be alive if they had not been kept by humans. 


Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.