Doñana National Park

Doñana spreads across the provinces of Huelva, Cádiz and Seville in Andalusia, 543 square kilometres of which 135 are strictly protected. It is named after Doña Ana de Silva y Mendoza, wife of the seventh Duke of Medina Sidonia. The park is marsh, shallow stream and sand dune in Las Marismas, the delta where the Guadalquivir meets the Atlantic, a landscape that fills and dries with the season rather than staying still. That rhythm is what makes it one of Europe’s most important bird sites, and why spring and autumn passage are the times to be there.