The Utxesa reservoir route

The Utxesa reservoir is a unique space which contains natural systems with a remarkably diverse range of flora and fauna. It offers a very complete sample of the characteristic scenery and arid landscapes of the Lleida plain. As well as being one of the few wetlands on the Central Depression of Catalonia, the reservoir area also includes neighbouring table-land relief and significant patches of arid landscape (such as the desert areas of Sunyer and Carrassumada). It provides some of the best examples of the types of vegetation that currently dominate the landscapes of the Western Catalan plains and which have attracted small, yet interesting populations, of steppe birdlife. As a wetland area, this is one of the points in inland Catalonia which is of greatest ornithological interest, both on account of the diversity of its migratory and sedentary waterfowl and for the uniqueness of some of its species, and especially its reed-dwelling birds.