The Columbretes Islands are a group of small uninhabited islets of volcanic origin, in the Mediterranean Sea, 30 nautical miles (60 km) off Oropesa del Mar in the Valencian Community (Spain). The main islets are Illa Grossa (or Columbrete Grande), La Ferrera, La Foradada and El Carallot. The total emerged area of all four is around 0.19 km² and the highest peak 67 m high.
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 quarters used by the biologists working in the wildlife reserve.
History
These islands were known by Greeks and Romans from ancient times. Writers such as Strabo or Pliny the Elder cited the astonishing amount of snakes inhabiting them. The names Ophiusa and Colubraria by which they were named (meaning serpent in Greek and Latin, respectively) refer to that fact. The islands owe their present name to "Colubraria", the Latin word for "snake".
After a lighthouse was built on Illa Grossa in mid-19th century, a few people were settled on it. The small community looked after maintenance of the lighthouse and helped to deter smugglers which used the islets as a refuge. Farm animals such as pigs were introduced back then. 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 numerous endemic snub-nosed vipers of their natural habitat), caused the snakes to become extinct by the turn of the century. The only testimony of their past abundance that remains today is a stuffed viper from the Columbretes in Madrid's Natural Science Museum. [1]
Biosphere reserve
Since 1988 the archipelago has been declared a wildlife reserve. It is as an optimal place for the reproductive activities of certain sea birds. The local colony of Audouin's Gulls (which is 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. The islets are also home for one of the major stable populations of Eleanora's Falcon in Spain. Besides, the islets are very important during spring and autumn bird migrations, since many different species who follow the Spanish Mediterranean coast in the course of their migration use them as a brief stop in order to rest.
Due to its isolation, the islands are inhabited by an endemic subspecies of small lizard, Podarcis hispanica atrata.[2] After being given the Natural Park status, pigs were eradicated. Also, the lighthouse is now automatic, which reduces the human presence only to the one of biologists assigned to the park's management.
The submerged area around the islands is as relevant in terms of conservation ans the area above the surface. It covers an area of 400 km² where an important community of submarine wildlife thrives undisturbed. It became protected as a Marine reserve in 1990.
