The Guadalquivir marshes have historically been an area of extremes, dry and inhospitable in summer but subject to intense flooding during the rainy season. For centuries it has been a place to be avoided by humans but also one of the main refuges of biodiversity in Europe, which found its maximum expression in the group of aquatic birds.

The ‘domestication’ of this vast territory, its transformation for agriculture, has been a complex and relatively recent process that has led to the disappearance of more than 80% of the original surface area, of which only what we know today as the Doñana Natural Area has been saved, mainly on the right bank of the river.

In the case of Trebujena, on the left bank, there were repeated efforts to drain the marshes in the second half of the last century, involving the drainage of up to 3,100 ha. These works, however, were largely unsuccessful in their attempt to bring the land into agricultural production, given that their use was either unprofitable or directly unviable.

If we want to get an idea of what the Trebujena marshes were like before their transformation, we can look at the first aerial photographs of the time which tell us that, for much of the last century, this area still conserved a complex network of channels, pikes and streams, now almost disappeared, but which can still be seen in very rainy years. In this context, the Junta de Andalucía has recovered some of the old pikes with the aim of conserving the biodiversity of the area, especially by recovering one of the main nesting areas for aquatic bird species such as the Marbled Teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris), the Coot (Fulica cristata) or the White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala).

These wetlands will also help to recover the functionality of the Guadalquivir estuary by acting as refuge and fattening areas for the fry of the numerous species of fish and crustaceans that thrive in the estuary and by helping to mitigate the floods that occur in winter.

The path includes an elevated viewpoint that facilitates bird watching (Gabela Honda pike viewpoint). There is also another viewpoint that can be visited at the adjoining Espinete pike.