This reserve is managed as a result of an agreement between the Coastal Authorities of Cantabria and the Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre.

It is located to the east of the Bay of Santander. To the south is the town of Pontejos as well as a large area of grazing land. To the east there is a chemical products factory and in the background the town of Elechas. To the west we can find Isla Pedrosa and the Carpepal urban furniture factory, from which the reserve is accessed.

This reserve is made up of two different areas or ecological units: a marsh and a coastal path.

On the first one of these, the existing vegetation is that typical of marshes, characterized by the presence of halophytes and aquatic species that provide shelter to countless species of fauna; invertebrates, molluscs and crustaceans that are the trophic base for an extensive community of vertebrates, with birds being their maximum representatives.

Typical species of marshes and wetlands can be found, such as reeds and rushes, mixed in some areas with pampa grass and sea myrtle, species on which FNYH is working towards their elimination. This work is very tedious and complicated due to the poor accessibility of the areas colonised by these species. If you follow the coastal path, you will find a mixture of native and non-native species, including bay trees, strawberry tree, alder, hazel, birch, hawthorn, oak, black willow and white willow; and the non-native ones: salt cedar, pampa grass, sea myrtle and black locust.

The second ecological unit is the coastal path that runs through Ensenada de San Bartolomé and joins the Engoa marsh. This is a narrow strip of great interest since, with only a few meters wide, one can observe great plant diversity associated with coastal banks, such as sea purslane, sea lavender, salicornia or reeds. There is a very small area with a plantation of strawberry trees and bay trees and also somewhere else nearby, but already outside the reserve. Along the path there is an islet immersed in the bay, with holm oaks and bay trees; and an old limestone quarry that is being invaded by the pampa grass.

The most representative fauna of this reserve are the birds, especially those associated with wetlands such as cormorants, spoonbills, herons, gulls and many other species of ducks.

Collaborators:

• Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs Cantabria Coastal Region
• General Secretariat of the Sea
• Directorate General for Sustainability of the Coast and Sea