Columbretes Islands

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The Columbretes Islands are a group of small uninhabited islets of volcanic origin, in the Mediterranean Sea, 30 nautical miles off Oropesa del Mar in Castellón (Spain). The main islets are Illa Grossa (or Columbrete Grande), La Ferrera, La Foradada and El Carallot. The added up emerged area of all four is around 0,19 km² and the highest peak 67 m.

Since 1988 the archipelago is a natural park, appreciated by sea birds as an optimal place for their reproductive activities. The local colony of Audouin's Gulls, a species listed as Near Threatened globally, is one of the most important in the world and key to the species ongoing recovery in the Spanish Mediterranean. This is also one of the few stable locations of Eleanora's Falcon in Spain. The submerged area is as much relevant in terms of conservation and it covers 400 km² where an important community of submarine wildlife thrives undisturbed. It became protected as a Marine reserve in 1990.

The largest island, Illa Grossa, stands in the place of an ancient crater and so it shows a distinctive semi-circular pattern. There are no constructions in it, except for a jetty, a 19th-century lighthouse, and the installations used by the biologists working in the natural park.

These islands were known by Greeks and Romans from ancient times, and were even mentioned by Strabo and Pliny the Elder among others. Those travellers were marveled at the astonishing amount of snakes inhabiting them. The names Ophiusa and Colubraria by which they were named (both meaning serpent in Greek and Latin, respectivelly) refer to that fact. It is from its Latin name Colubraria that the islands have their present denomination.

Upon the construction of the lighthouse during mid-19th century in the Illa Grossa a tiny population was established in the main island for its maintenace and in order to deter contrabandists which used the islets as a refuge. Farm animals such as pigs were introduced. This, combined with aggressive practices such as the burning of the original bushy vegetation of the lighthouse island (partly for agricultural uses and also to deliberately deprive the vipers of their natural habitat), caused that the snakes had vanished from the islands by the turning of the century. The only testimony of that past abundance that remains today is a stuffed viper from the Columbretes in Madrid's Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales.

Nowadays, after being given the natural park status, pigs were exterminated while the lighthouse is automatic, which reduces the human presence only to the one of biologists assigned to the park's management.

Due to its isolation, the islands are inhabited by an endemic species of small lizard. Besides, the islets are very important during Spring and Autumn bird migrations, since many different species use them as a brief stop in order to rest.