Cicadas of the Spanish pinewoods

Cicada orni, Lyristes plebejus, Cicadatra atra, Tettigettalna spp.. Mediterranean coast, Balearics, Andalusian pines, Spain.

Best time: 1 Jul – 20 Aug (July to August). Where: Sierra Espuña (Murcia), Parc Natural de Mondragó, Mallorca, Doñana – Coto del Rey pines (Spain). Time of day: Song from about 10:00 once the pines warm, full chorus 11:00–17:00, fading with the heat.

• You can go on your own
• Low cost
• No binoculars needed
• Sound 5/5

Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.

When is the best time?

Peak: 1 Jul – 20 Aug. July to mid August

Active from 15 Jun to 15 Sep (June to September) in a typical year.

Time of day

Song from about 10:00 once the pines warm, full chorus 11:00–17:00, fading with the heat; bush-crickets take over from dusk.

• Peak chorus: 11:00 → 17:00

What will you hear?

Continuous cicada chorus from Aleppo and stone pines — Cicada orni's ticking pulses over Lyristes' saw — with the sea and, at dusk, bush-crickets taking over.

Binoculars?

No binoculars needed. Deafening from every pine; nothing to look through.

Where to go

• Sierra Espuña (Murcia) — Reforested Aleppo pine massif; forest tracks closed to cars in fire season. Map
• Parc Natural de Mondragó, Mallorca — Coastal pines; beach crowds, quiet inland trails. Map
• Doñana – Coto del Rey pines — Stone pine forest in the buffer zone; very hot, no tourists. Map

How to go on your own, and what it costs

Sierra Espuña: forest tracks from the Ricardo Codorníu visitor centre (closed to cars on high fire-risk days). Mondragó: paid car park, free trails. Doñana Coto del Rey: the public track through the pines from Villamanrique.

Cost: Free; Mondragó car park charge in summer (check current prices).

Field-recording notes

Pad the input — Lyristes exceeds 100 dB at close range; self-noise is irrelevant. Summer fire-risk closures shut many forest tracks in Andalusia and Murcia on red days; check the regional 'INFOCA' / 'INFOMUR' alerts. Distance and a spaced pair give the hillside texture.

Sources

• SEA – Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa

Similar spectacles

• Cicadas of ProvenceFrance · Insects · peak 1 Jul–20 AugThe Provence cliché done properly: Lyristes' continuous saw at 100+ dB from the pines, Cicada orni's pulsing ticks from the oaks, and a shift of species with the hour and the tree.
• Cicada summer of the Adriatic coastCroatia · Insects · peak 1 Jul–15 AugContinuous Cicada orni ticking at 5–8 kHz merging into a shimmer, Lyristes plebejus's louder pulsing song from pines, cricket chorus at night, scops owl, sea.
• Cicada summer chorusItaly · Insects · peak 1 Jul–25 AugWall-of-sound cicada chorus in pinewoods and olive groves, with pulsing, overlapping rhythms of different species.
• Cicadas of Ticino and the Valais rock steppesSwitzerland · Insects · peak 5 Jul–20 AugCicada orni ticking merging into a wall in the chestnut and oak woods, Lyristes pulsing from pines, grasshoppers on the steppe; in the Valais, bee-eaters and a föhn wind.
• Karst nights: scops owl, nightjar and cicadasSlovenia · Nocturnal · peak 20 May–10 JulScops owl's monotone 'tyuh' every 2–3 s from village edges, nightjar churring on the dry meadows, sub-Mediterranean bush-cricket wall of sound, cicadas at 90+ dB at midday in July, eagle owl from the Vipava cliffs in late winter.
• Late-summer bush-cricket & grasshopper chorusUnited Kingdom · Insects · peak 1 Aug–31 AugLoud sewing-machine buzz of great green bush-crickets from coastal scrub; ticking of dark bush-crickets; the electric drone of Roesel's in rough grassland.

More: all spectacles in Spain · cicadas · cicadas, crickets and fireflies · Spain in July · Spain in August