The Region of Madrid has abundant natural spaces with a varied rich fauna. It also has many places where outdoor sports activities can be practiced like golf, sailing, horseback riding, skiing and hiking. The several green spaces of the Region house a great variety of plants and animals. In the Sierra de Guadarrama you will find oaks, pines and brushwood as well as several species of eagles and vultures, boards, roe deer, foxes and mountain cats.
The natural Park of Monte del Pardo is one of the few ecosystems of the Mediterranean forest that exists on the Iberian Peninsula. This place is full of ash-trees, junipers, kermes oak, gall-oaks and Rosemarie. It has an important population of rapacious birds such as the imperial eagle. The boar and the doe are the most emblematic mammals of the Monte del Pardo.
Another natural space of the Region that shelters important fauna is the Park of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Big predators such as the tawny vultures and the Royal owls fly over the landscape overflowing with oaks, rosemary and rockroses. In the Manzanares River you can find plenty of tech fish, catfish and carps, while trout can only be seen during the autumn.
Perhaps one of the most valuable botanical jewels in the community is the beech wood of the mount Chaparral, located in the municipal area of Montejo de la Sierra.
The city of Madrid has numerous green spaces and tree lined areas. The most abundant tree species in the capital are the arbutus, the poplar, the acacia, the elm tree and the cypress.
The Retiro Park, the Casa de Campo and the Dehesa la Villa are not only leisure places, but also are the lungs of this great city. They have a very rich and varied fauna and flora and are considered authentic botanical gardens.
The Casa de Campo has been an important ecological reservation and recreational area from the times off King Felipe the 2nd. One thousand eight hundred hectares of pine and oak trees shelter an important quantity of birds and rodents, such as the magpie and the squirrel.
