The “Herdade da Gâmbia” area, in the middle of the Sado Estuary Nature Reserve, has an enormous biodiversity, particularly birds, due to the dense cork oak trees, extensive reed beds, salt marshes, riparian woodlands and agricultural areas, arranged in a very special landscape layout.

There is an observatory here built especially for birdwatching and for photographing different species of birds, some migratory, others resident, which nest in this naturally privileged area.

From November to March, it’s common to see pied avocets, flamingos, great cormorants, ducks, herons, godwits and sanderlings. In spring and summer, black-winged stilts, plovers, ducks, common terns and spoonbills are a regular presence in this area that surrounds the Mourisca Tide Mill.