Laguna del Marquesado Nature Reserve: tufa and unique plants

Laguna del Marquesado Nature Reserve

The Laguna del Marquesado Nature Reserve covers 373 hectares in the municipality of Laguna del Marquesado. It is a karst wetland formed by a tufa barrier across the Arroyo del Soto, the same process as at the Lagunas de Ruidera, and is the only Iberian locality for Sparganium natans, an endangered plant.

A tufa wetland

The Nature Reserve protects the lake at Laguna del Marquesado, formed when a tufa barrier blocked the Arroyo del Soto. Downstream the barrier drops in small waterfalls and supports an old mill and vegetable plots. Irrigated gardens, fruit trees and walnut trees remain on terraces around it.

What lies underwater

The most valuable part is submerged: stoneworts and threatened aquatic plants. It is the only place on the Iberian Peninsula where Sparganium natans lives. On the shores, riverside woodland and deciduous shrubs shelter threatened species such as purging buckthorn, Rhamnus alpina and alder buckthorn.

Clean-water creatures, coots, mallards, grebes and water rails live here, and grey herons and cormorants in winter. Also dippers, kingfishers, otters, genets and wildcats. These are high-mountain waters with brown trout.

Plan your visit

Two trails circle the lake: the interpretive trail and the SL-CU 15 local trail.

Before you travel

View it from the trail, without entering the water or disturbing animals.

Combine with

The lake has its own entry, and Huerta del Marquesado is very close.

Frequently asked questions

How did the lake form?

Through the damming of the Arroyo del Soto by a tufa barrier, the same process that formed the Lagunas de Ruidera. Downstream, the barrier forms small waterfalls.

What makes it unique?

It is the only Iberian locality for Sparganium natans, listed as endangered, and has freshwater algal communities and Euro-Siberian vegetation, with orchids and aconites.