The Medina lagoon, located in the municipality of Jerez de la Frontera, about 11 km from the city centre, is the largest lagoon in the province of Cádiz. Its maximum dimensions are 1,300 m long by 400 m wide. It is located north of the road from Jerez de la Frontera to Medina Sidonia. In 1987 it was catalogued as natural reserve.
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| The wooden hide offering great views over the lagoon |
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| Interior view of the comfortable main hide |
There is no path that leads you around the lagoon. The linear trail is in excellent condition, but when it rains it can get quite muddy and slippery. In recent years the lagoon has stayed completely dry between August and November. Don't expect to see many birds when there is no water.
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| Entrance to the main hide on the left of the walking path |
Birds can be observed using a telescope from two watchpoints: one is a wooden platform in the west, the other a wooden hide in the east, which provides shelter on rainy days if necessary.
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| Access to the wooden platform in the west |
The official trail ends at the the most eastern hide, but I usually walk a bit further to spot more birds like Stonechat and Little Egret. In spring it is worthwhile to walk even further beyond the wooden walkway to spot Bee-eaters, Lapwings and even more - sometimes very surprising - species.
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| The wooden walkway at the end of the 'official' trail |
Together with the Torrox Lagoon, this is one of the places where I have observed most birds around one single hotspot. The water level here depends on the supply from nearby streams as well as rainfall.
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| View from the wooden platform |
Make sure you regularly scan the sky while walking around, because during every visit here I have spotted several birds of prey, including Black-shouldered Kite, Marsh Harrier, Red Kite and more.
Type: linear (2 kilometres)
Difficulty: easy
Best season: autumn, winter, spring
Number of species to expect: 30+
Check out some of our visits to this interesting hotspot:
Find the location on the map.