Sierra de Castril Nature Reserve

Sierra de Castril is a mountainous area situated to the north-east of Granada province, bordering the Nature Reserve of the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and las Villas. It is an area of abrupt topography, in which gullies, mountain passes and vertical faces of a great height abound.

It belongs to the Granada town of Castil, and the Reserve boasts heights of between 855 and 2,138 metres above sea-level. It is crossed by the river Castril. Onits rugged topography grows vegetation dominated, on the lower section, by species of oak and holm oak mainly, and masses of gall-oaks ashes and maples in the more humid areas. In the high parts of the sierra, the Austrian pine is predominant, which in turn makes way for the savin juniper and the communities of pines on the crests and rocks. This vegetation is rounded off with the presence of a dense Mediterranean type scrub and with interesting botanical endemisms dotted sparsely over the area. Thanks to the variety of environments in the sea, the fauna is extremely diverse, with the population of griffin vultures being particularly important. Other species of interest are the mountain goat, mouflon, fallow deer, wild boar, lynx, wild cat or marten, among the land vertebrates; or the golden eagle, peregrine falcon or the black kite, amongst the birds.